Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton have been awarded €103,000 in damages following the publication of topless photographs of Kate almost five years ago.
France’s Closer Magazine was ordered to pay €100,000 at a Paris court over the long-lens images of Kate sunbathing on a terrace, after it was ruled they had breached her privacy. The photos, taken as Kate holidayed with the Duke at a private chateau in Provence, southern France, adorned the front and inside pages of the publication in September 2012.
Presiding judge Florence Lasserre-Jeannin also instructed regional newspaper La Provence, which printed images of the Duchess in her swimwear, to pay €3,000 in damages during the hearing at the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre.
Today’s judgment follows the trial of six people – including three photographers – linked to Closer Magazine and La Provence, which began in May.
The judge convicted all six defendants of charges relating to the taking and publication of the images.