Royal scandal: French court orders photographer to hand over all topless photos of Kate

A judge in a French court has ordered that all of Kate's topless photos be handed over to the royal couple and there be no further publication of the pictures.

It seems that the royal couple has won the fight against the media, as a judge in France has ruled in favor of Prince William and Kate in the topless photo scandal. The French court gave the order on Tuesday. Now, the magazine that published Kate's topless pictures is supposed to give all the pictures back to the royal couple and all newspapers are further banned from publishing them.

The French judge asked the publisher of gossip magazine Closer, which published Kate's topless pictures in France, to hand over all the digital copies of Kate's topless photos.

The Duchess of Cambridge and wife of Prince William was snapped semi-nude in a private villa in Provence, France, while she was sunbathing there. In the pictures, Kate is shown slipping off her bikini top, relaxing on a sun lounger and at one point she is even seen pulling down her bikini bottom to apply sunscreen to her buttocks. Closer published 14 pictures of Kate and soon after that, an Irish tabloid and an Italian tabloid followed suite.

The pictures were taken last month, when Prince William and Kate were on a vacation to the South of France. Now the couple is on an official tour of Asia Pacific and they seem to be having a good time.

Even though Prince William and Kate have won this case, it is too late for them to stop international publication of the topless photos. Some countries have already published these pictures, but their spread on the internet is being checked.

British newspapers have agreed not to publish Kate's topless photos, including the British edition of Closer, which also condemned the photographer. Tabloid paper The Sun has also condemned the photographer and printed on its front page "Find Le Rat", which means "put him behind bars". The Buckingham Palace called the publishing of these photos a "grotesque" invasion of the royal couple's privacy.