No PCC inquiry into Sun's photos of naked Prince Harry

About 3,800 complaints have been made to the PCC about the images of the 27-year-old prince

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) says it will not for now investigate The Sun's printing of pictures of a naked Prince Harry.

The Sun was the only UK newspaper to defy advice and publish the pictures, taken in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The watchdog said it would be "inappropriate" to open an inquiry because the prince's representatives had not yet made a formal complaint.

About 3,800 complaints about the photos have been received by the PCC.

The press watchdog said any investigation without the approval of the prince's staff could "pose an intrusion".

The tabloid printed two photographs, believed to have been taken on a camera phone, of the prince in a hotel room with a naked woman.

The PCC had warned that printing the photographs - which were widely circulated on the internet prior to their publication - could breach the editor's code of practice on privacy grounds.

Representatives of the prince also requested the photos not be printed in the British press because it infringed the prince's right to a private life.

The PCC statement said: "The Commission is grateful to the many members of the public who have contacted it to express concerns about The Sun's coverage but has concluded that it would be inappropriate for it to open an investigation at this time."

A spokesman on behalf of St James's Palace said the prince's staff were "still considering matters" and would decide whether to make a formal complaint "in our own time".

He added that it was "down to editors to make a decision about what they chose to publish".

The Sun previously defended its decision, arguing that printing the pictures was in the public interest, and that it was an issue of freedom of the press.