Kate Middleton’s Topless Photo To Get Ruling In French Appeals Court

Kate Middleton’s topless photos from 2012 will take center stage at a hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

According to The Telegraph, two senior editors for Closer magazine appealed to the French court to reduce the hefty fines imposed over their decision to publish the Duchess of Cambridge’s private photos while vacationing in Luberon.

Closer published grainy paparazzi shots of the mom of three wearing only her bikini bottoms. The magazine’s editor, Laurence Pieau, and publisher Ernesto Mauri were both fined. Closer was also asked to pay a huge sum of money for damages to the royal couple.

On appeal, French prosecutors asked the court in Versailles to reimpose the same sanctions on the magazine and its editors and increase the fines for the photographers who are still denying responsibility for the photos.

“There was an absolutely unacceptable breach, not only of the privacy and the private lives of these two individuals but also of the dignity of a woman,” French prosecutor Marc Brisset-Foucault told the court.

During the first trial, Closer argued that Middleton’s photos were in the public interest a conveyed a positive image for the Royals. But in a letter read out in court last year, Prince William said that the incident brought back painful memories of the paparazzi hounding his late mother Princess Diana.

The Princess of Wales died on Aug. 31, 1997, following a fatal car crash in Paris. It was reported that the paparazzi were following her while on the road. Ken Wharfe, Princess Diana’s former bodyguard, said that the princess’ death shouldn’t be blamed on the paparazzi.

“From my experience of working with Diana for nine years, every foreign holiday we went on, it wasn’t the odd paparazzi that would turn up. We’re talking about 60 to 70 journalists. It’s in their interest to keep Diana alive and any other member of the royal family. It’s their bread and butter,” he told “The Royal Box.”

However, Prince William and Prince Harry are still convinced that the paparazzi is to blame for their mom’s demise.