The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed an “amazing” jungle experience in Malaysia yesterday as they attempted to put the storm of controversy surrounding Kate’s topless photos behind them.
The Duke and Duchess appeared relaxed and joked with each other but back home another publication – the Republic of Ireland edition of the Irish Daily Star – published intimate pictures of the future Queen
The royal couple were hoisted more than 40 metres up into the rainforest canopy to experience a birds-eye view of the unique eco-system and when they reached ground level Kate found herself quite attached to one local resident – a leech.
Speaking about their time in the tree tops at the Danum Valley field centre in Borneo the Duchess said: “That was rather surreal, wasn’t it? It was amazing, such a treat,really brilliant to be up there. I could have stayed up there for hours, even though there were a lot of ants.”
In the lush, steaming surroundings of the jungle the Duke and Duchess appeared relaxed and joked with each other and their hosts but back home another publication – the Republic of Ireland edition of the Irish Daily Star – followed the lead of French magazine Closer and published intimate pictures of the future Queen.
An Italian magazine appears set to use the images and is understood to be planning a 26-page photo special of the pair sunbathing in the Provence, to run in an edition tomorrow.
The developments come despite an announcement late last night that the Duke and Duchess had begun legal proceedings against the publishers of the French magazine for breach of privacy. It is understood that the royal couple’s aim is to prevent further use of the images and to seek damages.
William and Kate’s day could not have been more removed from events in the UK with the royals flown by helicopter into the heart of the Malaysian state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo, to the field centre to explore its wildlife.
They were joined by Tengku Adlin, a Malaysian prince who travelled with the Duke of Edinburgh during his helicopter flight over the rainforest when he visited the region in 1972.
The foreign royal said: “They enjoyed it immensely, they asked lots of questions about primates, birds and insects, and Kate was taking a lot of photos.”
During the royal couple’s Diamond Jubilee tour of the Far East the Duchess has worn many designer outfits but for the jungle was dressed in slim-cut beige jeans and a plaited brown leather belt, sturdy walking boots and a sheer green blouse over a black T-shirt.
William has a strong interest in wildlife and ecology and was briefed along with his wife about the area by a group of Malaysian and British scientists, including Dr Glen Reynolds, the director of the Royal Society’s South East Asia research programme, which explores the impact of deforestation in the region, and Dr Owen Lewis from Oxford University.
The royals were then fitted with special harnesses and helmets in a private room before being hoisted 42 metres up into a giant parashorea tomentella tree using a counterweight pulley system which had been set by rope access technicians to their combined weight, believed to be 150 kilos.
William appeared to have lost his stony demeanour of the previous day when topless pictures of his wife hit the French news stands.
As the royal couple waited in their harnesses at the base of the tree, the Duke looked at the Duchess and quipped: “Girls don’t have the same wardrobe malfunctions as men do. I hope I don’t have any wardrobe malfunctions.”
He also added “It’s not quite as impressive as the Shard,” and when Dr Reynolds quipped “Size isn’t everything,” the Duke responded: “That’s true”.
Kate, appeared a little apprehensive about her ascent into the trees and as she looked upwards said: “I’m going to go ‘whee’ and just fly up,” but William was still in good humour and asked the rope technicians at the base of the tree “Is it OK to squeak as we go up?”
Simon Amos, the technician in charge of their journey into the canopy, said: “It’s the closest anyone will ever get to time travel. What they are seeing is exactly what it would have looked like 150 million years ago as there has never been an ice age here. It is as if time stood still.”
Suspended in the air, with sweeping views over the top of the jungle canopy, they were greeted up the tree by Kalsum Yusah, 32, from Sabah, who completed a Ph.D in entomology at Cambridge University two years ago and is now based at the field centre.
Miss Yusah said: “They just said it was such a surreal, totally unique experience up there because they had never been up in the canopy.
“They enjoyed it immensely and they weren’t scared of the heights. They asked about the primates, birds and insects and they were interested in how the forest is sustained. They enjoyed it because it gets them into the midst of the canopy, where there’s nothing much else going on.”
After spending around 10 minutes up in the air, they were lowered back down to the ground, with wide smiles, clearly amazed by what they had seen. The Duke and Duchess begin the next leg of their Diamond Jubilee tour today when they fly from Malaysia to the remote South Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands.