The decision by Kate Middleton and her lawyers to make a formal complaint to the Press Complaints Commission is a significant move. Though the complaint, claiming harassment, refers specifically to the Daily Mirror, it is really about the way in which the paparazzi pursue her.
It is noticeable that the picture carries no byline. It is also noteworthy that the caption, bylined Stewart MacLean is a piece of speculative whimsy, the sort in which the writer pretends to know what someone is thinking. So the caption has probably added to the woman's upset. (Of course, this is also speculation).
What cannot be in any doubt is that private appeals to newspaper editors to shut down the market for pictures of Ms Middleton, supplied by the sneaks and freaks who stalk her on a daily basis, have not worked. Her lawyers have, as threatened, therefore taken it to the next stage.
There are dangers. She cannot afford to lose. If the PCC rule against her it will become open season for the stalkerazzi, and she will have no peace at all. It will be fascinating to see who was responsible for taking the picture, who sold it, whether the Mirror picture desk checked on its provenance, whether they were told the truth by the selling agent and how much they paid for it. We also have yet to hear the response of the editor, Richard Wallace.
On Sky News just now, the former Palace PR, Dickie Arbiter, poured scorn on the PCC's ability to do anything positive. I disagreed with him on air because I do think the PCC can make an adjudication that could stop this nonsense from happening in future. Remember this: in January, after Ms Middleton had been besieged by photographers, the PCC's chairman, Sir Christopher Meyer, said: "The scenes we saw around her flat just before she left for work at the end of last week were pretty grotesque and pretty horrible." That doesn't sound as if he is about to defend the paps, does it?
