Palace won't pursue press complaint over photos of a naked Prince Harry

(CBS/AP) LONDON - Taking legal action over pictures of a naked Prince Harry that appeared in British tabloid last month would distract from the prince's current deployment in Afghanistan, the palace said Friday.

The Sun newspaper ran the snapshots last month after they had appeared online and were reproduced around the world.

St. James's Palace office said Friday it had decided not to pursue a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission.

The palace said a complaint would be a distraction from Harry's deployment in Afghanistan, where he is serving as a helicopter pilot, and it "would not be prudent to pursue the matter further."

The decision stands in contrast to the lawsuit and criminal complaint the palace has filed in France against a magazine that ran pictures of a topless Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.

The palace moved swiftly in the case of Prince William's wife, and within four days a French court ordered the gossip magazine to give up all digital copies of the photos and stop further publication of the images.

The legal action affected only the French publication and not media in other countries which quickly picked up the photos.

The duchess' photos were taken by paparazzi from a road about half a mile from the family-owned villa where the royal couple was vacationing.

Harry's photos, which depicted a game of strip billiards, was taken, apparently by a guest, at a party in the prince's Las Vegas hotel suite.