Prince William, Kate Middleton suing over topless photos

Samstwitch

Senior Member
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5,111
This REALLY pisses me off! I'm throughly DISGUSTED! Greedy people killed Princess Diana and now they target Kate! It's all about MONEY and GREED! I'm sooo glad the Royals are suing...I hope they legally beat the crap out of the paparazzi!!! No matter what BULLSHIT you hear in the news, God is watching...and these perverts will have to answer for their bad deeds. :mad:

1Timothy 6:10 - For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Prince William, Kate Middleton suing over topless photos

LONDON, September 14 (UPI) -- Britain's Prince William and Catherine, the duchess of Cambridge, are suing a French magazine for publishing topless photos of Catherine, a spokesman said. A spokesman for the royal couple said legal proceedings had commenced in France, the BBC reported. "St. James Palace confirms that legal proceedings for breach of privacy have been commenced today in France by the duke and duchess of Cambridge against the publishers of Closer magazine France," the spokesman said.

The BBC said William's countenance was a "look of absolute thunder," while Kate appeared "composed and smiling" as the couple left Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a stop on their nine-day tour to Sabah in north Borneo.

The couple is angered that Closer published the photos taken last month when the duke and duchess were vacationing in Provence, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

The photos are akin to "the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, princess of Wales," a statement from St. James Palace said.

Aides to the royal couple said a "red line was crossed."

But Closer's editor, Laurence Pieau, brushed off the criticism, saying the photos "are not in the least shocking," the Telegraph said. "There's been an over-reaction to these photos. What we see is a young couple, who just got married, who are very much in love, who are splendid," the British newspaper quoted her as telling French television. "She's a real 21st-century princess. It's a young woman who is topless, the same as you can see on any beach in France or around the world."

The royal family traditionally doesn't take legal action against media, the Telegraph noted. "Their royal highnesses have been hugely saddened to learn that a French publication and a photographer have invaded their privacy in such a grotesque and totally unjustifiable manner," the palace statement said. "Their royal highnesses had every expectation of privacy in the remote house. It is unthinkable that anyone should take such photographs, let alone publish them." Officials said the swimming pool where the couple was sunbathing was in plain sight of a public road.

"If two public figures chose to strip off in full view of a public road then they can expect to be pictured," a source at the magazine told the Telegraph, "and they were."

British Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman said the government's position is that the royals are "entitled to their privacy," the BBC said.
 

Opmmur

Time Travel Professor
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5,049
Good for Prince William and Catherine, the duchess of Cambridge, for suing the French magazine for publishing topless photos of Catherine. It was very wrong of the person to take the pictures in the first place..
 

Samstwitch

Senior Member
Messages
5,111
Revealing Photos of Kate Stir Memories of Diana Tragedy

Do people no longer have the right to a private life once they become famous? Fans and detractors alike apparently have a limitless appetite for dirt on any kind of celebrity from movie stars to "real" housewives to presidents. But that doesn't mean the incessant buzz of paparazzi hovering over their every move, like flies on a wounded animal, is ethical.

On Friday, the French magazine Closer released topless pictures of Kate Middleton and both the royal family and 10 Downing Street (the office of the prime minister) are accusing the media of "having crossed a red line." Moreover, they have pointed out, the incident is doubly painful because of the late Princess Diana's tortured relationship with the press, which ended in her death in a high-speed car crash while being chased by photographers. "The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales," reads the official statement out of St. James Palace, "and all the more upsetting to The Duke and Duchess for being so." The statement also called the publication of the photos "grotesque" and "unjustifiable."

The images were taken while Prince William and Kate were sunbathing on vacation in France at a chateau owned by Lord Linley, the Queen's nephew.

When Lady Diana Spencer became engaged to Prince Charles in 1981, she was a shy 20-year-old kindergarten teacher. Immediately thrust into the spotlight, she later said that dealing with the press was the greatest challenge of being a part of the royal family. "The most daunting aspect was the media attention, because my husband and I, we were told when we got engaged that the media would go quietly, and it didn't," she told BBC reporter Martin Bashir in 1995, "and then when we were married they said it would go quietly and it didn't; and then it started to focus very much on me, and I seemed to be on the front of a newspaper every single day, which is an isolating experience, and the higher the media put you, place you, is the bigger the drop." In the same interview, she suggests that the constant scrutiny, especially after she suffered from a bout of post-natal depression and was labeled "unstable," battered her self-esteem. Her confidence low, she admits she resorted to self-harm (which she calls "hurting my arms and legs") and bulimia as an escape.

