Kensington Palace Seeks To Protect Prince George From Paparazzi.

KENSINGTON PALACE has warned that the paparazzi harassment of Prince George has increased in recent months with their tactics becoming "increasingly dangerous",



In highlighting the situation, the Palace hopes that "those who pay paparazzi photographers for their images of children will be able to better understand the distressing activity around a two-year old boy that their money is fuelling," and that "the readers who enjoy the publications that fuel this market for the unauthorised photos deserve to understand the tactics deployed to obtain these photos."

 The Palace has chosen now to make the statement after a "disturbing, but not at all uncommon" incident took place last week in which a photographer rented a car and parked it outside a play area where Prince George had been taken.

 "Already concealed by darkened windows, he took the added step of hanging sheets inside the vehicle and created a hide stocked with food and drinks to get him through a full day of surveillance, waiting in hope to capture images of Prince George," the statement explained. "Police discovered him lying down in the boot of the vehicle attempting to shoot photos with a long lens through a small gap in his hide."


It also revealed that it has been made aware of other similar occurences in recent months, including: long lenses being used to capture the Duchess and Prince George in private parks; pictures being taken of unrelated children entering and leaving the royal household; paparazzi using other children to draw Prince George into view around playgrounds; paparazzi obscuring themselves in sand dunes on a rural beach to take photos of Prince George playing with his grandmother, Carole Middleton; and various private residences and journeys being put under surveillance.
The statement said that the Duke and Duchess "know that every parent would object to anyone - particularly strangers - taking photos of their children without their permission," and that they "would understand their deep unease at only learning they had been followed and watched days later when photographs emerged".


"The Duke and Duchess are of course very fortunate to have private homes where photographers cannot capture images of their children. But they feel strongly that both Prince George and Princess Charlotte should not grow up exclusively behind palace gates and in walled gardens."

 "The vast majority of publications around the world - and all British publications - have refused to fuel the market for such photos," the statement continued. "This is an important and laudable stance for which The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are hugely grateful. They have enjoyed sharing an increasing number of photos of their children and look forward to continuing to take them to more public events as they get older."

 "The text from this letter, which has been sent to a number of people in leadership positions, will be placed in the public domain to raise awareness of the issues discussed," it concluded.



Vogue.