The woman taking on Wills and Kate in fight over Heads Together

SHOWERED with praise for their ‘brave’ mental health campaign, Heads Together, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry have now encountered their first resistance.

Through their charity, The Royal Foundation, the trio are trying to register the name Heads Together as a trademark — but they failed to reckon with the determination of a businesswoman from Northern Ireland.

Joanne Kane set up a human resources consultancy called Heads Together ten years ago, and she is not prepared to let the young royals ‘hijack’ her name.

She has formally lodged her objection to their trademark application at the Intellectual Property Office.

‘Jo has worked so hard establishing her business,’ an associate tells me. ‘She doesn’t see why she should let someone else remove her name, even if they are royal. She’s made her name with that business.’

Ms Kane (pictured), a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has offices in both London and Belfast, and her largest client boasts 84,000 employees. Wellknown in Northern Ireland, last year she won a leadership award for the ‘vital services’ her business provides to the local community.

William, Kate and Harry’s foundation applied to register Heads Together as a trademark last year for a wide range of goods and services, including ‘advisory, consultancy and information services’; education and training; campaigning; promotional and public awareness campaigns; ‘printed matter’ such as banners and posters; clothing, footwear and headgear. Now their foundation may have to persuade a tribunal that its claims to the name trump those of Joanne before a decision is made. It’s not the first time the Royals have had trouble with trademarks. An attempt to trademark the face of Princess Diana by her memorial fund was turned down in 1999. And executors of her estate were later refused permission to trademark her signature ‘Diana’ on a range of beauty products as a Turkish company had already registered the name for its cosmetics line. A Kensington Palace spokesman declined to comment.