The Sun has been forced into a rapid u-turn after publishing pictures which yesterday appeared to show Princes Harry and William drunkenly cavorting at a nightclub – and Harry groping a young girl’s breast.
It claimed the photos were taken in the summer this year – so would have been of great interest to Harry’s current girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
Today the paper admitted the pictures in fact dated from autumn 2003, and were in Purple Nightclub and not Boujis.
And in a development with more worrying implications for the paper – The Sun has admitted that the photos were published without copyright permission. This means they could have been stolen.
The paper said: “The Sun published the photos in good faith but we apologise to Ms Natalie Pinkham, a close friend of both Prince William and Prince Harry for publishing them without permission and for any embarrassment or offence their publication has caused.
“We will be making a donation to a charity of Ms Pinkham’s choice.”
The small apology appeared on a left hand news in brief slot on page six.
Separately, the paper published a double-page spread under the headline “Is Harry history’s wildest prince?” which made no reference to yesterday’s gaffe.
A spokesperson for Clarence House said they would be taking no further action over the mistake – and will not be involving the Press Complaints Commission.
They said: "We are very pleased that they were able to correct it so quickly."
This latest mistake is likely to put further pressure on the tabloid press.
Today, News of the World assistant editor (royals) Clive Goodman is appearing in court charged with a string of offences linked to allegations that he was involved in hacking in to the private mobile telephone messages of the Royal Family. One of the allegations involves Prince William.
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