Kate Middleton Gets ‘Female Minder’: Flashbacks To Princess Diana?
When Kate Middleton’s bare bottom was on display in a German tabloid last week, it wasn’t the first time paparazzi had snapped an indiscreet photo of the Duchess of Cambridge. The snap, taken by accident by Australian travel agent Diane Morel, happened as the Duchess was departing from a helicopter. The wind from the chopper’s blades caused Kate’s dress to blow up.
It was reminiscent of a nearly identical situation during Kate and William’s 2011 trip to Canada, when Kate’s yellow dress abruptly blew up as she exited a helicopter.
Now, the Mirror reports Kate Middleton will be assigned a “female minder” to prevent any future embarrassment to the royal clan.
This last incident has some noting the striking parallels to Kate’s late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, and her uneasy relationship with paparazzi. As the Australian Times recounted Friday, in 1980 then Lady Diana Spencer posed with children at the nursery school where she worked. Back lit by the sun, her sheer dress showed a clear outline of her legs.
The royal couple have themselves noted the unsettling parallels with the late princess. In 2012 William and Kate took legal action when a French magazine published topless photos of Middleton, taken while they were vacationing. Representatives for the couple issued a statement that read in part: “This is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the paparazzi during Diana’s life and the more upsetting to the duke and duchess for being so.”
Princess Diana died in a car accident in 1997. Despite recent controversy over the details of the crash, published as recently as last year in the Sunday Express, the princess is widely thought to have died while being chased by paparazzi.
Bloggers who follow Kate Middleton see a backhanded upside to the focus on the Duchess’ posterior. The Hollywood Gossip made the glib comment that the photo diverted attention away from speculation as to whether Kate Middleton is pregnant or weighs 98 pounds. A Sydney Telegraph editorial made even further light of the issue, saying the ball wasn’t merely in the paparazzi’s court: “If the Duchess can’t be bothered protecting herself by having hem weights sewn into her garments, why should the media protect her?”
Meanwhile, the amateur photographer who took the picture is donating the money she made to charity. E! Online reports Morel wanted to honor the work the royals were doing in Australia:
“Kate and William spent so much time speaking to the victims of the bushfires that I decided I would donate any money raised from the sale of the photo to the Blue Mountains Bushfire Mayoral Relief Fund[.]”
As The Inquisitr previously reported, William and Kate are continuing to travel, and Middleton squashed pregnancy rumors last week by sampling whiskey in Scotland.
[Princess Diana Image: Australian Times/Kate Middleton Image: Oz Beauty Expert]
