COURT: TOPLESS PHOTOS VIOLATED ROYAL’S PRIVACY

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 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, were collectively ordered to pay $59,500 in damages to Kate and the same amount to her husband, Prince William.

Staff and wire reports