In a recent case, Murray v Express Newspapers [2007], JK Rowling has forced the English court to reconcile the different approaches to celebrity privacy in England and Europe, as shown by the decisions of the House of Lords in the Naomi Campbell case, a first-instance decision involving Sir Elton John and a ruling by the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in a case involving Princess Caroline of Monaco.
In Campbell, the House of Lords held that no-one has a right to prevent themselves from being photographed when they are in a public place with no reasonable expectation of privacy. However, Campbell had been photographed leaving a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous. The Lords held that the photographs revealed too much information about her drug problem and the manner and place of its treatment and that this was an occasion when she had a legitimate expectation of privacy. Accordingly, the photographs could not be used.
