‘Saucy’ Meghan pictures used in topless Kate row
RISQUE pictures of the Duchess of Sussex will be used in court today by a magazine appealing against its fine for publishing topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge.
Lawyers for French Closer plan to argue that it is nothing unusual for royal women to show off their bodies.
And they intend to produce images of Kate’s new sister-inlaw Meghan taking off her clothes and baring her breasts in an attempt to get the fine reduced.
The mag was ordered to pay Kate and William £92,000 compensation while senior execs and photographers were fined another £96,000 between them.
The case, set to start in the Versailles Appeal Court west of Paris, threatens to be another humiliating legal hearing for the Royal Family.
Closer was fined after running long-lens shots of Kate topless beside a pool in France in 2012.
She was photographed wearing a pair of skimpy bikini bottoms with William rubbing sun cream into her skin.
Closer says the couple got “exaggerated” compensation for their upset solely because they were royals.
It says the sum should be revised down in line with routine privacy cases, where payouts are often less than £100.
Damages
Its lawyers will point to images of the 36-year-old former actress to support its argument that modern titled women have used steamy body shots to promote themselves in the past.
One is a video shot for Men’s Health called Grilling Never Looked So Hot, in which Meghan provocatively discards her clothes while cooking meat.
Defence evidence might also include images of her posing topless for photographs while on holidays, it was said.
While appearing in US legal drama Suits, Meghan also filmed a bedroom scene with actor Patrick J Adams.
Royal sources have suggested some topless beach photos of Meghan have been digitally manipulated while others may have been stolen.
But they are widely circulated online along with other provocative images.
Kate and William sought £1.4million damages in their case which saw editor Laurence Piea, 51, and Ernest Mauria, head of the Mondadori publishing group, fined £42,000 each.
Lawyers for the pair said younger royals increasingly behaved like celebrities and invited media scrutiny.
One source said: “There is ridiculous hypocrisy involved.”