Photo Ban On Will's Girl
The Times, Sun and News Of The World newspapers have banned the use of paparazzi pictures of Prince William's girlfriend in their pages.
It follows reports that lawyers for the Royal family are preparing a case to protect the privacy of Kate Middleton.
Interest has grown in Ms Middleton, who is 25 today, amid rumours she might become engaged to the second-in-line to the throne.
At least 40 paparazzi were outside her Chelsea home this morning as she left for work, along with six television crews and a host of foreign journalists.
A police officer at the house said the number of photographers and reporters was growing 'day by day'.
There are fears Ms Middleton could become the centre of the sort of media circus that surrounded Prince William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Preliminary hearings began on Monday at the inquest into her death in a Paris underpass in August 1997.
One of the questions to be answered is what role, if any, the photographers who pursued her car had in the fatal crash.
Pictures of Princess Diana during her life were sold to newspapers for vast sums.
The price for a snap of Ms Middleton is already on the increase.
The going rate for a straightforward photo is said to be £1,000, with a picture of her in a bikini likely to fetch more than £20,000.
Ms Middleton is expected to celebrate her birthday apart from Prince William.
He is confined to the barracks of his new regiment The Blues and Royals in Windsor as he prepares to undergo officer training.
Bookmaker William Hill has shortened the odds of the couple getting engaged this year from 5/1 to 2/1 and is offering just 4/1 that they will have a full state wedding in 2007.
Skynews
