The paparazzi denounce that from Zarzuela they burst the exclusives of Felipe VI and Doña Letizia

The last image of Philip VI skiing in the Catalan Pyrenees has caused a lot of talk because, once again, the monarch traveled without Letizia. The image of the King, on the cover of Hola magazine, has an intra-history, according to some photographers who spend the winter working at the station. They complain that their exclusive has been destroyed and point to the Royal House.

Los paparazzi They were surprised when they saw the son of Juan Carlos I in the tracks. It was a good surprise because, as soon as they showed up, they were able to do their job and then not bother us. However, several of them maintain that, as soon as the head of state's bodyguards realized that there were photographers, they notified the Royal House. They claim that from Zarzuela they sent their photographer (or called the EFE agency) to break the exclusive. “To destroy our work,” says one of those who consider themselves harmed.

Several professionals maintain that it is a repeating pattern that destroys their exclusives. “This is what happened in Baqueira. When the security saw that there were photographers, a photographer from the EFE agency appeared shortly thereafter,” they denounce. That means there is less money for the reporters and Hola pays less money than she would have had to pay if there had not been more photos. The photographs from the Efe agency are distributed in all media.

“This dynamic of Casa Real is beginning to become common”

The paparazzi insist that this is not the first time this has happened. “This dynamic of Casa Real with the photojournalists who are on the street is beginning to become common. Not long ago they did it again,” remembers one of them. “It was when Princess Leonor was at the Astún ski resort with the rest of her classmates from the Zaragoza Military Academy carrying out maneuvers. Again there was a news agency with a photographer and when she realized they were there, The next day Casa Real sent one of its photographers to take photographs and give them to the media, breaking the exclusive and lowering the price of the report,” protests a photographer.

The relationship between the Royal House and photojournalists has not always been easy. When a photographer surprised a member of the Royal Family and the latter did not want to be photographed, the bodyguards made their work impossible to the point of stopping them and asking for their documentation to detain them while their “target” left with the certainty that they were no longer following him. Sometimes, they even deleted the photographs they had or took away the memory card from the cameras, or at the time, the photographic film.

In the book that the journalist Joaquín Abad has just published, Juan Carlos and Letizia, two parallel biographies (Editorial Cibeles), some anecdotes about the current queen are told with photographers who try to photograph her performing everyday actions such as going shopping or walking with a friend. “Felipe and Letizia were shopping in a shopping center and a pararazzi from the agency Antonio Montero he followed them. He took some photos of them and in a few minutes an escort approached him, but the photographer refused to give him the digital camera card. The police arrived with another agent who violently moved the paparazzi through the shopping center, opening doors and looking for a secluded place. He was taken into a room full of wires, stripped naked and interrogated for 15 minutes about where he had kept the card. They threatened him, even telling him where he lived. The photographer, Paco Ginés, endured the act and gave us the card. “He had thrown her into a hedge,” it is said in the aforementioned publication. The well-known paparazzo Antonio Montero He maintains that he has suffered harassment and has been subjected by the people who are in charge of protecting the Kings. For this reason, a few years ago he decided to stop doing it. “He has had to endure a lot of pressure,” they tell us.