Topless Kate: Irish Daily Star to be closed down

Newspaper mogul Richard Desmond has made it clear that he will do all in his power to close down the Irish Daily Star after it published topless pictures of Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge. The paper published the pictures after the French magazine Closer took the plunge with the photos on Friday.

The Irish Daily Star published 13 pictures of the duchess, Kate Middleton. St. James’ Palace is furious over the publication, which comes just one day after Prince William and Kate signaled their intention to sue Closer magazine under French privacy laws.

Desmond owns the British title and says that he has the power and will use it to close down the Irish Daily Star. His lawyers are said to working on the closure already. Desmond's company, Northern & Shell, co-owns the Irish Daily Star with the Dublin-based Independent News & Media (INM).

The Irish Daily Star website was down on Saturday evening. In a statement, Desmond said: "I am very angry at the decision to publish these photographs and am taking immediate steps to close down the joint venture. The decision to publish these pictures has no justification whatever and Northern & Shell condemns it in the strongest possible terms."

Northern & Shell said that the company “abhorred” the paper's decision to publish the topless pictures of Catherine, which were taken with a telephoto lens while she was on holiday with Prince William in Provence, France.

An INM press release said: "The decision by the Irish Daily Star to republish pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from the French magazine Closer was regrettable and in poor taste. Independent News and Media had no prior knowledge of the decision to publish."

Prince William and Kate have made it clear that they are very upset by the press intrusion into their private life. They feel that the press in taking and printing these topless pictures are mirroring the worst of the behavior the press exhibited toward Prince William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.