British Queen gets tough on paparazzi in royal privacy row

London: The British Queen is said to have ordered a crackdown on the paparazzi amid her growing anger at intrusions into the private lives of the members of the Royal family and their friends.The new get-tough approach has the full support of the Prince of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry and other senior members of the Royal family, who may now initiate legal action against what they perceive as the "intrusive and unacceptable behaviour" of photographers, `The Sunday Telegraph` reported.

Several photographers usually spend many hours a day touring the Queen`s Norfolk estate Sandringham in the hope of "snatching" photographs of the Royal family on the estate. Until now, the Royal family has, reluctantly, turned a blind eye to such photographs provided they were taken from public roads and they didn`t involve trespass on private land. But, no more. According to senior aides at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, the Royal Family will no longer tolerate photographers using telephoto lenses to capture pictures of their members in "private" situations. "Many years of being intruded upon have taken their toll. The Royal family feels they are entitled to a private life, particularly at Christmas," said a senior Buckingham Palace aide. In fact, the Queen and Prince Charles have clearly instructed Gerrard Tyrrell, a senior lawyer specialising in privacy and media law, to mastermind the new privacy strategy. "Members of the Royal family feel they have a right to privacy when they are going about everyday private activities. They recognise there`s a public interest in them and what they do, but they do not think this extends to photographing the private activities of them and their friends," Prince Charles` Communications Secretary Paddy Harverson said. PTI