The Million Pound £ Photograph, The Paparazzo Holy Grail.

A number of years ago I recall Prince William stating in an interview that he believed that the hounding of his mother by paparazzis was a direct result for the intense demand of her image .

📸 Getty

This demand created a lucrative industry for those who stalked and bullied her for the million £ photo .

Prince William believed that if he had control of the photos , retained ownership and released them via the palace it would demonetise their value . At least to a point . He firmly believed that the public would understand and support this . For many years the public did indeed support, understand and applaud this new way of doing things . I believe many still do .

However the paparazzi were not too happy with this set up , waiting .. patiently , ever present .. waiting for the right moment .

In the meantime, in 2011 Prince William married Catherine , it was his good fortune that she is an excellent amateur photographer . They released photos regularly , the demand was met and the people were happy , the paparazzis were kept quiet and at arm’s length . For many years this worked well. However this was all to change .

In 2018 Prince Harry married Meghan Markle , a relatively unknown actress who had a different relationship with the media . The media saw the cracks and waited .

When our late great queen, HMQE2 passed the monarchy underwent changes, some say it was weakened . The media saw opportunities . These opportunities were further highlighted when the Sussexes left in 2020 for the sunny climes of California and self discovery .

Slowly but surely the paparazzi began to see a light , a sliver of opportunity as the new Duchess of Sussex would encourage and court photographic and media attention, the kind that is often seen in Hollywood in order to promote her endeavours, activities and , indeed, herself.

📸 Self Papped by Meghan Markle for Meghan Markle

Unfortunately images of Meghan Markle are not worth anywhere near as much as those of an unaware Princess of Wales.
The instincts of the media stirred & waited knowing that all they had to do is wait for their opportunity . While they waited many in the media began courting those avid , single minded , obsessed individuals who spread misinformation and fallacious narratives. Aiming to cast doubt on the images released by the palace, aiming to cast doubt on the royal family . Hoping for the people to demand a return to the monetised image gathering of old .

The opportunity presented itself when Catherine the Princess of Wales had to have surgery requiring a reasonable recovery time and her husband asked for patience and privacy .

Within weeks every opportunistic conspiracy theorist & purveyor of misinformation began the harassment .

Espousing absurd conspiracy theories, their assumptions and behaviour did not go unnoticed by the media ,visual media entities in particular .
Keen for a change in the status quo , hoping for a regression back to the days of the hunting of Diana , they began to join in the clamouring demands .

Some mainstream media began giving these conspiracy theorists platforms on which to espouse their misinformed & often fictional viewpoints & in many cases even joined in .

Reaching out to the masses & whipping up a frenzy , a build up of bullying & harassment started up , the like of which has not been seen since 1997 .

Encouraged by the odd theories , some media began looking for ways of weaponising these theories & the ensuing frenzy hoping for a reversal of paparazzi fortune .

For those of us who remember the days when Princess Diana was stalked for that million $€£ photo and lived through the tragic consequences, we can see the risk of that all over again . We must stand together with Prince William , assist him in his quest & push back on the irrational narrative that is currently being espoused by some .
This is NOT what the people want , we have seen the consequences , we do not want history repeating itself .

In this

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜

𝑀𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 100 % 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑝𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦’𝑠 𝑇𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑎 𝑇𝑖𝑒𝑟.( 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠 )

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 than the price of a fancy tea 🫖🧁☕️🍮𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑝 , 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 , 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 . 𝑆𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 .

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