Court finds topless photos violated privacy of duchess
NANTERRE, France — A French court ruled Tuesday that photographers and gossip magazine executives violated the privacy of Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge by taking and publishing photographs of the former Kate Middleton sunbathing topless.
The court in a Paris suburb fined two executives of French gossip magazine Closer — owner Ernesto Mauri and executive editor Laurence Pieau — each the maximum of $53,500 for such an offense.
The Closer executives, along with two photographers for a celebrity photo agency, collectively were ordered to pay $59,500 in damages to Kate and the same amount to her husband, Prince William.
The damage award was substantially below the figure the magazine’s lawyer said the royals had requested, but the timing of the court’s finding of privacy invasion had particular resonance in Britain.
Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the death of William’s mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a Paris car accident while she was being pursued by paparazzi.
The royal couple did not attend the hearing where the verdict was announced. Their office at Kensington Palace said they were pleased the court ruled in their favor and now consider the matter closed.
Kate and William “wished to make the point strongly that this kind of unjustified intrusion should not happen,” the palace said in a statement.
The pictures of the duchess were taken in September 2012 with telephoto lenses while she and her husband — an heir to the British throne — were on a patio at a private estate in France’s southern Provence region.
Their publication in Closer and a French regional newspaper outraged the royal family. The Closer spread included a caption reading, “On holidays I forget everything, the London grayness, and even the swimsuit left in her Highness’ suitcase.”
Using lists of hotel customers and cellphone data, investigators found photographers Cyril Moreau and Dominique Jacovides were in the vicinity of the castle where Kate and William vacationed in September 2012. Surges in the paparazzi’s incomes were also recorded after the photos appeared in Closer.
Moreau and Jacovides, who work for Paris-based celebrity photo agency Bestimage, denied taking the most contentious pictures published in Closer. They each were fined $11,920, but the court suspended $5,958 of their penalties.
Closer magazine lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins told reporters the couple had requested damages worth $1.9 million dollars.