Successful tour is over, but topless photo row rumbles on

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on their way back to the UK today following their Diamond Jubilee tour – as the controversy over topless pictures of Kate continued with a Danish magazine set to publish them in a special supplement.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Sep 2012, 07:00 BST

The royal couple delighted their hosts on the Pacific island of Tuvalu – their final stop-off – yesterday by embracing island culture and dancing with locals before being presented with gifts and boarding a plane to Brisbane, where the Duchess set foot on Australian soil for the first time.

They created a stir at Brisbane airport when, after entering the international terminal building, they walked through a public area of the departure lounge on their way to a VIP suite before catching a connecting flight to London.

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William and Kate’s tour, which also took in Singapore, Malaysia and the Solomon Islands, has been seen as a great success but was overshadowed by the media furore over the publication of the topless photos of Kate during a holiday at the private estate of Viscount Linsley in southern France.

The couple succeeded in getting an injunction from a French court which has stopped France’s Closer magazine, which was the first publication to use them, from printing further images of the Duchess or selling them.

The royals are also awaiting a decision from France’s criminal prosecutors about whether they will bring criminal charges against the photographer.

Swedish magazine Se & Hor yesterday published some of the pictures and its sister publication in Denmark was set to follow suit with a 16-page supplement today.

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Chief editor Kim Henningsen. said the magazine had been offered 240 pictures but decided only to use 60 to 70 of them. He declined to say who sold them to the weekly or how much money they paid. The photos have already been widely published in France, Italy, Ireland and on the internet, despite efforts to halt their usage.

A source summed up how the issue had affected William and Kate, saying: “From their point of view they were angry when they heard about the photos but once they took the decision to pursue a civil and then criminal action, they were able to put the matter behind them. Since they set the ball rolling it’s now down to the law to take its course.”

Related topics:DuchessFranceCambridge