Royalty in the News

A Dutch court today ruled in favor for the Dutch Crown Princely family in a lawsuit against the Associated Press. Judge Sjoukje Rullmann said that the U.S. news agency violated the family’s privacy during a skiing vacation in Argentina.

AP FILE

The AP expressed disappointment and said in a statement that it will “review this ruling with its counsel and evaluate appropriate next steps.”

The AP photographed Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, Crown Princess Maxima and their eldest daughter Catharina-Amalia skiing at a resort in Argentina last month. The pictures appeared in several Dutch news outlets. When the royal family asked that the photos be removed due to a media code which protects the royal family’s privacy, the news outlets agreed. But when the AP did not, a lawsuit came about.

The news agency argued that the royal family were public figures in a public place. But Judge Rullman ruled that while that was so, the Dutch royals had a right to privacy as anyone else.

“The four photos that are central in this case were taken during a private vacation of the plaintiffs and show them during private activities,” she ruled.

“The conclusion is that the right to respect the personal sphere weighs more heavily than the right to freedom of expression in publishing these four photos,” the ruling said.

“Plaintiffs must, as public figures fulfilling a constitutional function, endure attention from the media, even when they are appearing in private and especially when they appear in a public place. However this does not mean that the plaintiffs, when they appear in private, should always have to be alert that photos made in that situation can be offered to the media for publication.”

In a statement, the AP said the ruling “would have the unfortunate effect of unduly restraining the exercise of freedom of information globally, and seeks to create a real risk that the public might be kept in the dark in relation to activities about which it has a right to know.

“The decision also seeks to impose an undue and unprecedented burden on a global news operation like the Associated Press and fails to recognize that individual publishers make the actual and final determination whether publication of particular information is justified within any given jurisdiction,” it said.

Judge Rullman ordered the AP to pay 1,000 euros ($1,435) for the publication of the photos.

There is a media code within the Dutch media where the royals are granted privacy in exchange for posing for the media at certain times. When the AP photographed the royals skiing, the family felt it violated the media code.