Sandy Henney, who has resigned as the Prince of Wales's press secretary, played a key part in ensuring that Princes William and Harry avoided the full glare of the media spotlight.

She worked with the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) and with the approval of newspaper editors to safeguard their privacy as schoolboys.

The row involving The Daily Telegraph over who owns the valuable copyright to pictures of Prince William has prompted PCC chairman Lord Wakeham to postpone a speech on Prince William's privacy.

Lord Wakeham was due to speak next week on the Prince's privacy as he turns 18 - William's birthday is on 21 June.

The PCC chief is expected to appeal to editors to allow the teenager to continue to enjoy a private life free from media harassment.

Media deal worked well

The arrangement which Sandy Henney helped maintain had worked well before the copyright row erupted and that arrangement had been acknowledged by the Prince of Wales.

In return for media co-operation, she stage-managed photo calls at milestones in the lives of the princes.

They included William posing with his father and brother during a skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland, and one of the Prince at Highgrove as he prepared to take his driving test.

Miss Henney authorised a photograph of Prince William on horseback while out hunting.

Eton picture opportunity

The co-operation deal with the media also involved a set-piece picture of William enrolling at Eton College, accompanied by his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, his father and his brother.

Miss Henney orchestrated the Prince's first, and so far only, media interview - in which he responded at the age of 16 to written questions supplied by the Press Association news agency.

The timing of her resignation is ironic as preparations were also under way for pictures to be taken of William at Eton when he celebrates his 18th birthday.