Private Lives Of Royalty ‘Disrupted’ By Newspapers

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28492, 23 January 1958, Page 11

Private Lives Of Royalty ‘Disrupted’ By Newspapers

LONDON, January 21. Commander Richard Colville, press secretary to the Queen, today told the General Council, of the Press that the private lives of th£ Royal Family were being increasingly disrupted by certain •ections of the press. He asked the council for its guidance. Commander Colville was attending the quarterly meeting of the council at which, a statement said later, “there was a general discussion on the relations between the press department at Buckingham Palace and.the newspapers.” The statement recalled that in its last annual report,- the council devoted a chapter to the “palace and the press” in which it stated it would be “lacking in candour if it pretended that dealings between the press and the press department of the Royal Household were always happy or harmonious.”

In the report, the statement said, the council offered three suggestions. These suggestions were: That an improvement in the quality and the supply of news and guidance from the press secretariat to the press should be sought;

That newspapers should refrain from tempting Royal servants to break their contracts by offering large sums for their “stories” and

That Royal news should at all times handled with discretion. “On the publication of the re-

port, Commander Colville expressed a desire to attend a meeting of the council for a full and frank discussion.” the statement said.

“Since then, he has attended two meetings of the council’s general purposes committee and at its quarterly meeting in July of last year the council invited him to attend its next meeting in October. ‘‘Commander Colville was unable to attend as at that time he was on duty with Her Majesty during her visit to the United States and Canada and the talk was accordingly postponed until today.

“He made a statement outlining the work of the press department and .replied to criticisms which had been made.

“He • also explained proposals which were under active consideration at the palace and’ which were designed to meet some of the points raised by the Press Council

"He also informed the council that the private lives of the Royal Family were being increasingly disrupted by certain sections ot the press and asked tor guidance in this matter.

“It was agreed that the discussions between Commander Colville and the council’s general purposes committee should be continued and that a further statement should be Issued when they have been completed.’”