The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have found themselves at the centre of a privacy row after they chose to take their first family holiday in secret.
The royal couple flew with Prince George, two, and 10-month-old Princess Charlotte to a secret location in the French Alps last Wednesday.
Unlike royal ski holidays of old – when a group of photographers was invited to capture the family relaxing on the slopes – the Cambridges chose to escape the country without telling the media of their plans.
Instead of arranging a photo-call to mark the getaway, William and Kate invited only a single Press Association photographer, who took a small number of posed portraits. Six carefully selected photographs were then released to the Press this morning, hours after the family’s return.
However the details of the trip, including where young Prince George had his first experience of snow, remain a tightly-guarded secret.
The couple have previously made complaints over the media invading their privacy, and devote a lot of time to keeping their children out of the public eye.
Royal officials have yet to comment on how the family travelled to their ski destination or how much the holiday cost.
Secret holiday: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge invited just one photographer to capture their first family holiday with Prince George, two, and 10-month-old Princess Charlotte. The couple devote a lot of time to keeping their children out of the public eye
Just when we thought the Royal Family couldn’t get any more adorable, they went off skiing. And of course that meant Charlotte and George were looking more cute than ever before wrapped up warm in miniature ski-wear.
Charlotte at just ten months old of course won’t exactly be hitting the slopes, but Kate and William had ensured their youngest wasn’t going to catch a cold in the French Alps in this little snowsuit.
We couldn’t help but coo over her in a pink woolly hat and snowy white all-in-one with its cosy faux fur hood, and what you can’t actually see on Charlotte here is that the hood has ears on it too! It couldn’t get any sweeter.
The snowsuit is from John Lewis’ own line and the good news is it’s still available and just £28
In recent years William and Kate have made increasingly clear they wish to control access to information and images concerning their family. Traditional photo-calls have been scrapped in favour of Kensington Palace releasing carefully chosen images, often taken by the Duchess herself.
It was Kate who was behind the lens to capture the moment as her son toddled towards Westacre Montessori School for the first time. The doting mother also took the first official photographs of Princess Charlotte, which were released to the public a month after her birth.
On this occasion the pictures were taken by Press Association photographer John Stillwell. PA has declined to respond to any of MailOnline’s enquiries surrounding the arrangement, including whether the Royal Family were allowed to pre-approve the images released.
The private trip comes after Prince William was accused of being ‘workshy’ when it was revealed he worked just 80 hours a month as an ambulance pilot with East Anglian Air Ambulance. A senior aide revealed that he works the hours so he can combine the job with his royal and charity work.
Daily Mail
