Duke and Duchess of Cambridge win fight to halt topless photographs

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge won their fight on Tuesday to block a French magazine from republishing or selling the pictures of the Duchess topless.

The civil court at the Tribunal de Grand Instance in Nanterre, Paris, also ordered Closer magazine to hand over all files of the pictures to representatives of the couple within 24 hours.

Mondatori Magazines France, the publisher that is part of Silvio Berlusconi's media empire, faced a euros 10,000 (pounds 8,000) fine for every day's delay and was ordered to pay euros 2,000 in damages.

The ruling prevents Closer, which published the pictures on Friday, from reusing them in print or on its website, as well as from selling them in markets where they have not been published. The penalty for sale of the photos was set at euros 100,000.

Publication of the photos, taken while the couple were on holiday in Provence on September 5, was also banned "on digital tablets".

The pictures are already available on the internet and have been printed in Ireland's Daily Star and Italy's Chi magazine. The ruling does not prevent the photographer, whose identity is unknown, from selling the pictures to other publications and a judicial source conceded that it would be impossible to guarantee that Closer had handed in all files containing copies of the offending photographs.

The ruling cited the civil code that states that any person, whatever his fame, his present or future functions, has the right to the respect of his private life and image.

"These snapshots, which showed the intimacy of a couple, partially naked on the terrace of a private home, surrounded by a park several hundred meters from a public road, and being able to legitimately assume that they are protected from passers-by, are by nature particularly intrusive," the French ruling decreed. "[They] were thus subjected to this brutal display the moment the cover appeared."

The photos were taken from a public road several hundred yards from the private residence where the couple were staying. The court agreed that the couple "could legitimately suppose [the residence] was sheltered from prying eyes".

However, the court ruled that it was beyond its powers to prevent the offending magazine being published again, but if Closer were to print more copies, the Duke and Duchess would be within in their rights to demand its withdrawal within 24 hours.

The Royal couple's lawyers had not asked for copies of the magazine already in newsagents to be removed from shelves as the damage has already been done.

Maude Sobel, who represents their lawyers, said, "It is a fine ruling."

Earlier, a French prosecutor opened a preliminary criminal investigation into the publication of pictures. This could lead to a full investigation into whether taking and publishing the pictures breached privacy laws.