Kate Middleton has been enveloped by a media storm since her engagement to Prince William but lessons learned after Diana’s death mean she should be better protected from the paparazzi, insiders say.
From the moment Ms Middleton and Prince William announced their engagement in November, the pretty 29-year-old brunette has been a global news sensation and the excitement is building ahead of the wedding on April 29.
“She’s A-star list as far as we’re concerned – she rates as highly as a picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,” said Joe Sene, head of UK editorial at Splash News and Picture Agency, which specialises in entertainment news.
But the hoards of paparazzi that followed Diana from before her engagement in 1981 to her death in a Paris car crash 16 years later have largely been absent, thanks to an improved relationship between the press and a newly media-savvy palace.
“You’ve got people around William and Kate that understand the needs of the media and of the public,” said Max Clifford, a leading PR consultant.
He said the press would likely respect the couple’s privacy when they are married, “certainly for a year or so, providing the media gets enough opportunities to take pictures and have a chat from time to time”.
Keen to avoid the negative publicity that followed Diana’s divorce from Prince Charles and her death, the royal palace has accepted it must provide good access to the couple to keep the media onside, Mr Clifford said.
“This is how it has to be if you want to be popular and you want the royal family and the monarchy to continue in this country,” he said.
In return for this access, British newspapers agree under an informal arrangement not to publish photos taken of Prince William and Ms Middleton going about their day-to-day lives.
The deal works well, insiders say, noting that most of the pictures published of Ms Middleton since her engagement have been official trips, such as to the Scottish university town of St Andrews where she met William, or to Anglesey in Wales where the prince works as a search and rescue pilot.
“Once you’ve saturated the market with these, then that reduces the market for paparazzi photos,” said veteran royal photographer Ian Jones.
British newspapers also changed after Diana’s death, which many people blamed on photographers chasing her car, and strengthened the voluntary code of conduct which forms the basis of their system of self-regulation.
“The level of intrusion is much reduced because of the change in the code, which says clearly that everybody has a right to privacy,” said Bob Satchwell, director of the Society of Editors which helps draw up the code.