Six to go on trial for publishing Kate Middleton's topless pictures in 2012

Six media persons will go on trial Tuesday in connection with the publication of Prince William's wife Kate's sunbathing, topless, long-lens photographs, reported AFP.  The pictures appeared in French magazine Closer and regional daily La Provence in September 2012.

Kate and William were holidaying in France when some photographers clicked some intimate pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge. One of the most intimate shots shows her topless and having suncream rubbed into her buttocks by William.

The editor of Closer in France, Laurence Pieau, chief executive of the Mondadori group which owns the magazine, Ernesto Mauri, and Cyril Moreau and Dominique Jacovides, two Paris-based agency photographers suspected of having taken the topless photos, will appear on charges of invasion of privacy and complicity. Both photographers have denied taking the photos.

Prince William's Kensington Palace office refused to comment when contacted by AFP and the royal couple are not expected to attend the trial.