This week there have been few other stories that have attracted the same amount of attention as Prince Harry’s antics. While on a trip to Las Vegas he was photographed playing ‘strip billiards’ with a young woman – it would seem they’d both lost the game as neither had any clothes left.

The pictures, taken in a hotel room by a fellow partygoer, were apparently sold for £10,000 and quickly appeared on US website TMZ. Soon after, they went viral and newspapers and websites across the globe were soon covering the story and displaying the pictures – they didn’t, however, appear in UK newspapers.

With their press office working at lightning speed, St James’s Palace wrote to the Press Complaints Commission and to British newspapers asking them not to publish the photos saying it would be a breach of the Prince’s privacy. Surprisingly the request worked and while they all covered the story, none of the mainstream news organisations used the pictures – The Sun going to great lengths, even managed to persuade an intern and a reporter to pose for a mock-up of the picture. Former News of the World editor, Neil Wallis told the BBC; “that before the Leveson Inquiry he would have published the pictures because it was in the public interest, but the inquiry had “neutered” the press”.

This morning, The Sun had a volte face and published the images.

The newspaper’s managing editor David Dinsmore has since explained his big management call.

The move by The Sun will be welcomed by many commentators who have been concerned that Leverson is leading to a compromising of an important British value – a free and uninhibited press.

Yet it is worth remembering that it has still taken The Sun 48 hours to print shots that anyone who wanted to see them has already seen. And the remaining newspapers are still observing St James’s Palace’s veto.

“While the nude pictures of Harry are just gossipy trivia, I remain concerned that the Establishment is openly controlling what an ostensibly free press can and cannot do,” said the editor of Professional Manager this morning.

One thing is for sure; Prince Harry may not have changed but, post-Leveson, it seems that the British media just might have.