Court orders maximum fines over Kate Middleton topless pics
September 5, 2017
A French celebrity magazine has been ordered to pay 100,000 euros in damages for invasion of privacy. Photos of the topless Kate Middleton were taken with a long-focus lens while she sunbathed at a private estate.
Britain's royal couple spent three days in Germany, visiting the cities of Berlin, Heidelberg and Hamburg. While the Royal Family is politically neutral, the visit was seen as a gesture of goodwill after the Brexit vote.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W.Kumm
Britain's royals touch down in Berlin
William and Kate, along with their two children, landed in Berlin Wednesday as part of their four-day tour of Poland and Germany. The visit has widely been reported as an attempt to shore up ties with the EU as Britain prepares to make a bitter exit from the bloc. Their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte did not take part in any of the official visits.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/S. Loos
Locals line up to see the future king
Crowds waving small Union Jack flags gathered by Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate to greet William and Kate. It would be the young royal couple's only public appearance that day. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent about a quarter of an hour shaking hands and speaking to locals.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photos/M. Sohn
Don't mention the Brexit
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for lunch. While the political content of their talks were not disclosed, a source close to the chancellor did reveal what was on the menu. Britain's royals were treated to three kinds of fish: salmon and tuna as a starter and cod with a side of vegetables for the main course.
Image: picture alliance/empics/B. Adams
A 'moving' visit
The royal couple visited Berlin's Holocaust memorial, guided by the head of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Uwe Neumärker. There, William and Kate also met with Holocaust survivor Leon Schwarzbaum. "It was very moving," William said of the visit. The couple also visited the site of the Nazi concentration camp at Gdansk during their visit to Poland a day earlier.
Image: Picture alliance/AP Images/B. Von Jutrczenka/Pool Photo
Raising awareness
William and Kate visited children from the East Berlin Strassenkinder charity, which supports vulnerable young people. They then met with Teresa Enke, whose foundation raises awareness about depression after the suicide of her late husband, footballer Robert Enke. William and his brother Harry have spoken of the trauma they suffered following the death of their mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kalaene
Tschüss Berlin, it's off to Heidelberg
The royal couple where the special guests at the residence of the British ambassador in Berlin later in the evening where they celebrated the 91st birthday of William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. The next morning, they took off to Heidelberg, a town that is twinned with Cambridge, where William and Kate were expected to watch the boat race on the Neckar river.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Ostrop
Hands-on research in Heidelberg
The Royal Couple started their second day in Germany at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, where they learned about research projects focusing on particularly aggressive strands of leukemia. They were accompanied by the Baden-Württemberg state premier, Winfried Kretschmann.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Murat
Baking up a storm
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went on to take a tour of Heidelberg's central market square, where they were instructed on how to make the perfect pretzel. Onlookers were amused as the couple tried their hands at baking. It's probably best they don't give up their day jobs.
Image: Getty Images/C. Jackson
Bottoms up
William and Kate raised their beer mugs after the boat race between Cambridge and Heidelberg - two of the world's most elite universities. Kate changed into a more sporty outfit for the unique event, which attracted young and old to the Neckar river. But before they could drink up, the young couple were on their way back to Berlin - for a reception at the legendary "Clärchen's Ballhaus."
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
Off to Hamburg
The next morning, William and Kate got ready to take a high-speed ICE train to Hamburg as the last stop of their tour of Germany. Security was high at Berlin's central train station as the royal couple took off to the Hanseatic city, where their first stop was the Hamburg Maritime Museum, which houses a small-scale replica of the decommissioned Royal Yacht Britannia.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B.v. Jutrczenka
The sounds of Hamburg
After the Maritime Museum Kate and William headed to the Elbphilarmonie Concert Hall to witness a performance by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. Kate even got to try her hand at directing. The new performance space had only been inaugurated earlier in the year and towers over Hamburg as the city's newest landmark.
Image: Picture Alliance/dpa/C. Gateau/dpa-Pool
Virtually home
The couple went on to tour an Airbus training facility in Hamburg, where they witnessed the latest innovations in the field of aviation. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge witnessed the assembly of A320 jets at the facility and learned how virtual reality was used in engineering today.
Image: Picture Alliance/dpa/D. Bockwoldt/dpa-Pool
Goodbye, Deutschland
After three action-packed days in Germany, William and Kate returned to Britain but not before this priceless photo opportunity. The couple's children, George and Charlotte, had been kept out of the limelight for almost the entire duration of the visit. The little heirs-to-the-throne waved as they headed back home in time to celebrate Prince George's fourth birthday on Saturday.
Image: Picture Alliance/dpa/C. Charisius/Pool
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The court ordered Closer Magazine's owner and editor to each pay 45,000 euros ($53,000) in fines. The magazine itself was told to pay 100,000 euros in damages to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge which was well below the 1.5 million euros in damages that were reportedly sought by the royal couple.
The images were reportedly taken with long-focus lenses while the couple were sunbathing on the patio of a private estate in the south of France. The images led to a furious reaction from the royal family in Britain, while several British newspapers rejected offers to buy the pictures.
Closer was the first to print the pictures on its cover and several other publications in Europe followed, including Chi in Italy and Ireland's Daily Star.
The defense attorney argued that the grainy photos were "in the public interest" and portrayed a "positive image" of the royal family.
'Painful' reminders of Diana
The royals, who announced on Monday that they were expecting their third child, filed a criminal complaint for invasion of privacy. They also successfully obtained an injunction that blocks the further use of the images.
In a letter read aloud in court, William said the case reminded him of how the paparazzi hounded his mother, Princess Diana. In his statement to the court, William wrote that the publication of the topless photos was "shocking" and painful."
Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris as her driver attempted to evade paparazzi photographers. The 20th anniversary of her death was marked last Thursday with well-wishers laying flowers and candles outside Kensington Palace in London.
