William and Kate have filed a lawsuit against the French magazine Closer, a Buckingham palace spokesman has officially confirmed to The Royalist.
Legal proceedings for ‘breach of privacy’ have been instituted in an attempt to stop the dissemination of the images into other publications, however, it increasingly appears that it may be impossible to stop the images entering wider circulation by other means. Although Closer has not published the images online, internet users in France have already begun scanning in the images from the magazine and uploading them to the web.Another issue is that pictures of the magazine itself – some clearly showing the cover – are already circulating on mainstream picture agency websites.
The decision by William and Kate to sue the magazine over the grainy pictures which show Catherine, 30, wearing just the bottoms of a black and white bikini and having sunscreen rubbed on her by William by the side of a swimming pool, had been hinted at all day.
However there will be many who believe that the palace should have maintained its traditional posture of refusing to dignify the photos with a response. Inevitably, long drawn out legal proceedings will only to serve draw even more attention to the pictures, which otherwise would probably have been forgotten in a few weeks or sooner.
However, there is undoubtedly a feeling in the UK that Kate has been unfairly intruded on and she was clearly doing nothing wrong, or stupid, in contrast to Harry’s idiotic behaviour in Las Vegas.
It seems certain that no British publication will run the photos.
France has some of the toughest privacy laws in the world, with the right to privacy incorporated into the constitution, but fines for invading privacy, when cases are brought, are typically fairly low. The publishers of Closer – which is owned by Silvio Berlusconi’s family – have clearly decided it is worth the risk.
Closer usually sells around 250,000 copies in France, but this week’s print run is 400,00.
Closer’s editor said the pictures were taken from a public road, adding, “If two public figures choose to strip off in full view of a public road then they can expect to be pictured, and they were…We have to say that after Closer magazine comes out, Harry is going to feel a lot less alone.”
