LONDON – Brace yourself, Harry.

A prominent British public relations guru said Friday he’d been approached by two women who claimed to have more material on Prince Harry, raising the possibility that the world may soon be seeing more compromising images of the British royal.

Earlier this week, celebrity gossip website TMZ published photos of Harry romping in the nude during a party at his Las Vegas hotel suite. Many Britons have laughed off the 27-year-old prince’s hijinks, but questions have been raised about his publicly funded security detail.

In a telephone interview, publicist Max Clifford said he had been called by two American women who claim they were in the prince’s hotel room in the U.S. last week. Clifford, a savvy operator famous for negotiating kiss-and-tell interviews, said the women “said they had lots of interesting things: pictures, video, that kind of thing.”

He said he turned them down.

“I couldn’t justify this,” he said. “It’s an infringement of his privacy. That’s why I said no.”

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On Thursday, TMZ claimed that “several girls” had taken pictures at the start of the party with their cellphones and that “more photos were taken” after the clothes came off. Neither TMZ nor Clifford has made clear whether they believe the unreleased photographs show the prince in the nude.

British publications have largely steered clear of the photographs, with the prominent exception of Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid, which became the first paper to splash the pictures across its front page on Friday with the words: “HEIR IT IS!” and marketing the grainy photograph as a “souvenir printed edition.”

Britain’s Press Complaints Commission said it has received more than 850 complaints about the naked pictures in the tabloid, mostly from members of the public. Nearly all of the complaints are about invasion of privacy and will be investigated, the commission added.

The paper said it had defied the wishes of the royal family because there was a public interest in knowing what the prince, who represented the queen at the 2012 Olympic Games and is heavily involved in charity work, was up to while abroad.

Privacy lawyer Chris Hutchings said the paper’s public interest argument could have traction.

Usher awarded custody of two sons

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ATLANTA – Grammy-winning R&B singer Usher was awarded custody on Friday of his two sons, ending a long legal fight with his ex-wife.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane ruled that the 33-year-old singer will have primary custody of Usher Raymond V and Naviyd Ely Raymond, according to court clerk’s office spokeswoman Cherrise Boone. His custody will start Sept. 1.

Boone said Usher and his ex-wife Tameka Foster Raymond will have joint legal custody.

Usher, whose real name is Usher Raymond IV, married Tameka Raymond in 2007. They divorced in 2009, having been separated since July 2008.

Paparazzo challenging California law

LOS ANGELES – A paparazzo charged with recklessly pursuing Justin Bieber for photos will challenge the constitutionality of the law targeting aggressive celebrity-hounding tactics, his attorney said Friday.

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Attorney David S. Kestenbaum filed a motion asking a judge to declare that the 2010 California statute penalizing those who drive recklessly in pursuit of commercial photos is unconstitutional.

The 17-page motion argues the law used to charge his client, Paul Raef, violates First Amendment protections for the press and is too broad.

The photographer was charged last month after a July 6 high-speed pursuit on a Los Angeles freeway involving the pop singer and other paparazzi.

Raef is the first person charged under the law.

– From news service reports


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