Major embarrassment for the raucous royal
LONDON— Prince Harry has been caught in tricky situations before — but never quite like this. The website images showing the prince — naked in a compromising position with a young woman, also apparently naked, in a hotel room in Las Vegas — have met with a shocked silence in Britain. The pictures, described as a “major embarrassment” for Prince Harry, 27, who was reported to be “on his way home” from the U.S., are believed to be the first intimate images to be published of a senior member of Britain’s royal family. “Crown jewels on display in Vegas this weekend,” said U.S. celebrity gossip website TMZ, which published the photographs Wednesday. Mainstream British newspapers have, so far, refrained from publishing the pictures, which date from Friday. The restraint of the British press is unusual, but not surprising, given the recent lively debate surrounding the protection of the private sphere that followed the phone-hacking scandal.
In its brief statement on the photos, St. James Palace confirmed that the images were indeed of Prince Harry but added that his privacy should be respected.
“Whether the royal family privately sees it the same way, must remain open to question,” commented the BBC’s royal reporter.
Both the frankness of the palace in commenting on the photos, and the restraint shown by the media, cannot conceal the shock and embarrassment being felt about the affair.
The latest photos have confirmed the widely held view that Harry is the “loose cannon” of the royal family and raised fears he hasn’t shaken off his old ways.