French magazine must pay 190,000 euros over Kate topless snaps

The court also ordered Closer magazine's editor Laurence Pieau and publisher Ernesto Mauri to each pay 45,000 euros ($53,000) in fines, the maximum possible.
    The couple had sought 1.5 million euros in damages and interest.
    Closer magazine's lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins said he was "pleased" with the ruling on the damages to pay, but said the fine was "exaggerated for a simple private matter."

(FILES) This file photo taken on September 14, 2012 shows copies of French celebrity magazine Closer, which published topless pictures of Prince William's wife Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, taken while the pair were on holiday in France on September 5, displayed at a newsstand in Paris. // AFP PHOTO
    For his part, the royal couple's lawyer Jean Veil declined to comment, adding that Kensington Palace would make a statement.
    Two Paris-based agency photographers, Cyril Moreau, 32, and Dominique Jacovides, 59, were each given fines of 10,000 euros, with 5,000 euros suspended.
    The grainy snaps of Kate Middleton sunbathing in a bikini bottom were taken while she was on holiday in September 2012 in the south of France with her husband, the second in line to the British throne.
    The couple were snapped with a long lens relaxing by a pool at a chateau belonging to Viscount Linley, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth. 
    The pictures triggered a furious reaction from the royal family in Britain, where several newspapers rejected an offer to buy the pictures.

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 17, 2017 shows Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visiting the Irish Guards during a St Patrick's Day parade at Cavalry Barracks in Hounslow.  // AFP PHOTO
    Closer, a glossy gossip magazine, was the first to splash them on its cover, and they were later reproduced in several other European publications, including Chi in Italy and Ireland's Daily Star.
    The royals -- who announced Monday they are expecting a third child -- filed a criminal complaint for invasion of privacy and obtained an injunction preventing further use of the images.
    The court also ordered Closer to hand over the files with the images to the royal couple.
    In a letter read out in court in May, William said the case reminded him of the paparazzi hounding of his mother, princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris 20 years ago.
    
    - 'Positive image' -
    The prosecution had called for "very heavy" fines for the editor of the French Closer and Mondadori France, which is part of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's media empire.

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 3, 2017 shows Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, waving as she arrives at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on the first day of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. // AFP PHOTO
    The royals had joined the case as civil plaintiffs.
    During the trial, Closer's lawyers argued that the pictures were in the public interest and conveyed a "positive image" of the royals.
    The couple learned of their impending publication while on an Asia-Pacific tour to mark the diamond jubilee of William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.
    The court also ruled on a complaint against the Marseille-based La Provence newspaper, which printed a picture of the Duchess of Cambridge in a two-piece bathing costume at the same chateau a week before the Closer photos.
    For that picture, the paper's publisher and the photographer were given suspended fines, while they were ordered to pay a total of 3,000 euros in damages to William and Kate.