A former Buckingham Palace press officer has broached the infamously 'thorny subject' of the topless photographs of the Princess of Wales.
A French paparazzo used a long-lens to take the pictures from half-a-mile away of a near-naked Kate Middleton sunbathing while on holiday in Provence in 2012.
The revealing images were never published in the UK after shocked newspaper editors told the snapper where to go, but they were picked up by the glossy French magazine Closer and subsequently splashed across the internet.
Five years later, in 2017, a French judge found in favour of the royals and ordered the magazine to pay 100,000 euros in damages with an additional 90,000 euros in fines. Kate and William were said to be "pleased" by the ruling.
The photographs were taken from a public road at the 640-acre estate and chateau owned by the second Earl Snowdon, a nephew of the late Queen Elizabeth.
In a statement read out to the court, William said: "In September 2012, my wife and I thought that we could go to France for a few days in a secluded villa owned by a member of my family, and thus enjoy our privacy.
In a new Channel 5 documentary, a two-parter simply called 'Kate', former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter blames security failures for the incident. But he states: "You don't expect to be photographed on a private estate, but if you can be seen from a public vantage point then it's a bit self-inflicted!"
