World News Engine: Royal wedding caps new era for palace press pack

Royal wedding caps new era for palace press pack

Coverage of the royal wedding marks a new relationship between Prince William and the media, one in which he has overcome the hatred engrained in his teenage years.

British royal correspondents and photographers who have spent hours studying William at close quarters say there has been a gradual change in his approach and a clear break from his parents' difficult relations with the newspapers.

His mother Diana, princess of Wales' death in 1997 in a frenzied paparazzi chase through Paris started William's
attitude to the media on the worst possible footing.

Now 28 and able to put his own stamp on things, the storm that engulfed Diana and the naked hostility of his father Prince Charles has been replaced with a balanced arrangement with which their eldest son seems comfortable.

On Monday, William and his bride-to-be Kate Middleton made their fourth and final joint public engagement before the wedding visiting two towns in Lancashire, northwest England.

Snapping away among the rain-soaked crowds was the familiar face of Ian Jones, who took the official 18th birthday photographs
of William while he was at his Eton school.

Jones, who toured the world with Diana and was named royal photographer of the decade in 1998, said William was "very professional" to work with for the Eton shots and though shy, was at ease in front of the camera.

"As he's grown and matured, he has become a lot more comfortable with himself, more confident and outgoing but also a lot more philosophical about his role and position and what that entails," the freelancer told AFP.

Jones said media coverage of this royal story was taking place in a much more sensible atmosphere, driven by rational working relations between the palace and the press rather than tip-offs to favoured news organisations.

"While there is a heightened degree of interest at the moment, it's not the feverish, frenzied and erratic coverage that we had with princess Diana and the troubled times in her relationship with Prince Charles. Those are long-gone dark days," he said.

He said both the media and the palace had learnt the lessons from the Diana years and forged "a much more beneficial, professional working relationship".

News organisations are now treated on a more equal footing, leading to "a more balanced system that's much more stable."

The Mail on Sunday newspaper's royal correspondent Katie Nicholl, author of a book "The Making of a Royal Romance", said William started off with an "inherent hatred" of paparazzi but now accepts that media attention will always be part of his life.

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