A French court ruled Tuesday that a French celebrity magazine must pay 100,000 euros in damages to Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate over topless photos of the duchess published in 2012. The court also ordered Closer magazine's editor Laurence Pieau and publisher Ernesto Mauri to each pay 45,000 euros ($53,000) in fines, the maximum possible.
The couple had sought 1.5 million euros in damages and interest, but said they were "pleased" with the verdicts after a "serious breach of privacy." "They wished to make the point strongly that this kind of unjustified intrusion should not happen," said a statement issued by a spokesperson.
The grainy snaps of Kate Middleton sunbathing in a bikini bottom were taken while she was on holiday in September 2012 in the south of France with her husband, the second in line to the British throne. The royals - who on Monday announced they are expecting a third child - were snapped with a long lens relaxing by a pool at a chateau belonging to Viscount Linley, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth. Closer, a glossy French gossip magazine, was the first to splash them on its cover, and they were later reproduced in several other European publications, including Chi in Italy and Ireland's Daily Star.
The magazine's lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins said he was "pleased" with the ruling on the damages to pay, but said the fine was "exaggerated for a simple private matter." The court also ordered Closer to hand over the files with the images to the royal couple. Two Paris-based agency photographers, Cyril Moreau, 32, and Dominique Jacovides, 59, were each given fines of 10,000 euros, with 5,000 euros suspended.
After the pictures first emerged, William and Kate filed a criminal complaint for invasion of privacy and obtained an injunction preventing further use of the images. In a letter read out in court in May, William said the case reminded him of the paparazzi hounding of his mother, princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash.
Last Thursday was the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. The prosecution had called for "very heavy" fines for the editor of the Closer and Mondadori France, which is part of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's media empire. The royals, now both aged 35, had joined the case as civil plaintiffs.
During the trial, Closer's lawyers argued that the pictures were in the public interest and conveyed a "positive image" of the royals. The couple learned of their impending publication while on an Asia-Pacific tour to mark the diamond jubilee of William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.
The court also ruled on a complaint against the Marseille-based La Provence newspaper, which printed a picture of the Duchess of Cambridge in a two-piece bathing costume at the same chateau a week before the Closer photos. For that picture, the paper's publisher and the photographer, Valerie Suau, were given suspended fines, while they were ordered to pay a total of 3,000 euros in damages to William and Kate. Suau said during the trial that she did not consider her photo to be "shocking". "For us it was an honour to have (the royals) in the region. They weren't nude, life was good."
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