Duke and Duchess of Cambridge awarded £95,000 in damages over topless photos

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have said they are "pleased" a French court found in their favour after topless pictures of Kate were published in French Closer.

A court court awarded the Duke and Duchess almost £95,000 in damages following the pictures being made public.

The magazine was ordered to pay £91,700 by a Paris court over the long-lens images of the Duchess while she sunbathed on the terrace of a private property in France in 2012.

The French court gave maximum fines but awarded limited damages after ruling Kate's privacy had been breached.

A Kensington Palace statement read: "This incident was a serious breach of privacy, and Their Royal Highnesses felt it essential to pursue all legal remedies. They wished to make the point strongly that this kind of unjustified intrusion should not happen."

Kate and husband Prince William brought the lawsuit for invasion of privacy and had been seeking £1.3 million damages after the photos adorned the front and inside pages of the publication in September 2012.

Presiding judge Florence Lasserre-Jeannin also instructed regional newspaper La Provence, which printed images of the Duchess in her swimwear, to pay £2,800 in damages during the hearing at the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre.

William provided a statement to the court after six people - including three photographers - went on trial over the photographs in May.All six denied the charges against them.

He compared the paparazzi intrusion to the battle his late mother Princess Diana faced before her death in Paris in 1997.

All six defendants were convicted by the judge of charges relating to the taking and publishing of the images.

The royal couple did not attend the verdict hearing.

News of the judgement comes just one day after Kate and William revealed they are expecting their third child together.