Long-lens images were spread across the front and inside pages of Closer alongside an article about Kate and William with the headline "Oh my God!". Photo / Getty Images
Long-lens images were spread across the front and inside pages of Closer alongside an article about Kate and William with the headline "Oh my God!". Photo / Getty Images
A French court has ordered Closer magazine in France to pay €100,000 ($164,000) in civil damages and a further €90,000 ($1468,000) in fines for publishing topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge while on holiday in Provence in 2012.
The civil damages were far lower than the €1.5 million ($2.4 million) that the Duke and Duchess had asked for but their lawyer, Jean Veil, said that they were "twice as high as normal in such a case".
In the criminal case, Laurence Pieau, the editor of Closer in France and Ernesto Mauri, chief executive of the Mondadori group which owns the magazine, were both handed the maximum fines of €45,000 ($74,000) for invasion of privacy.
Cyril Moreau and Dominique Jacovides, two Paris-based agency photographers suspected of having taken the topless photographs, were fined €10,000 ($16,400) each, with half suspended.
A week before Closer published the shots, another image of the couple from a different angle - and not topless - were printed in La Provence, a regional daily.
The court ordered La Provence to pay €3,000 ($4900) in damages and its publishing director at the time, Marc Auburtin, and photographer Valerie Suau were ordered to pay suspended fines of €1,500 ($2460) and €1,000 ($1600).
Speaking afterwards, Paul-Albert Iweins, a lawyer for Closer said: "Two observations: the Windsor spouses demanded one and a half million and they got €50,000 ($82,300) each, which is in line with previous legal precedents, and we are happy with that. However, the fine seems exaggerated for a simple private affair," he said.
A statement from William was read to the court in which he said the photos brought back painful memories of the "harassment" his mother had endured by paparazzi. Photo / Getty Images
Jean Weil, lawyer for Kate and William declined to comment, saying: "It is up to the Duke and Duchess to say whether they consider this verdict positive or not."
Presiding judge Florence Lasserre-Jeannin delivered her judgment during the hearing at the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on the terrace of a private chateau in Provence owned by Viscount Linley, the Queen's nephew, when they were photographed in September 2012.
The long-lens images were spread across the front and inside pages of Closer alongside an article about the pair with the headline "Oh my God!".
One of the most intimate shots showed the Duchess of Cambridge topless and having suncream rubbed into her by Prince William.
The verdict comes just after the 20th anniversary of the death in Paris of Diana, Princess of Wales.
During the trial, a statement from the Duke was read to the court in which he said the photos brought back painful memories of the "harassment" his mother had endured by paparazzi.
Closer's lawyers had countered that it was of public interest to know that "the potential future heirs to the throne have a solid relationship and are getting on well. It's all part of the royal business".
They had slammed the request for €1.5 million as "an Anglo-Saxon reasoning of punitive damages" in a French court.
The judgment comes just one day after it was announced Kate and William are expecting their third child together.
FIRST ROYAL PRIVACY CASE
The first royal to take action against privacy was Queen Victoria, in a landmark case in 1849.
The case revolved around a collection of deeply personal etchings of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's baby daughter and home life.
The couple attempted to legally block the pictures, personally annotated by Victoria, being put on public show without their permission.
The pictures, innocent by today's standards, caused uproar in 1849.
Despite being intended for Victoria and Albert's personal records, journalist Jasper Judge got hold of copies of the etchings via a printmaker in Windsor.
He approached publisher William Strange to plan an exhibition and catalogue.
Learning of the approach, the Royals immediately sought legal advice, and launched a lawsuit attempting to ban the display and protect their family's privacy.
Barrister Sir J Knight Bruce, prosecuting, noted that the printer's actions had been "an intrusion not alone in breach of conventional rules, but offensive to that inbred sense of propriety natural to every man - if, intrusion indeed fitly describes a sordid spying into the privacy of domestic life - into the home (a word hitherto sacred among us)".
Victoria and Albert won their case, which is said to remain a defining judgement in the development of the law of copyright.
