Twitter reaction to Kate Middleton's topless pictures

The publication of topless pictures of Duchess Kate by a French magazine Closer has sparked a big Twitter backlash.

UK Closer magazine is said to be receiving lots of the complaints - even though UK publisher Emap sold it to Mondadori France in 2006.

“Morning, understandably we have had a lot of messages about the decision by Closer magazine in France to publish pictures of Kate Middleton,” the Mirror quoted the magazine as tweeting.

“To clarify, this is the twitter page for Closer UK, published by Bauer media, and an entirely different magazine to Closer France.

“Closer France is published under licence by Italian business Mondadori, and Closer magazine UK would like to make it clear that the two publications make entirely independent editorial decisions. If you would like to contact France they can be reached @closerfr.

“Closer magazine UK was not offered any pictures of this nature and certainly has no intention of publishing the photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge which have been published in France this morning.

“Closer magazine UK takes its obligations under the PCC Code extremely seriously and would never publish topless images of a member of the Royal family on its cover or otherwise,” it tweeted.

A number of Twitter users shared their fury with the French publisher, with only a minority supporting their controversial decision.