Walking through the restaurant of a hotel in Istanbul, Katie Price posed for the paparazzi to show off her latest cosmetic surgery – a facelift.

The glamour model was wearing surgical bandages and stitching tape following the procedure in photographs that were published on the same day as her daughter Princess’s new fly-on-the-wall documentary series dropped on ITV.

Katie’s pictures were clearly set up as she would otherwise have had an expectation of privacy inside the Turkish hotel, a move that I can reveal has once again irked those close to her ex – and Princess’s father – Peter Andre.

It was yet another example of Katie desperately grabbing the limelight when it should have been focused on her 18-year-old daughter’s face as she released her new four-part series, The Princess Diaries on ITV2.

As I revealed some months ago, Katie, 46, was banned from appearing in it as the series was made by Peter’s management team, with whom she fell out catastrophically following the couple’s 2009 divorce after four years of marriage.

One associate said: ‘Katie would have known exactly when those pictures were going to be published.

‘She has form for setting picture opportunities up with the paparazzi and this appears to be no exception. She will have got a cut of the sale but also been involved in when they would go out. They went out at 1.21pm on the same day of Princess launching her show.

‘What a sad, horrible attempt to take some of the attention away from her own daughter.’

Katie Price and Peter Andre divorced in 2009 after being married for four years

Peter’s management team banned Katie from appearing in their daughter Princess’s new reality series The Princess Diaries on ITV2

It was this kind of behaviour – together with Katie’s claims that she had been excluded from Princess’s rising career, and that their children lived equally between them – that forced him to respond with a blistering statement on social media.

The main catalyst, however, was the torment that Princess has endured thanks to her mother’s refusal to publicly support her.

‘Katie has gone on and on about it and just won’t stop. At every opportunity she’s made up lies and slagged off her own daughter’s show.

‘She even said she wouldn’t be watching it. Imagine the hurt for Princess. Peter knew Katie would have something to say but nobody thought it would be this bad.’

Last Thursday, Katie urged Peter to take part in peace talks – claiming Princess has been ‘unfairly’ dragged into their feud after there were rumours of a family rift because she didn’t appear in Princess’ show.

Hours later, Peter, 52, shared his side of the story, explaining: ‘For 16 years, I have stayed silent in the face of repeated lies from my ex-wife and her family, out of respect for my children and loved ones, but staying silent has been incredibly frustrating. That ends today.

‘The latest comments about my children’s welfare and living arrangements compel me to set the record straight. For well-documented reasons, and for their safety, Junior and Princess came into my care in 2018 and remained with me until they reached adulthood.

‘In 2019, the family courts issued a legally binding order to enforce this arrangement. I have never made this public before, out of respect for my children.

Katie and Princess are rumoured to have fallen out – with Katie’s exclusion from the show said to have sent her into a ‘full-on rage’

Princess with her brother Junior Andre ahead of the show’s launch

‘Unfortunately there are many more lies and baseless accusations I have yet to address. Those will now be dealt with in the coming months.’

While for those who have followed the saga it might have been the next entertaining twist, for Peter, wife Emily and their management team, Katie’s interference in her own daughter’s shining moment has ’caused them nothing but aggravation,’ I’m told.

And now it is understood that he is considering calling in lawyers to deal with Katie’s false claims that she has made – something that could potentially cost Katie a fortune to fight.

‘Pete is a really, really calm man and he will always do what is best for his children,’ says one friend of the star. ‘And he has always remained silent despite Katie’s public goading, for the sake of his kids.

‘But you can’t even begin to imagine how upset he has been for his beloved daughter in the last fortnight so unfortunately he had to do it, it was the time. Pete has always kept his mouth shut, in fact, he vowed never to speak of Katie in public again but with her spouting off whatever she wanted on her podcast it was becoming dangerous and offensive and he had to put a stop to that.

‘He will always protect his children and if that means getting lawyers involved then he will. He has always tried to navigate Katie in a way so not to affect the children but that’s over now, the gloves are off.’

I can also reveal that one of the major factors that has riled Katie is that Peter’s doctor wife Emily is shown on The Princess Diaries and appears to have a close relationship with her stepdaughter.

She is seen putting up childhood pictures of Princess in the run up to her birthday party – a role that a mother might usually do. She also gave Princess advice on clothes.

‘Emily is a lovely woman who has embraced having Princess and Junior in her life,’ said one source close to the family.

‘She took them in full-time when Princess was about 11 and she has been like a mother to her. Emily herself was only in her late 20s but she adored the role she had. She and Pete made Princess and Junior what they are today and that must be a horrible feeling for Katie but it’s the truth.’

While the siblings have always maintained a relationship with their mother, it was at times infrequent and also chaotic.

Princess and Junior are also aware, as I am, of other issues with Katie and her domestic life, which for legal reasons I am unable to divulge. Suffice to say, they have had to endure a lot in their short lives.

‘Princess and Junior are also loving older siblings to their little sister Bunny and brother Jett [Katie’s children with ex-husband Kieran Hayler],’ said one friend. ‘But it all feels such a mess at the moment. We have no idea how this will all end but what Pete will always make sure of is that the kids are his top priority.

‘Unlike Katie, who seems more interested in flying to Turkey for more surgery and to elevate her own profile.’ In more than one sense, and whatever the cost, it seems.