The Independent UK reports the Royal Highnesses reacted to the publication of the revealing Kate photos with "anger and disbelief" and were "hugely saddened." Still, they proceeded with their duties on an official tour of Southeast Asia. In stark contrast to the photo fracas, Middleton donned a modest pearl grey dress and veil when she attended a public ceremony at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and comported herself with mind boggling poise given the controversy. According to Sky News, the future Queen of England chatted with her husband and warmly greeted the gathered crowds.

Laurence Pieau, the editor-in-chief of Closer is defending the magazine's choice to publish the photos and is brushing it off as a tempest in a teacup—presumably one containing English Breakfast. "There's been an over-reaction to these photos. What we see is a young couple, who just got married, who are very much in love, who are splendid…" "she told French BFM television. "It's a young woman who is topless, the same as you can see on any beach in France or around the world." Of course, if Kate Middleton were a regular young woman on any beach, the pictures would be worthless.

According to the Guardian UK, the photos breach French privacy laws, which are some of the strictest in the world (and which is why so many celebrities including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as well as Johnny Depp choose to live there). A spokesperson for the palace told the BBC that legal proceedings have been launched against the magazine for breach of privacy. Privacy lawyer Thomas Roussineau tells the Guardian the magazine knew full well it was breaking the law, but was betting that the revenue gained would be worth the risk.

Suing Closer won't help Middleton much. Images of her at her most intimate will have already circulated around the Internet millions of times. While she's hanging tough now, we hope that, unlike Diana, she will be able to cope as the press picks at the bones of the hundreds of personal events that are yet to come in her life as a member of the royal family.
 

Samstwitch

Senior Member
Messages
5,111
What also angers me is that people on the Internet RUSHED to see Kate's nude photos. In the old days, people were respectful, but NOT today!

If Lady Godiva had lived today, the people would have swarmed the streets to see her nakedness, instead of turning their heads and shutting their windows. People of today were prophesied about in the Bible in 2Timothy 3.

2Timothy 3:1-9 - But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.



STORY OF LADY GODIVA

Lady Godiva took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband's oppressive taxation. Lady Godiva appealed again and again to her husband, who obstinately refused to remit the tolls. At last, weary of her entreaties, he said he would grant her request if she would strip naked and ride through the streets of the town. Lady Godiva took him at his word and, after issuing a proclamation that all persons should stay indoors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her long hair. Just one person in the town, a tailor ever afterwards known as Peeping Tom, disobeyed her proclamation in one of the most famous instances of voyeurism. In the story, Tom bored a hole in his shutters so that he could see Godiva pass, and was struck blind. In the end, Godiva's husband kept his word and abolished the onerous taxes.
 

Samstwitch

Senior Member
Messages
5,111
Soo glad to hear this! Those papparazzi need some JAIL TIME! :mad:

Palace to file criminal complaint over Kate pics

September 16, 2012 - LONDON (AP) — Lawyers for Britain's royal family will make a criminal complaint against the photographer who took pictures of Prince William's wife Kate sunbathing topless in the south of France, William's office said Sunday.

The palace has already launched a civil lawsuit against France's Closer magazine, which published the paparazzi snaps of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, relaxing during a holiday at a private villa in Provence.

The couple is hitting back hard against publication of the pictures, which the palace called a "grotesque" abuse of the young royals' privacy. A spokeswoman for William's St. James's Palace office said the couple's lawyers would file a complaint with French prosecutors on Monday against the unidentified photographer or photographers involved. "The complaint concerns the taking of photographs of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge whilst on holiday and the publication of those photographs in breach of their privacy," she said on condition of anonymity in keeping with palace policy. The palace said it would be up to French prosecutors to decide whether to investigate and pursue a criminal case for breach of privacy or trespassing.

The couple's lawyers are already due in a Paris court Monday seeking an injunction against Closer's publisher, the Italian media group Mondadori. It also publishes Italy's Chi gossip magazine, which says it will publish 26 pages of the images on Monday.

The palace will seek damages from the publisher, which is owned by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. The palace said it was considering "all proportionate responses" against Chi, though no decision has been made on legal action against it or the Irish Daily Star which reproduced the Closer photos on Saturday.

No British publication has run the pictures, and Britain's tabloids have lined up to denounce them as an invasion of the duchess' privacy.
The strong response stands in contrast to the reception of naked photos of Prince Harry partying in Las Vegas, which appeared online last month and were later published in Britain's Sun tabloid. The palace shrugged off the photos, snapped during a game of strip billiards, and took no action against those who published them.

Some see British papers' reluctance to run the Kate photos as a sign that the country's once-rambunctious tabloids have been cowed by a scandal over phone hacking and other wrongdoing, which brought public opprobrium and an ongoing media-ethics inquiry. The incident also has evoked memories of the paparazzi hounding of William's late mother, Princess Diana. A coroner's inquest found that pursuing photographers were partly responsible for her death in a Paris car crash in August 1997.

