Royal fury after Italian magazine publishes pictures of pregnant 'bikini-clad' Kate on the beach in Mustique

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge faced fresh anguish over privacy last night after an Italian magazine published photographs of pregnant Kate in a bikini.
Palace sources condemned the ‘violating’ pictures, which show the couple walking along a beach while holidaying on the secluded Caribbean island of Mustique.
Gossip magazine Chi, which caused outrage when it published a photograph of Princess Diana as she lay dying, splashed pictures of the duchess and her growing baby bump across its front page.

Pregnant: The Duchess of Cambridge, seen here with her husband at the unveiling of her picture at the National Portrait Gallery, has been photographed on holiday in Mustique

Kate, who is about four months pregnant, is wearing a bright blue halter-neck bikini with her slightly rounded stomach clearly visible.
Her arm is draped over her husband’s shoulders while William, who is wearing blue baggy shorts and sunglasses, has an arm protectively around his wife’s back.

 

The headline on the magazine, which goes on sale today, reads ‘Kate and William – honeymoon for three’.
Last night, royal sources said William, in particular, still felt ‘very bruised’ about the fresh breach of privacy so soon after the same magazine splashed topless photographs of Kate across its front page beneath the headline ‘the queen is naked’.

 

Luxury Island getaway: The couple are staying at a £5million, five-bedroom mansion, one of the most opulent on the island

The source said William felt very strongly at the time that he had somehow ‘failed’ to protect his wife.
The intimate photographs are thought to have been taken from a boat using a long lens camera.
The celebrity magazine, which is owned by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, boasts: ‘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.’
The photographs are believed to have been offered to several other magazines around the world and could fetch up to £250,000.

Safe haven: Mustique is well-known amongst celebs as a place to go to avoid media intrusion

Members of the Middleton family have accompanied the couple on their holiday. (L-R) Carole, James, Michael and Pippa

Yesterday a spokesman for St James’s Palace said: ‘We are disappointed that photographs of the Duke and Duchess on a private holiday look likely to be published overseas.
‘This is a clear breach of the couple’s right to privacy.’
A palace source said: ‘It’s violating’. The duke and duchess, who are expecting their first child in July, flew to a £19,000-a-week luxury villa on the island of Mustique last week.

 

 

 

LIFE IN THE PUBLIC EYE: ROYALS, THE PRESS AND THE BALANCING ACT OF THE RIGHT TO A PRIVATE LIFE AGAINST BEING FIGUREHEADS OF A NATION

In the wake of the Princess Diana's 1997 death, when the car she was in crashed while being pursued by papparazi, the Royal Family has asked the media to limit its intrusion into the private lives of the aristocracy.
A Royal spokesman once said: 'Members of the Royal Family feel they have a right to privacy when they are going about everyday, private activities.

'They recognise there is 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.'

The UK media has for the most part observed this request. When the topless pictures of The Duchess surfaced, no UK newspapers or magazines published the images, even though they had spread all over the internet.

Similarly, only the Sun published the naked pictures of Prince Harry as he partied in a Las Vegas penthouse.

However, the right to privacy has been a source of contention between the press and the Royals.
Clarence House once even refused to reveal the name of Kate and William's new cocker spaniel puppy, calling it an invasion of their privacy.

Kate finally revealed the name of the black pup three weeks after royal aides refused to confirm it.
She told schoolchildren in Oxford it was called Lupo (Italian for wolf) while on an engagement.

 

 

 

The Royal couple are two of the world's most recognisable people but it can be a struggle to guard their privacy

Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, and her sister Pippa, flew out at the same time and are renting a villa nearby.
It is understood that bikini photographs of Pippa are also being touted for sale.
Mustique, a private island with just 74 villas and one small hotel, is where Princess Margaret once had a holiday home and is frequented by stars including Mick Jagger.
Kate and William, who were accompanied by a team of bodyguards, have chosen the island for seven of their last eight holidays because of the privacy it affords them.
Mustique is patrolled both on-shore and off-shore by the island’s private security team, but they failed to spot the paparazzi waiting for the couple to emerge on the beach.

MUSTIQUE: ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST EXCLUSIVE HOLIDAY DESTINATIONS

Paradise: Mustique is a private island in the Caribbean where Princess Margaret once had a holiday home

Famed for its palm-fringed beaches and upmarket watering holes, Mustique is one of the most exclusive holiday destinations in the world.

The tiny Caribbean island was made famous in the 1960s when its owner, Lord Glenconner, gave the Queen's late sister, Princess Margaret, a 10-acre plot of land as a wedding present.

Lord Glenconner bought the island, which had been left to wrack and ruin following the decline of the great sugar plantations in the 19th Century, for £45,000 in 1958.

In the early days, life on the island was simple: with little fresh water and dusty tracks for roads.
But the eccentric Scottish noble struck on the idea of parcelling up and selling off small pockets of land to carefully vetted buyers.

Princess Margaret commissioned theatrical designer, Oliver Messel, to build her a villa, Les Jolies Eaux. She adored Mustique because it was somewhere she could let her hair down away from prying eyes and public scrutiny.

Visitors included her cousin Lord Lichfield, who had a villa nearby, gangster John Bindon - with whom Princess Margaret is rumoured to have had an affair - and Mick Jagger.

It was here, too, that she conducted her long relationship with Roddy Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 17 years her junior.

Princess Margaret gave Les Jolies Eaux to her son, Lord Linley, when he married in 1998, but, much to her distress, he quickly sold it.

In 1989 Mustique Island was transformed from a family estate into a private limited company - The Mustique Company - with the 100 or so homeowners as shareholders.

Its status as a private island means that the paparazzi are banned - making it a Mecca for celebrities including Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

 

Paradise: In 1989 Mustique Island was transformed from a family estate into a private limited company

The island's only watering hole, Basil's Bar, and its legendary 'jump-up' sees rock and roll stars sipping rum punch next royalty without a care in the world.
Wealthy holidaymakers are attracted by the island's balmy climate and beautiful beaches. There is no 'out of season' as Mustique is far enough south to avoid hurricanes and enjoys temperatures of around 24C (75F) to 27C (80F) all year round.

It is also one of the safest places in the Caribbean. The only murder in Mustique’s recent history occurred 10 years ago when a French heiress was found stabbed to death in her villa - a crime that has never been solved.