Newspaper intern strips nude for front page of a Rupert Murdoch tabloid

The Sun has long been one of Britain's tawdriest papers.

The Rupert Murdoch–owned daily's topless Page 3 girls have attracted huge readership as well as criticism from feminists.

Today, however, the Sun has come under fire for getting a 21-year-old intern to strip for a front-page mock-up of Prince Harry's recent escapades in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The Guardian has reported that a photo of a naked Sophie Henderson "cuddling up to a Sun staffer who also stripped to pose as Prince Harry" appeared on the paper's front page.

It was the Sun's way of getting around a call from Buckingham Palace not to print photos of the naked prince.

Henderson and the staff person, picture editor Harry Miller, claimed in a statement that they were happy to remove their clothes.

If any editor tried doing this with a young female intern in Vancouver, he would probably find himself before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

But in Murdoch's newspaper empire, it appears that anything goes.

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.