Royals go to court over topless Kate photos

Legal fight brews in France while royal couple tours Solomon Islands

The Associated Press

Posted: Sep 16, 2012 8:04 AM ET

Last Updated: Sep 17, 2012 1:14 AM ET

Lawyers for the Royal Family will go to court in France on Monday in a bid to stop further publication in that country of topless photos of William's wife Kate, the prince's office said Sunday.

Prince William and wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, pose for a photo in Honiara, Solomon Islands on Sunday. William West/Associated Press

St. James's Palace says lawyers will seek an injunction against Italian media group Mondadori, which publishes France's Closer and Italy's Chi gossip magazines.

The palace also will seek damages from the publisher, which is owned by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Last week, Closer published paparazzi snaps of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, sunbathing during a holiday at a relative's chateau in Provence. Chi says it will publish 26 pages of the images — taken with a long lens from hundreds of meters away — on Monday.

An Irish tabloid reproduced the Closer photos on Saturday, but no British publication has run them, and Britain's tabloids have lined up to denounce them as an invasion of the duchess' privacy.

The palace condemned publication of the images and said it was considering "all proportionate responses" against Chi, though no decision has been made on legal action against it or the Irish Daily Star.

The strong response stands in contrast to the reception of naked photos of Prince Harry partying in Las Vegas, which appeared online last month and were later published in Britain's Sun tabloid. The palace shrugged off the photos, snapped during a game of strip billiards, and took no action against those who published them.

Some see British papers' reluctance to run the Kate photos as a sign the country's once-rambunctious tabloids have been cowed by a scandal over phone hacking and other wrongdoing, which brought public opprobrium and an ongoing media-ethics inquiry.

The storm over the photos erupted as William and Kate made an official tour of Singapore, Malaysia and the South Pacific. They arrived in the Solomon Islands on Sunday and will end their trip Tuesday in the island nation of Tuvalu.

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