Photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge were published by Italian and Australian magazines on Tuesday, according to The Daily Mail. The photos depict a pregnant Kate in a bikini and other publications across the world are planning to do the same. The pictures show the couple walking on a beach on the island of Mustique in the Caribbean. Publishers in Germany, France, and the United States have also purchased the pictures for publication.
The front page of the Italian magazine Chi published photos of the duchess and her baby bump this week. The magazine took a lot of criticism for publishing a photo of Princess Diana as she lay dying years ago. In Australia, Woman’s Day published the photos. The magazine claims the pictures were taken by a member of the public on a public beach.
Fiona Connolly, the editor, said, ‘This is not a hard decision. Kate’s on a public beach, there are other holiday-makers there and she looks fabulous.’
On the contrary, Mustique is a private island and the paparazzi is banned from the island. Kate is right around four months into her pregnancy. The headline in Chi reads, ‘Kate and William – honeymoon for three’.
‘She is on a public beach and she was mingling with holiday makers,’ Connolly said. ‘There is no photographer hiding in the bushes and she is not inside a private villa.’
St. James’s Palace said that the photos are ‘a clear breach of the couple’s privacy.’
Connolly said that Australians do not think the royal family is a ‘protected species’ like British people do. ‘The British have a great deal more sensitivity to royals than we do here in Oz As Australians, we see this every day. We see pregnant women in bikinis on the beach – and a public one at that – so we are a lot less sensitive here. Our readers are going to love these photos. I don’t expect any backlash at all really. I think she’s looking fabulous and healthy and (with) a beautiful bump, like we haven’t seen her before. Kate looks so much better than the poorly and sickly woman we saw coming out of hospital, which makes these photos more of a celebration.’
Connolly did not mention how much the magazine paid for the photos but did say, ‘Everyone but the UK has or will publish these pics.’
Chi is owned by Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister. The magazine said, ‘The extraordinary images of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their dream holiday in the Caribbean. The future mum, now four months pregnant, wore a tiny bikini which showed off her visible bump.’