I'm a Royal, keep me in here! All smiles in jungle jaunt but William vows to put people responsible for topless photos behind bars
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ventured into the jungle in Borneo and looked happy and relaxed - despite controversy over topless pictures
Thousands of miles away, St James’s Palace was fighting a legal battle on several fronts to prevent the further spread of the offending images
They are also thought to be trying to halt the publication of what is being billed as a ‘26-page photo special’ in an Italian magazine
Yet the Palace could do nothing to stop the Irish edition of the Daily Star printing the same topless pictures yesterday
By Richard Dennen and Anthony Bond
PUBLISHED:21:15 GMT, 15 September 2012| UPDATED: 10:04 GMT, 16 September 2012
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A furious Prince William wants those responsible for printing the topless pictures of his wife jailed, it has emerged.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge looked happy as they ventured into the Borneo jungle yesterday - just 24 hours after the controversial pictures of Kate were published in a French magazine.
But despite their relaxed appearance, it has emerged the angry Prince is keen to pursue a criminal prosecution against those who snooped on his wife.
On Friday night St James' Palace confirmed the Royal couple would sue Closer Magazine France.
But it has now emerged Prince William is keen to take criminal action, and has vowed to give evidence at a trial.
According to The Sunday Mirror, when speaking to aides about those responsible for printing the pictures, the angry Prince said: 'I want them jailed.'
A spokesman for Prince William added that he had always felt strongly about privacy and harassment.
He added: 'It’s part of a very long-standing and heartfelt position by the Duke and Prince Harry, given their past, to do everything they can to protect themselves.
'They’ve always said they don’t have an issue with the mainstream media just doing their job, but they have always had an issue with paparazzi whose work intrudes on their privacy.'
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ventured into the jungle yesterday. This time it was the rainforest variety in Borneo, rather than the legal or media kind. It seemed a symbolically fitting backdrop to their troubles.
Judging by their expressions, though, no one could have guessed that the previous 24 hours had left the Royal couple ‘livid’ and ‘violated’.
While the storm over the topless photographs of Kate continued to rage elsewhere – more pictures were published in Ireland – they spent the day smiling and joking as they scaled a giant tree, photographed orang-utans and admired exotic flowers.
This was the type of jungle they could enjoy, a sanctuary from the vicissitudes of the outside world.
They even wanted to stay the night. It was a case of I’m A Royal, Keep Me In Here.
Pretty much their every move was scrutinised of course, but even that didn’t seem to matter too much.
At one point, having been winched high into the jungle canopy, William spotted a photographer who had been granted official permission to perch in an adjacent tree.
It must have been quite a shock. But where the previous day he had glowered at anyone with a lens, the future King was now all smiles. ‘We saw a spy in a tree,’ he later reported, laughing.
Thousands of miles away, St James’s Palace was fighting a legal battle on several fronts to prevent the further spread of the offending images.
They were taken by a photographer using a long lens as the couple sunbathed on the balcony of Viscount Linley’s chateau in the south of France ahead of their nine-day tour of the Far East.
Tomorrow, lawyers will seek an injunction in a French court.
They are also thought to be trying to halt the publication of what is being billed as a ‘26-page photo special’ in an Italian magazine.
Yet the Palace could do nothing to stop the Irish edition of the Daily Star printing the same topless pictures yesterday, a move that even horrified the paper’s owners, who were not notified beforehand.
The move was defended by Michael O’Kane, the editor of the Dublin-based newspaper, which is a joint venture between Northern & Shell – the publisher of the UK Daily Star owned by Richard Desmond – and Ireland’s Independent News and Media.
But Mr Desmond said that he was ‘profoundly dismayed’ at the newspaper’s decision, while a Northern & Shell spokesman conceded that it was a ‘grotesque invasion’ of the couple’s privacy.
Outrage came from all quarters.
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said: ‘It would be a very sad day when we are taken into the gutter of believing that every woman wants to flaunt her body for all to see.
‘The only time we cannot escape revealing our nakedness is when we are born. Beyond that our culture has said that the only other time should be in the privacy of our homes.’
In another development, a female French photographer who took pictures of the Duchess sunbathing at the chateau – but not, she says, the topless ones – tried to distance herself from the affair.
Valerie Suau’s work, which she insisted was ‘decent’, was published in La Provence newspaper last Saturday with no complaint from the Royal Family.
‘Valerie is extremely concerned by the fuss and is naturally keeping a low profile,’ said a colleague.
The look of thunder on Prince William’s face as he left Kuala Lumpur, teeth clenched, yesterday morning was obvious. But it subsided by the time the Royal party reached Sabah, one of the two states that make up the Malaysian part of Borneo.
The Duchess was dressed for the jungle in slim-cut beige jeans and a plaited brown leather belt, sturdy walking boots, and a sheer green blouse over a black T-shirt.
The couple declined the use of ‘anti-leech socks’. ‘Apparently they didn’t pass the sartorial test,’ explained one of their party.
However, the Duchess may have regretted that decision as a jungle leech later attached itself to her leg. ‘She dealt with it very calmly and just bent down and picked it off.’
Tengku Adlin, a Malaysian prince who had previously accompanied Prince Philip in a helicopter flight over the rainforest when he visited the region in 1972, flew in with the couple.
He said: ‘They enjoyed it immensely, they asked lots of questions about primates, birds and insects, and Kate was taking a lot of photos.’ On arriving at a field centre, the couple attended a short briefing with a group of Malaysian and British scientists.
They were then fitted with special harnesses and helmets in a private room before being hoisted 138ft up into a giant parashorea tomentella tree using a ‘counterweight pulley system’ which had been set by technicians to their combined weight, believed to be about 23 stone.
As they waited in their harnesses at the base of the tree, the Duke looked at his wife and quipped: ‘Girls don’t have the same wardrobe malfunctions as men do.
‘I hope I don’t have any wardrobe malfunctions.’
The Duchess, appearing apprehensive as she looked upwards at her route of ascent, said: ‘I’m going to go “whee” and just fly up.’
William joked: ‘It’s not quite as impressive as the Shard,’ referring to his uncle the Duke of York’s abseil from London’s tallest building.
Dr Glen Reynolds, the director of the Royal Society’s South East Asia research programme, who accompanied the couple, replied: ‘Size isn’t everything.’
The Duke and Duchess had such a good time that they hoped to spend the night in the jungle but their team decided against it lest the unpredictable and fast-changing weather prevented them from advancing on to the Solomon Islands today on the next stage of their tour.
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