As part of their ongoing India and Bhutan tour, Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton visited the war memorial India Gate in Delhi on Monday. However, several national and international newspapers chose to highlight one particular picture from the couple's visit.
The royal couple were paying their respects to Indian soldiers who died during service at India Gate's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on a particularly windy day. Several Indian and international publications zeroed in on photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge's skirt flying up due to the breeze, describing it as her "Marilyn Monroe moment".
Kate Middleton has a Marilyn Monroe windy dress moment in India: https://t.co/VsTl7ovE8T pic.twitter.com/FoH1wlOv4m— E! Online (@eonline) April 11, 2016
Kate Middleton had a Marilyn Monroe-style wardrobe malfunction and handled it like a lady https://t.co/yUmqVXW2PI pic.twitter.com/aMN3F9cJQb— New York Post (@nypost) April 11, 2016
Kate Middleton almost has a 'Marilyn Monroe moment' on tour of Indiahttps://t.co/SST2l6LgJG pic.twitter.com/98HuNBQiVd— Mirror Royal (@MirrorRoyal) April 11, 2016
Kate Middleton has a breezy Marilyn Monroe moment on India trip https://t.co/ZTqZgZWCmE pic.twitter.com/wdTPcsMTVk— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) April 11, 2016
In the process, many missed the distinction between Monroe's posed photographs and Middleton's accidental one, raising questions around consent and privacy.
The coverage sparked outrage on Twitter, with many criticising the underlying sexism in the media coverage. Marilyn Monroe, meanwhile, quickly became a trending topic on Twitter in India.
This is the lead story in @timesofindia. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/7VdQbERIlZ— Veena Venugopal (@veenavenugopal) April 12, 2016
What is WITH @timesofindia's weird obsession with objectifying women? A FRONT PAGE feature on Kate's "Marilyn Monroe" moment, REALLY?— ☆ ritchelle ☆ (@sadukifarzi) April 12, 2016
If you're going to hate ToI for its "Kate's Marilyn Moment", then please do the same to the 1,000-odd publications who did exactly the same.— Deepanjana Pal (@dpanjana) April 12, 2016