Photo credit: internet

We the common civilians are mostly obsessed with the tales of princes and princesses, their kingdoms, their lifestyles and obviously, their richness, the wealth they display and the wealth of wisdom that is displayed by the media. Today majority of the countries have democratic setup with an elected president as the head of the State. Some countries in Europe, Asia and Africa however have monarchial systems with Kings and Queens as the head of the State. These monarchs ascend the throne as a hereditary right. Post second world war, some monarchs have been ousted either to accommodate the best in the line or to bring in a democratically elected head of the state. In either cases, the lifestyle of the royal families attracts lot of public attention always. It is alleged that this public inquisitiveness is monetized by professional photographers: the more the images of royal women are captured the more these photographers gain monetarily. The tragic death of Diana, princess of Wales is a glaring example. Images of her last moments in the car crash are still floating in the internet and these are heavily searched, giving more profits to those creators who keep on sharing such images with extra touch of editing.

Recently another royal woman, the present Princess of Wales has attracted unwanted attention for an image featuring herself with her three children including future heir to the throne. Apparently Catherine (popularly known as Kate) had undergone for an abdominal surgery which many speculated to be connected with cancer. Post-surgery, Kate and her family had to break this speculation so that neither her family nor the  country may be targeted for an unwanted bash on the health and lifestyle of the Royals which may lead to many diplomatic and  political speculations. All these were finally triggered with a single photograph.

What was the issue: the photograph, shared by the official handles of  Prince and Princess of Wales showed a happy mother holding two children with her hands  and  her three children happily laughing with her. Photo scrutinizers figured out that the photo has been edited and the presentation suggests that the mother’s hand and the daughter’s waist do not match in an ideal way. There was some more editing which raise questions as to whether the children were really sitting with the mother in the outdoors for the happy photograph. Kate later apparently shared an apology to accept that the photograph was (badly) edited. This further raised the speculation of the health update of the Princess and the authenticity of the information shared by the social media handles of the couple (prince and princess of Wales).

What is the legal issue: After the tragic death of Diana, princess of Wales, her son Prince of Wales had emphasised for privacy of the family like any other common civilian family. The introduction of UK Data Protection Act, 2018 made the right to privacy a significant right for all including members of royal family. While this may prevent third party infringement of the right to privacy for the members of royal family, question arises about legal protection against public expression through comments on the specific photograph shared by the social media handles. Here two main issues may be identified: what was shown by the image creator/distributor and what expression /actions are being generated by various stakeholders about the data owner (in this case, the Princess of Wales). Courts in England have highlighted the need for protecting privacy of medical records which may be ‘presumed’ and shared for ‘public interest’ on the basis of photographs : Naomi Campbell’s case is the best example in this regard.  In Kate’s case, the issue may be connected to a certain extent because she and her children are not ‘photographed’ like Naomi. Rather, she had consensually been photographed and had apparently taken right to edit the photograph. Here emphasis is shifted to expressed comments /speech that may affect her reputation, her health records and obviously the privacy of her children. But can an individual or a family (even if it is a Royal Family) silence the speech which expresses speculations and  may build up theories of non-reliance of information shared by individuals who are followed and watched by many?  judicial precedents to a large extent have removed that protection from public figures unless such speech is passing through clear and present danger test.

The risk-factor for all: But in this case apprehend harm is more intense. The photo scrutinizers have not only checked the blurred parts, additions and deletions, they have revealed information about possible stay of the family including the children in specific locations, vulnerable mental health factors and obviously the ‘body search’ of the mother and children. This throws a challenge for all women across the globe who would wish to share their selfies, images of their children and locations. Any one now can scrutinise the dress, sitting positions and the facial images to understand the body size (which may fall within the category of sensitive personal data), specific identifiable marks in the face and geo locations. This may make it easy for predators for image cloning for criminal purposes, virtual striptease and online sexual assault of women and children by using Artificial intelligence supported by human imagination.

Is there any suggestion for protection? Yes off course! While the application of copyright laws is being prescribed worldwide to prevent unwanted usage of the images and get relief, Data protection laws and penal codes are offering solutions for preventing the wrong doer from causing more harm and punishing for wrong doer. But the originators/creators may still need to take the responsibility for controlling who may access the images and when they may access such images. We may not control the public interest into the lives of celebrities. But definitely a growing awareness about privacy and respect to privacy may go a long way to let the princes and princesses, actors, players, influencers who have become highly ‘consumable’ in the era of internet live safely forever.

Please don’t violate the copyright of this writeup. Please cite as Halder Debarati (2024).The Princess and her photos: a modern day fairy tale of internet kingdom. Published in https://internetlegalstudies.com/2024/03/22/the-princess-and-her-photos-a-modern-day-fairy-tale-of-internet-kingdom-by-dr-debarati-halder/ on 22-03-2024