Living in the public eye is an inevitable consequence of fame, says Michael Nash
In early August two matters brought a simmering ire to boiling point. These were the Max Mosley case, brought against the News of the World, and the report in the Evening Standard that the Duke of Edinburgh had prostate cancer, which led to a test case against the British media via the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).
The duke has long been at loggerheads with the press due to what he perceives are intrusions into royal privacy, but central to this issue is the key factor of what constitutes “public interest”. The duke is a public figure. He is the consort of the head of state and the father of the heir to the throne. He cannot pretend to be a private figure, although of course, like everyone, he has a private life. The trouble is that the private lives of public figures are of interest to all. This is the price of fame or public status.
This is of course not the whole picture. British or English law long
