If the Royal Family is upset by the media hounding Prince George, why are they feeding the frenzy?

If the Palace wants George left alone they should stop trying to build his profile

Prince George photographed for his official Christmas picture (PA)

Kensington Palace has just come out swinging, this time against the international media for harassing Prince George and his new-born sister, Charlotte. According to the Royal Family, George has become the paparazzi’s “number one target”, and his parents are enraged.

Seedy photographers are hiding in car boots, stalking George’s nanny, burying themselves in sand. They have even tried to lure the boy out into play parks by using other children as decoys. It's all rather appalling, and as the Palace is keen to point out, we – the hungry consumers of such photos – are to blame.

This is true. Yet the statement from the Palace is probably the most hypocritical act of guilt-trippery in the history of royal public relations.

The Royal Family publicity machine clearly knows that the British people are hungry for photos, and tries to satisfy an insatiable global curiosity by releasing a handful of photographs every few months. That’s great, although what else are they but a tease? The Palace is dangling photos in front of the Monarchy's adoring fandom, and then wondering why they swoop in for more.

If the family wants Prince George left alone, they could start by resisting the urge to send batches of images to every single media outlet on planet earth whenever he loses a tooth. They’re perpetuating global interest in the poor kid, and that interest is what goes on to fuel gross invasions of his privacy. This tweet is a good example:

To be clear: it is not okay to take photos of children without their parents’ permission. Never. It’s not allowed in the country’s primary schools or sports clubs, and so it’s difficult to rationalise snapping unauthorised images of the Prince.

But do you honestly think the Royal photographer asks a two-year-old whether he wants his picture taken and distributed to the global media? Either way, this boy has absolutely no control over his image – and he never will. That’s not fair, and it’s not right. But as they say, heavy lies the crown, and until the UK starts to reassess its obsessive relationship with the Monarchy this isn't going to change.

In a perfect world, the media could leave George and his young sister alone. The royal siblings could go to the park and play with other children without anyone giving them a second glance, and everybody could treat them as though they were perfectly normal. But the thing is, they’re not normal – and so the Palace is wasting time even asking us, or the media it so regularly pacifies, to make believe.