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London: There are certain rules of conduct for a British monarch. Do your duty, wave and smile graciously - and don't get too close to the press.
In more than five decades as Britain's sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II has never given an interview. Not so her eldest grandson, who not only spoke to a reporter but sold the story of his upcoming nuptials to a celebrity magazine for a sum reported at up to £500,000 (Dh3,6 million).
New relations
The 20-page spread in Hello! magazine featuring eleventh in line to the throne Peter Phillips and his fiance, Autumn Kelly, reflects a generational sea change in relations between the royal family and the media.
"The older generation largely took the line that the media was to be dealt with at arm's length," said Patrick Jephson, former private secretary to Princess Diana.
"The younger generation of royals has grown up with the media, regards it as an asset to be tapped when it wants and a nuisance to be shooed away when it doesn't," he added,
"Of course, that's an impossible task."
In the past two decades, relations between the monarchy and the media have evolved from simple deference to complex symbiosis.
The popular and photogenic Diana was a pioneer at courting the press, largely as a way of fighting back against a family she believed was victimising her. The 1995 television interview in which she discussed intimate details of her faltering marriage caused a sensation.
Her ex, Prince Charles, later hired spin doctors to help him wage a media campaign to win approval for his new wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
However, the youngest generation of royals, led by Prince William and Prince Harry, appear regularly in tabloid newspapers and celebrity magazines.
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