Lawyers take action over topless Kate pictures

It is now up to the prosecutor to investigate and possibly lay charges over the notorious images published last week in France’s Closer magazine.

A palace spokeswoman said: “The complaint concerns the taking of photographs of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge whilst on holiday and the publication of those photographs in breach of their privacy.”

William and Kate’s lawyers are also going to the civil courts seeking damages and an injunction preventing further publication.

The case will be heard in Paris at the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre.

Closer is published by the Mondadori media group which also publishes Italian gossip magazine Chi, which has promised a 26-page special edition featuring images of the royal couple on holiday.

The palace said no decision has been taken on separate legal proceedings in Italy.

Deserving topic?

French Closer, which is run by a different company from the British version, caused outrage when it published the images of the couple enjoying private holiday moments at Chateau d’Autet, near Aix-en-Provence.

The decision was roundly condemned, but it did not put off the Irish Daily Star carrying the images on Saturday, much to its owners’ and the palace’s fury.

The duchess’s distress was increased when Chi said it would publish more images of the pair on holiday.

Chi editor Alfonso Signorini, defending his decision to publish pictures of Kate sunbathing in his magazine, said the images were taken from a public road by photographers on public land and were permissible under Italian privacy laws.

A special 26-page edition of the magazine, which is owned by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, was published today despite legal action in France taken by the couple’s lawyers against France’s Closer magazine, which published them first.

The front cover of Chi has the words “Kate Middleton Court Scandal – the Queen is nude!”.

‘I sell photographic scoops’

Mr Signorini told Sky News that it was his business to “sell photographic scoops” and he was the director of a newspaper, “not a supermarket”.

“I am a director of a newspaper not a supermarket, I don’t sell artichokes and carrots, I sell photographic scoops,” he said.

“If I had not published them I would not be paid for the job I do. Above all, I published them for various reasons, as a journalistic scoop, it satisfies the curiosity of the readers, it is first time that the future Queen of England has been pictured in such a way.

“They are natural pictures, there is no morbidity about them, there is nothing that could affect the dignity of the person involved, the Duchess of Cambridge.

“Lastly, they were taken on a public road by photographers on public land. The Duchess was sunbathing on a terrace, sadly for her.

“The Italian privacy laws say that we can quite happily take pictures from a public road, of personalities, exposed places, in open air.”French Closer defended publication, in a statement saying: “The photos we selected are by no means degrading.

“They show a young couple on vacation, beautiful, love, modern in their normal life.”

The Irish Daily Star’s decision to publish drew anger from its joint owners, Northern and Shell and Independent News and Media (INM), who both denied responsibility.