Lawyers for Prince William and his wife Catherine will seek damages against French magazine Closer for printing topless photographs of the duchess, their office said on Sunday.
The couple’s legal team will also seek an injunction at a court hearing in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Monday to prevent further publication of the pictures.
“We will be seeking an injunction from them (Closer) using the pictures and it will lead to a longer court case where damages will be sought,” said a spokesman for St James’s Palace.
In a fresh blow to the royal family, the images — taken while the couple were on holiday in the south of France, appeared again in Saturday’s Irish Daily Star.
“There can be no motivation for this action other than greed,” said a spokeswoman for Catherine and her husband, the second-in-line to the British throne.
The palace has said the couple “remain focused” on their nine-day southeast Asian and Pacific tour marking Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne, which on Sunday took them to the lush Solomon Islands.
The Irish publisher of the Daily Star on Sunday offered its “deepest apologies” for publishing topless pictures of the wife of Britain’s Prince William but said it would resist efforts by its British partner to close the paper.
The Irish Daily Star on Saturday broke ranks with its British and Irish rivals by publishing shots of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge — the former Kate Middleton — that were originally printed in the French magazine Closer.