In September 2012, pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton sunbathing topless in France were published by two publications. One of which displayed shots of the former Kate Middleton half-naked having suncream rubbed into her buttocks by William at a private chateau owned by Viscount Linley, the son of Princess Margaret, the deceased sister of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in the south of France.
The grainy snaps triggered an immediate furore in Britain, and the angry royal couple launched legal proceedings in France. At the time, Prince William and Kate Middleton were in Malaysia on the second leg of their Asia Pacific tour to commemorate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.
In October 2012, it reported that the photographers responsible for snapping the shots was identified and held for questioning.
And just today, it was announced that the head of the Mondadori Group (which publishes glossy French magazine “Closer”) and a photographer at daily La Provence were both charged with “invasion of privacy” – over the publication of intimate photos of Prince William’s wife Catherine sunbathing topless in France that sparked a furore.
The head of Judges in the Paris suburb of Nanterre charged Ernesto Mauri, chief executive of Mondadori, for having allowed the topless shots to be published in Closer on 14th September. Photographer Valerie Suau, meanwhile, was charged for taking photos of the Duchess of Cambridge in a swimsuit in the same place, which were printed in La Provence a week earlier on 7th September.
The royal couple’s lawyer Aurelien Hamelle, Mondadori, and La Provence all refused to comment when contacted by AFP.
(Source)
