Meghan Markle sucked into Kate Middleton’s topless photos legal saga

Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton at the Royal Foundation Forum
in London in February

A French magazine forced to pay £92,000 in damages for
publishing topless photographs of Kate Middleton is trying to
appeal the ruling by using provocative images of Meghan Markle.

Paris-based publication Closer was ordered to pay compensation
to the Duchess of Cambridge last year after losing a long-running legal
battle.  

So what is it all about?

Why was Kate Middleton awarded the payout?

In 2012, France’s Closer magazine published photographs of the
Duchess sunbathing topless. She was inside the grounds of a luxury
holiday chateau during a private holiday with Prince William in the
south of France, and the pictures were taken by paparazzi using
long lenses.

Following five years of legal proceedings, a French court last
year ruled that her privacy had been breached and awarded her
€100,000 (£92,000) in compensation – a substantial
amount but much less than the £1.5m asked for by the Royals.

Why is the magazine appealing the ruling?

Lawyers for Closer reportedly say that the ruling itself was
consistent with the law but that the damages were “exaggerated for
a simple matter of privacy”.

“Token sums of less than £100 are often awarded for breaches of
privacy in France,” notes The Daily Telegraph.

The magazine’s legal team will argue in the Versailles
Appeals Court that the amount should be drastically reduced.

What has Meghan Markle got to do with it?

Lawyers will argue that it is “hypocritical” to award such a
large payout when other members of the Royal Family “are happy with
sexy photos”, reports the Telegraph.