Princess feels ‘beleagured’ by unwelcome publicity

Press, 19 December 1981, Page 26

Princess feels ‘beleagured’ by unwelcome publicity

By

MICHAEL WEST,

London Prince Charles and Princess Diana, unaware of the hidden cameraman, hugged, and kissed on the lawn outside Highgrove, their country home in Gloucestershire — and there was the picture on the front pages of the “Suh” and the “Daily Star.” The Princess, expecting a baby next June, got a craving for fruit gum candies. Unaware of the hidden cameraman, she drove down to the local village shop and bought some — and there was the picture in the “Daily Mirror.”

It is long-lens snooping like this that led the Queen recently to summon British newspaper editors and heads of television and radio news, and the Press Association, the British domestic news agency, to Buckingham Palace to request a halt. The Queen’s press secretary, Mr Michael Shea, told the" news chiefs that intrusive photographic coverage of the private life of the Princess and the constant presence of cameramen made her feel she “could not go out of her front door without being photographed.” “We expected that after the honeymoon, press attention would wane somewhat, but it has in no way abated,” Mr Shea said. “The Princess of Wales feels totally beleagured. “She has coped extremely well, she has come through with flying colours. But now the peole who love her and care for her are anxious at the reaction it is having.”

Mr Shea said there were no worries about the Princess’s health but that she was showing “great strain” because of the constant presence of photographers recording her private life.

Before her marriage to Prince Charles on July 19, the Princess was a kindergarten teacher and just another face in the London crowd. Her only previous experience of press attention was when news leaked that she was dating Prince Charles. For a few mad weeks photographers camped outside her apartment and dogged , her every step, causing her on one occasion to burst into tears and flee.

Mr - Shea particularly asked that her right to privacy should be respected at Highgrove and at Sandringham, the Queen’s estate in Norfolk where she and Prince - Charles will spend Christmas. Afterwards the news chiefs met the Queen. The fiercest pursuers of Roylaty are London’s five national circulation tabloids, now locked in a ferocious battle for circulation that could see’ one or more disappear. Off-guard pictures of Royalty sell papers but some newspapers promised to comply.

The “Daily Mirror” said it was “a fair request at this time” arid that it would respect it. The “Daily Express” promised not to intrude on the Princess’s private life. The “Daily Mail” said it would respect her desire for privacy. But the “Sun”, and the “Daily Star” said nothing and “The Times” noted that Kelvin Mackenzie, editor of the “Sun,” was significantly the only London newspaper editor not to attend the Buckingham Palace meeting. The "Daily Star,” which printed its pictures of the Royal couple hugging and kissing under the huge heading, “The Lovebirds.” bought

it from a freelance photographer, Andy Kyle. Kyle said he took the pictures from the road outside Highgrove, where passing motorists could see the Royal group. •Kyle said the group, which included Prince Andrew and Princess Diana's sister, Sarah, and her husband, Neil McCorquodale, was aware of the photographers before the Prince and Princess began kissing and cuddling.. The Palace denied that the party was aware of the. photogrphers’ presence. But Kyle said that he and his colleagues were often forced into taking what he termed “unofficial” pictures of Royalty. “The Times” said Kyle, whose clients include magazines such as “Paris Match,” of France, and “Bunte,” of West Germany, could expect to earn up to $44,500 for the pictures. The Buckingham Palace request is only the second such in 25 years, but there

have been many previous rows over what Royalty see as press intrusion into the private lives. In 1956, the Palace asked editors to rein in their photographers after some of them ambushed Prince Charles, then aged eight, at Cheam School. The editors complied. In 1964, the British Press Council condemned off-guard pictures taken by Ray Bellisario and other photographers of the Queen and her sister. Princess Margaret. They were photographed at picnics and water ski-ing at Sunninghill Park. A forester found two of the photographers hidden in undergrowth with their cameras trained on a hut ‘ where Princess Margaret was changing her clothes. Recently, an enraged Prince Charles roared at news photographers who had chased him while he was out foxhunting on horseback: “When are you going to stop making my life a' total misery?” ■