Mail angers palace with William stories
Claire Cozens
Wednesday September 3, 2003
Prince William: articles allege he killed deer on foreign trips
St James's Palace has written to the editor of the Mail on Sunday to complain about a series of articles accusing Prince William of killing deer, including an endangered species.
Prince Charles's aides contacted Peter Wright about the stories, which sparked a storm of protest from animal rights groups despite a denial from St James's Palace.
The first story, published on August 10, alleged that Prince William had killed a dik-dik dwarf deer - described by the paper as a "bambi-like animal" - with a Masai warrior spear on a recent trip to Kenya.
The palace insisted the story was not true, but it was picked up by media outlets all over the world and provoked widespread condemnation of the prince, including a letter from the pop star Pink urging him to change his ways.
The following week, the Mail on Sunday published a second article claiming Prince William had killed a near extinct species of deer, the huemel, with a morphine-loaded dart gun three years ago.
The story, headlined "Oops, I did it again!", alleged that the prince had accidentally hit an elderly huemel deer with the dart while working on a conservation project during his gap year in Chile.
That story too was denied by the palace, which has confirmed it has written to Wright about the reports.
But the Mail on Sunday is standing by its stories.
"We have responded to St James's Palace and explained that we have first-hand accounts of both incidents and that we have no reason to doubt them," said Wright.
The clash follows a promise from the palace to provide access to the prince at least once a term after newspapers complained they were being frozen out.
Editors agreed to steer clear of paparazzi shots of the prince during his four years at university in exchange for regular updates from the palace.
But the agreement threatened to break down earlier this year when, frustrated by the lack of official access, the News of the World published pictures of the prince carrying his shopping home from Tesco.
Prince Charles' private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, has now promised to provide information on Prince William at least once a term.
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