On Kate's Topless Photos

Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her breasts have hit the headlines, as you're possibly aware. Unlike some, I'm not going to use the incident as an excuse to publish some topless pictures of various women. No, I'm not really against "modelling" of that sort, but neither am I an advocate of it.

Frankly I just think it's a bit sad that some women want to do it and that there's sufficient demand to make them want to do it. If there wasn't the demand then they wouldn't want to do it, if they didn't do it..... you get the picture.

But I'm surprised at the Royal Fam's reaction to the publication of these pictures. Every newscast and all the papers here are full of stories about various publications being taken to court by the Royal Family, threats of people being sent to the Tower of London and all.

And that reaction, the dismay and upset, has made the episode much bigger news than it ever was in the first place.

It seems to me that, had William and Kate just laughed it off with a shrug of the shoulders, then things would have been very different. I'm not defending the rather intrusive picture taking either. Even though they were taken (as far as I can make out) within the boundaries of law, albeit Italian law which is quite oxymoronic at the best of times, particularly as far as sexual behaviour and public figures goes, I still think that their privacy has been significantly intruded upon.

However, they are senior figures of the British Royal Family and one would think that this sort of thing is something they half expect. I'm told that topless sunbathing among some of these European women is quite the done thing, that beaches in parts of France are full to the brim with breasts and armpit hair. And in Italy it's compulsory for female TV presenters to wear nothing from the waist up.

Of course over here it's fine for Britain's biggest selling newspaper to have a "page 3" every day, just not fine for the Duchess of Cambridge to appear as if she's in training for it.

But my very serious view is that the Royals would have done much better to have just laughed it off. Maybe it would have been better if Prince William had made a statement along the lines of

"Well we're disappointed that these photographs have appeared but the Duchess is proud of her body and it's not a big deal."

Followed perhaps by her next public appearance wearing one of those fake boob body mask things.

Instead of all this court case and cutting off their head business, which had merely highlighted something that most people aren't fussed about anyhow.