Kensington Palace have issued a statement concerning Prince George’s privacy following an increase in unauthorised photographs. The statement said that some of the tactics employed by photographers to obtain images of the young royal were putting him at risk.
Although all UK publications have refused to publish the photographs, they state that a small number of foreign media outlets are buying the photographs.
They also released some of the methods used by photographers to get pictures of Prince George, aged two, including using other children to lure him into shot and pursuing cars leaving the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s family home.
“[The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge] have been delighted to share photos of their children and will continue to do so in the months and years ahead,” part of the statement read. “Yet undercover paparazzi continue to pursue their children, selling images of Prince George to international publications.”
Kensington Palace’s communications secretary Jason Knauf continued: “It is of course upsetting that such tactics - reminiscent as they are of past surveillance by groups intent on doing more than capturing images - are being deployed to profit from the image of a two-year-old boy.
“In a heightened security environment such tactics are a risk to all involved. The worry is that it will not always be possible to quickly distinguish between someone taking photos and someone intending to do more immediate harm.”
Mr Knauf also said William and Kate wanted Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte “to be free to play in public and semi-public spaces with other children without being photographed”.