Wills And Kate Draw Emotional Tour To An End
The royals have had to put on a brave face for the media at times during their tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.
Wednesday 19 September 2012 06:27, UK
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have begun their journey home after completing their nine-day tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.
It was a tour where images of the couple were always going to make headlines, but no-one expected them to be about photographs breaching the couple's privacy.
After a low-key start to the four-nation visit in Singapore, it was the Duchess of Cambridge's maiden overseas speech in Kuala Lumpur that kicked-started the tour.
Kate and William visited Hospis Malaysia, where she met young children suffering from life-threatening illnesses.
But all that was forgotten by the following day - when French magazine Closer published photographs of Kate topless while on holiday with Prince William in Provence a week earlier.
Having been told about the images, later that morning the couple arrived in central Kuala Lumpur at Malaysia's biggest mosque.
Kate covered up her shoulders, wore a headscarf and removed her shoes as she and her husband put on a brave face for the press.
But behind the scenes they were angry, and at times the Duke found it hard to hide his emotions.
Palace sources initially told Sky News the couple was "saddened" by the publication of photographs of private intimate moments.
But within hours, St James' Palace made it clear William and Kate were furious.
They called it a "grotesque" invasion of privacy, behaviour which had not been seen since "the days of Diana, Princess of Wales".
But that didn't stop other publications following Closer's lead. The Irish Daily Star and Italy's Chi magazine also bought and published the images.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made it clear they would not stand for the publication, and mounted civil and criminal challenges in the French courts against the photographer or photographers and Closer magazine.
By this time the couple had arrived in the tranquillity of the rainforests of Borneo. It was a chance to take stock and unwind.
The couple held hands as they were hoisted up into the canopy and walked across an Indiana Jones-style rope bridge joining the trees.
The following day the couple arrived in the Solomon Islands on the penultimate stage of their tour.
Paraded through the streets of Honiara on a vehicle shaped like a traditional canoe, tens of thousands turned out to welcome the man who will one day be their king.
With legal action under way, the couple appeared to have drawn a line under the matter and were focused on the job of representing the Queen on this Diamond Jubilee leg of the trip.
Greeted by warriors, drum-beating and panpipes, the couple immersed themselves in a culture unlike any they had seen before.
A trip to the island of Tavanipupu allowed the Duke and Duchess complete privacy, away from the cameras.
St James' Palace told Sky News William and Kate had taken the opportunity to go snorkelling.
By the time the couple had arrived in Tuvalu, in the South Pacific, lawyers in Paris had secured an injunction preventing Closer from publishing the photographs of Kate topless again.
Whether the couple were aware of the good news didn’t seem to matter. They appeared to be having a ball.
In true Tuvaluan style, grass skirts were placed around the waists of a grinning William and Kate, and both began dancing the 'Fatele'.
It was as if the past few days had never happened
As they fly home they will no doubt reflect on the tour's highs, but also the many lows which together define a couple not prepared to be walked all over.