Royal Breasts - Should We Courtesy?

Image c/o Take 40

BREASTS - you've got to love them. They give us milk, they keep Page 3 girls feed and, er, clothed, and, if you're a member of Cornershop, they provide a convenient pillow when tired. 

Perhaps more importantly than any of these, they sell newspapers and magazines. 

Unless your only contact with the world of publications is a subscription to Toothpick Bulletin, seeing two-dimensional breasts is a regular occurrence.  

Most of us are presented with an array of scantily clad women, and occasionally men, when perusing mainstream media. That doesn't make it right or wrong, merely commonplace. The fact that the public are so desensitised to nudity is a double-edge sword - and, let's face it, no one wants one of those around when naked. 

On a daily basis, you're quite likely to see some class of breast in whatever form of media you digest - pop star boob, actress boob, man boob. Recently, however, there a significant sighting to report - the rarest of all mammary gland creatures: royal boob. 

When topless photographs of England's future queen surfaced in French magazine Closer, not too many Irish eyelids batted. Their subsequent publication in the Irish Daily Star and ramifications of such were an entirely different story. 

The public reaction varied from apathy to anger. The fact that the images of a blissfully unaware Kate Middleton were taken in such a clandestine fashion led many to question the ethics of printing them. Yes, they were freely available online but was there sufficient public interest to publish the photographs in a national daily newspaper? 

It is noteworthy that the only other European publication to have printed the pictures - so far - is Italy's Chi. The magazine, which produced a special edition featuring a 26-page spread of a semi-nude Kate, is owned by Mondadori, the media conglomerate of one Silvio Berlusconi - bastion of all that is good and virtuous.

From an Irish perspective, Richard Desmond's announcement to seek a dissolution of the partnership of his company Northern & Shell and Independent News and Media (joint owners of the Irish Daily Star) was met with widespread shock and condemnation. The fact that the owner of illustrious titles such as The Very Best of Mega Boobs and Spunk Loving Sluts appeared so very horrified by the inclusion of the photos in a newspaper he was associated with would have been laughable were over one hundred Irish jobs not at stake. 

Desmond's reaction could be described as disproportionate. It could also be described as a convenient cover. The contract between Northern & Shell and INM is nearing its end and many commentators believe he has wanted to leave the Irish market for some time and is using this storm in a B cup as his way out. 

When questioned about ethics by the Leveson Inquiry in January of this year, Desmond responded: "Ethical – I don't know what the word means". Apparently, he's become acquainted with a dictionary since then.

In the immediate aftermath of the scandal, the British royal family took the unprecedented step of suing a media outlet over privacy issues, bringing Closer to court. The magazine has been banned from printing further topless photographs of Kate and has been ordered to hand over the original copies of the images and compensate the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for their legal fees.

It remains to seen as to whether or not the royal couple will take legal action against the Irish Daily Star. For now, its editor Michael O'Kane has been suspended and the rest of the employees' livelihoods hang in the balance. What happens next is anyone's guess.

So, alas, it looks as though we're heading back into another royal nudity drought. Although, we'll always have Harry. God save the third in line.