Britain's Prince William in paparazzi row

LONDON, (Reuters)

A British tabloid newspaper withdrew plans to publish a paparazzi picture of Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton on Saturday after he complained they had been aggressively pursued by photographers.

William, second in line to the throne, said that paparazzi had chased the couple on motorbikes and in cars as they were driven away from a London nightclub, just days after an inquest opened into his mother's death in a high-speed crash. Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were killed when their Mercedes limousine crashed in a Paris tunnel in 1997 while being chased by paparazzi.

"Having already been photographed leaving a club, he and Kate Middleton were then pursued in his car by photographers on motorcycles, in vehicles and on foot," the prince's press secretary Paddy Harverson said in a statement.

"This aggressive pursuit was potentially dangerous, and worrying for them. It seems incomprehensible, particularly at this time, that this behaviour is still going on." Photographers had massed outside the exclusive Boujis nightclub, hoping to capture the couple together in public for the first time since they rekindled their on-off relationship.