French court orders editor to hand over all topless digital photos of Duchess Kate within 24 hours

"These snapshots which showed the intimacy of a couple, partially naked on the terrace of a private home, surrounded by a park several hundred meters from a public road, and being able to legitimately assume that they are protected from passers-by, are by nature particularly intrusive," the French ruling decreed. "(They) were thus subjected to this brutal display the moment the cover appeared."




The photos show Prince William's wife Kate relaxing at a private villa in Provence, in southern France, sometimes without her bikini top and, in one case, her suit bottom partially pulled down to apply sunscreen.

The lawyer for Mondadori failed to show up at the courthouse on Tuesday.

Maud Sobel, a lawyer for the royal couple, described it as "a wonderful decision."

"We've been vindicated," Sobel said.