In bad news for the Irish Daily Star, both its owners criticized it for publishing the Kate photos. British company Northern and Shell, which co-owns the tabloid with Ireland's Independent News and Media, said it was "profoundly dismayed" the Dublin newspaper had run the pictures. Its chief, Richard Desmond, said he planned to pull out of the joint venture that runs the tabloid.

Independent News and Media chief executive Joe Webb offered his "deepest apologies" and said the company would be "launching an internal inquiry to ensure there will never be a repeat of this breach of decency." But Webb said in a statement he hopes to preserve the Irish Daily Star and its 70 employees.

In Italy, the newspaper La Repubblica — a longtime foe of Silvio Berlusconi — criticized Chi's decision to publish the photos, saying they were incompatible with his status as politician and statesman. Berlusconi's daughter Marina, who heads Mondadori, defended her father, saying he could not interfere with the publisher's "editorial autonomy."

La Repubblica said she had written to the newspaper asking rhetorically: "What should he have done? ... Should he have forced himself to not publish that which the overwhelming majority of gossip papers, in every part of the globe, would have competed with each other to have?"

The storm over the photos erupted as William and Kate made an official tour of Singapore, Malaysia and the South Pacific. They arrived in the Solomon Islands on Sunday and will end their trip Tuesday in the island nation of Tuvalu.
 

Samstwitch

Senior Member
Messages
5,111
DISGUSTING!!!! NOTHING IS SACRED ANYMORE! :mad:

Italian Magazine Defies Royals and Publishes 26-Pages of Topless Kate

ROME (AP) — An Italian gossip magazine owned by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi published a 26-page spread of topless photos of Prince William's wife Kate on Monday despite legal action in France against the French magazine that published them first.

Chi hit newsstands on Monday, featuring a montage of photos taken while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on vacation at a relative's home in the south of France last month. They included the 14 pictures published by the popular French magazine Closer, which like Chi is owned by Berlusconi's Mondadori publishing house.

But the Chi spread ran the whole sequence of photos as the couple sunbathed on a terrace, including one shot of the princess putting sun cream on her backside that didn't appear in Closer.

The couple is hitting back hard against the publication of the images, which William's St. James's Palace called a "grotesque" invasion of their privacy.

Later Monday, lawyers for the royal couple are due in court in Nanterre, France, to seek an injunction against Mondadori to prevent further dissemination of the images, which were also reproduced over the weekend by an Irish tabloid. The palace said it would seek damages from Mondadori.

And St. James's Palace said Sunday that family lawyers would file a criminal complaint against the unidentified photographer or photographers involved. The palace said it would be up to French prosecutors to decide whether to investigate and pursue a criminal case for breach of privacy or trespassing.

Chi editor Alfonso Signorini told The Associated Press over the weekend that he didn't fear legal action since the photos were already in the public domain following Closer's publication.
 

Samstwitch

Senior Member
Messages
5,111
Today's Headline...

French court backs UK royals on topless photos

NANTERRE, France (AP) — A French court ordered a magazine publisher to hand over all digital copies of topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge within 24 hours and blocked further publication of what it called a "brutal display" of William and Kate's private moments. Under the ruling Tuesday, the publisher of the French gossip magazine Closer faces a daily fine of €10,000 ($13,100) if it fails to hand over the photos featured in Friday's "world exclusive" issue of Prince William's wife Kate. The photos were taken without authorization during the royals' vacation at a private residence in southern France... READ MORE HERE
 

Samstwitch

Senior Member
Messages
5,111
Three under investigation over topless Kate Middleton photos

PARIS (Reuters) - The publisher of a French celebrity magazine was placed under formal investigation for breach of privacy over the publication of topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The photographer who snapped the pictures of the Duchess, or Kate Middleton, in the summer last year and a regional daily were also put under investigation, the last step in France before being charged, the source said.

Closer magazine, a weekly round-up of celebrity gossip, published in September a series of photos of the Duchess, the wife of Prince William, topless on holidays in southern France, something that incensed much of the British public.

The photos showed Kate slipping off her bikini top, relaxing on a sun lounger and at one point pulling down the back of her bikini bottoms. Buckingham Palace had called the photo spread a "grotesque" invasion of the royal couple's privacy.

The publisher of the magazine - the French branch of Italy's Mondadori - and the paparazzi who snapped the photos from a distance were put under formal investigation earlier this month, the judicial source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mondadori in a statement said the company "was not aware of any new developments in addition to what is already known on this matter".

The regional daily La Provence, which published pictures of Prince William and his wife in swimming suits during the same holiday, was put under formal investigation this week, the source said.

An investigation does not necessarily lead to formal charges.

The office of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge could not be reached for comment.

(Corrects that publisher, not editor, of Closer put under investigation)
 

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