Charges over topless Kate pics

The latest charges over topless Duchess of Cambridge photographs come months after publishing house Mondadori France's legal representative Ernesto Mauri, another photographer and a senior editor of the newspaper La Provence were charged with invasion of privacy.

Mondadori France publishes Closer magazine, while La Provence splashed photos of the Duchess in a bathing costume on its front page a week before Closer, on September 7, last year.

Following the publication of the photographs, a French judge ruled the topless pictures could neither be published again or sold on, clearing the way for a criminal investigation to identify the photographer.

The editor of French magazine closer and a photographer have been charged with breaking France's privacy laws by publishing topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge.

Closer Editor Laurence Pieau has been charged for publishing the photographs in September last year, according to AFP.

The agency also reported that an unnamed photographer was charged last month, while another is under formal investigation and will be charged “very shortly” for breaking France’s strict privacy rules.

The photographs were taken while the Duchess was on a private holiday with the Duke in Provence in the south of France.