The Hindu : Front Page : The right royal commercial break

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Saturday, May 17, 2008
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The right royal commercial break

LONDON: There are certain rules of conduct for a British monarch. Do your duty, wave, and smile graciously — and don’t get too close to the press.

In more than five decades as Britain’s sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II has never given an interview. Not so her eldest grandson, who not only spoke to a reporter but sold the story of his upcoming nuptials to a celebrity magazine for a sum reported at up to £500,000.

The 20-page spread in Hello! magazine featuring 11th in line to the throne Peter Phillips and his fiancee, Autumn Kelly, reflects a generational sea change in relations between the royal family and the media.

“The older generation largely took the line that the media was to be dealt with at arm’s length,” said Patrick Jephson, former private secretary to Princess Diana. “The younger generation of royals has grown up with the media, regards it as an asset to be tapped when it wants and a nuisance to be shooed away when it doesn’t,” he added, “Of course, that’s an impossible task.”

In the past two decades, relations between the monarchy and the media have evolved from simple deference to complex symbiosis.

Phillips, who is due to marry Montreal-born Kelly on Saturday in a private ceremony at the Windsor Castle, has gone the farthest so far by accepting money for allowing Hello! to photograph him and his betrothed at their country cottage, for publication. — AP

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