Sadness and outrage as magazine publishes topless pictures of Duchess of Cambridge

In a strongly-worded statement, the palace compared it with the “worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales”.

Lawyers were being consulted by royal aides after the images showing the future Queen wearing just a pair of bikini bottoms were published in the French magazine Closer.

William and Kate were said to be feeling “anger and disbelief” at the publication of the photographs, taken while on a private holiday.

The St James’s Palace statement said: “Their Royal Highnesses have been hugely saddened to learn that a French publication and a photographer have invaded their privacy in such a grotesque and totally unjustifiable manner.

“The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to the Duke and Duchess for being so.

“Their Royal Highnesses had every expectation of privacy in the remote house. It is unthinkable that anyone should take such photographs, let alone publish them.

“Officials acting on behalf of their Royal Highnesses are consulting with lawyers to consider what options may be available to the Duke and Duchess.”

William and Kate are midway through a Diamond Jubilee tour of the Far East, which had been going well but is now likely to be overshadowed by the controversy.

The photographs were taken last week while the couple were staying in Provence at a chateau owned by Lord Linley, the Queen’s nephew, ahead of their trip.

St James’s Palace said the royal couple would not let the controversy distract them.

A spokesman said: “The Duke and Duchess remain focused currently on their tour of Singapore, Malaysia, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu on behalf of HM the Queen.”

A source added: “Their sadness has turned to anger and disbelief as we learn more about the photographs.

“They can’t believe the pictures were taken, they can’t believe anyone would publish them. The level of intrusiveness means a red line has been crossed.”

The pictures will reignite the controversy over privacy which raged around Prince Harry last month, when embarrassing images emerged of him frolicking naked in a Las Vegas hotel.

Staying in a £5,000-a-night hotel suite, Harry was filmed wearing a hat, sunglasses and colourful swimming shorts, and socialising with bikini-clad women at a pool party.

The Sun was the only British newspaper to defy a royal request issued via the Press Complaints Commission not to publish the photos of Harry in the nude with an unnamed woman.

Publishers of the UK edition of Closer distanced themselves from the French magazine today.

They said the two publications made “entirely independent editorial decisions”, and pointed out that the French magazine is published by a separate, Italian company.

The UK’s Closer magazine said it had no intention of publishing the topless pictures and had not been offered them.

“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,” the magazine said in a statement.

Publicist Max Clifford joined the condemnation.

He said: “I hope that the Palace sues the photographer and the magazine. It is clearly an invasion of privacy.”

He added: “I’m surprised, particularly considering what happened in France to William’s mother 15 years ago.

“That adds to the concern and upset it will have caused them.

“The good thing is no editor in this country has published them. If Kate was doing something dangerous or something that would upset the British public, then you could justify it. But her sitting by a private pool topless doesn’t come into that.”

Mr Clifford said the royal family could help prevent similar pictures being printed in future by taking legal action.

“If the publisher knows that publishing a picture of Harry, William or Kate in a private setting will cost them a lot of money then they won’t do it.

“If they pursue the French magazine and the photographer and successfully sue them - and it costs a lot of money - it’s going to put everybody else off and that is why I hope it will happen,” he said.

Michael Ellis, the Conservative MP for Northampton North, described the publication of the pictures as “nauseating”.

Mr Ellis told Sky News: “She is entitled to privacy. She is entitled to basic human treatment. She has not received that on this occasion. It is an appalling breach of her privacy.

“This was clearly a very private set of circumstances. She was in a private location, surrounded by woodland, and no doubt some photographer from some considerable distance away has concealed himself with a very long telephoto lens and invaded that privacy.

“It is no more than voyeurism. It is in my view frankly close to criminal conduct. If a person was in a state of undress and had photographs taken of them, they would be rightly offended and appalled, and quite frankly the person taking the photograph could be subject to arrest.

“I don’t see the difference in this case. The Duchess was clearly in a private place, she was not expecting to be photographed, and it’s a cheap act on the part of this magazine to make money - it’s as simple as that. There’s no public need for these photographs to be taken or printed. It’s an attempt for this magazine to make money out of it.”

Mr Ellis added: “I’m concerned about the effect of this gross violation of privacy on the whole Royal Family, and particularly Prince William and Prince Harry as well as the Duchess.

“William and Harry lost their mother in circumstances in France where the press, at that time, were completely out of control. This will bring back painful memories.”

Conservative MP Laurence Robertson, chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee, said: “It’s very upsetting. It’s in very bad taste.

“If it was in this country there would be the question of privacy but unfortunately I don’t think there is anything we can do.

“It is very bad taste to have taken the pictures in the first place and I’m very disappointed.

“I think most people will be somewhat offended.”

The royal couple had spent the day in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur completing a busy schedule of events which saw them break new ground by visiting a mosque for the first time.

But before they arrived at the Islamic place of worship they were told about the magazine’s plans, announced on its website, to publish the pictures later in the day.

William and Kate looked at the teaser picture on the website showing the magazine’s front cover with a heavily pixellated image of Kate about to take her top off.

But it is not thought they have seen the topless photographs inside the magazine as late this afternoon they left the Malaysian mainland and flew to Kota Kinabalu, capital of the state of Sabah on Borneo for the next leg of their tour of south-east Asia.

They plan to travel out to the region’s dramatic rainforest jungle tomorrow to learn about the wildlife - something that is likely to be a welcome relief from the events of today.

As the Duke and Duchess walked through Kuala Lumpur International Airport on a red carpet from a VIP lounge, they at first looked grim-faced as they headed for the tarmac.

William especially did not look to his left or right and clenched his teeth, but as they went up the steps to board the Boeing 737-800 jet, Kate reassuringly placed her left hand on the small of his back.

There were words of support for the Duchess from Bond girl Michelle Yeoh, who condemned the topless snaps after meeting the royal couple at a tea party at the British High Commissioner’s residence just before they flew to Sabah.

Yeoh said: “It is not good. They do not have a choice whether they are photographed but they should. I would hope there would be laws and regulations to protect celebrities and the royals.”

The actress, who was brought up in the mining town of Ipoh in West Malaysia but now lives in the US, said William had watched her movies.

Yeoh, who wore an Oriental patterned dress by Shiatzy Chen for the tea party, added: “He was talking about having seen my films before. He said he liked them.”

Yeoh, 49, is best-known for her roles in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, playing Wai Lin, and martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

A source close to David Cameron said that Number 10 “echoes the sadness of the Palace” over the publication of the pictures.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said the Prime Minister had not seen the photographs and the Palace, rather than the Government, was dealing with the fallout from their publication.

The spokeswoman said: “The view from Downing Street is that they are entitled to their privacy.”

Asked whether the PM would urge British newspapers and magazines to refrain from reprinting the photos, the spokeswoman said: “Clearly editors are there to make their own decisions, but you know that there is a process ongoing in this country which is looking at the media, and that is the Leveson Inquiry.”

On the question of whether the photos strengthened the case for a privacy law, she added: “The Leveson Inquiry is looking at issues regarding the media in this country. Let’s see what the conclusions of that inquiry are.”