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Kate Middleton, the girlfriend of Prince William, has complained to the press watchdog about alleged harassment by the Daily Mirror.
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) said it had been contacted in connection with a photograph in yesterday's Daily Mirror.
The picture showed an unsmiling Miss Middleton, wearing sunglasses and carrying Starbucks Coffee cup, published under the headline "Look out, Wills here comes an heir-bashing..."The story suggested the reason for her expression may be Prince William's "laddish escapades involving a couple of attractive girls".
Speculation about Miss Middleton, 25, and Prince William's relationship - and whether a marriage proposal is imminent - has intensified over the past year, leading to a rise in value of paparazzi photographs of the girlfriend of the heir to the throne.
Newspapers will regularly pay between £250 ($685) and £4,000 ($11,00) for a shot of Miss Middleton, whose relationship with the Prince was exposed after they were pictured on the Swiss ski slopes of Klosters together in the spring of 2004.
When Miss Middleton celebrated her birthday this January she was confronted with a media scrum outside her home.
Her lawyers said then that they would use footage of the paparazzi's activities to support evidence of her harassment.
The law firm Harbottle & Lewis, who also act for the Prince of Wales, wrote to the PCC saying they have "disturbing" film of photographers intruding on Miss Middleton's privacy.
PCC director Tim Toulmin said at the time that the letter, which he said he was forwarding to newspaper editors, was a "final warning".
Her lawyers attempted to use persuasion rather than legal action to protect her.
Royal aides revealed that Prince William wanted "more than anything" for photographers to stop harassing his long-term girlfriend.
His concerns over the media follow the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, who was being pursued by paparazzi when she was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
The relationship between the paparazzi and members of the Royal family has historically been strained.
In 1993, Mirror Group Newspapers published pictures of Diana in a gym, wearing a leotard and using an exercise machine.
The "peeping Tom" photographs were taken with a hidden camera, and the Princess launched legal action.
Three years later, the gym's former owner Bryce Taylor and Mirror Group Newspapers settled out of court, just days before Diana was set to fight the case in court.
Six years later, The Sun apologised to Sophie Rhys-Jones, now the Countess of Wessex, for printing a 10-year-old topless picture of her with Chris Tarrant in the run up to her wedding to Prince Edward.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the PCC said: "The Press Complaints Commission has today received a formal complaint from Kate Middleton that a photograph of her in today's Daily Mirror was obtained as a result of harassment in breach of Clause 4 (Harassment) of the Code of Practice."Clause 4 of the PCC's Code of Practice, under the title Harassment, states: "Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.
They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to desist; nor remain on their property when asked to leave and must not follow them.
Editors must ensure these principles are observed."A spokesman for the Daily Mirror said: "We will provide the necessary thoughts and comments to the PCC.
We will not be commenting any further at this stage." He declined to name the photographer who took the shot.
- INDEPENDENT
