Prince William asked his lawyers to force the Daily Star, a down-market UK tabloid, to apologise for mistakenly claiming that he had "wrecked" a £2 million RAF plane during pilot training.
The prince's solicitor, Gerrard Tyrrell, of Harbottle & Lewis, contacted the Daily Star to complain about the 14th April story which had claimed that William had flicked the wrong switch in the cockpit and forced an RAF plane to be grounded for a week. The story carried the headline: "Flop gun: Pilots have a giggle at Wills' gaffe".
"The 345mph RAF Tucano was grounded for more than a week as air force investigators pored over it to discover what had caused a 700 degree centigrade temperature surge," the story said.
"But they found nothing wrong with the plane – and put it down to 'pilot error'."
Today the Daily Star published an apology for its claim on page two. "We have been asked to make clear that, although the plane's engine had to be stripped and was out of action for a short time for investigation, no damage was done by the prince and the plane was not 'wrecked'," the paper said.
"We apologise to Prince William for any embarrassment our article may have caused."
UK newspapers has set up an outfit called the Press complaints Commission to handle complaints but it is now considered to be ineffectual and is often sidelined as in this case or with litigation.