A French court has given maximum fines to two gossip magazine executives for publishing topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge.

The court in a Paris suburb ruled on Tuesday that three photographers and three newspaper executives invaded the privacy of Kate Middleton by taking and publishing the photos.

Two executives of a French gossip magazine and two photographers working with a photo agency were collectively ordered to pay 50,000 euros (£45,886) in damages to Kate and the same amount to her husband, Prince William.

The amount is well below the 1.5 million euros in damages that were reportedly sought by the royal couple.

The couple, who didn't attend the verdict hearing, had filed a complaint after the photos were published in gossip magazine Closer and a regional newspaper in 2012, the year after their wedding.

The pictures of Kate were taken with telephoto lenses while she and her husband apparently were sunbathing on a patio at a private estate in France's southern Provence region.

From: Esquire UK