The Swedish celebrity magazine Se & Hor has published topless photos of Kate Middleton on Wednesday amidst a recently opened French criminal investigation.
According to the Associated Press, the unauthorized photos, which have already been published in France, Italy, Ireland and on the Internet, appear in the most recent edition of the Scandinavian magazine. AP further reports that its sister publication in Denmark said it also publish the photos later this week.
The publication came just as French police opened a criminal investigation into whether the photos — which first appeared in an edition of the French Closer magazine — were an invasion of privacy.
"It is nothing new to us to publish nude photos of celebrities on holiday," Carina Lofkvist, the chief editor of the Swedish magazine told AP.
The newswire adds that Lofkvist said actresses Demi Moore and Sharon Stone have done it and model Kate Moss have previously appeared half-naked in the magazine.
“No one complains when they do and we print the photos,” Lofkvist said
Sister publication Se & Hoer in Denmark will reportedly publish the pictures in a 16-page supplement Thursday, chief editor Kim Henningsen told AP. Henningsen reportedly added that the magazine had been offered 240 pictures but decided only to use 60 to 70 of them. He declined to say who sold them to the weekly or how much money they paid.
Multiple news outlets are reporting that a French court ordered police to obtain information on Closer magazine employees after the British royal couple filed the criminal complaint Monday.
Marie-Christine Daubigney, assistant prosecutor for the Nanterre court, outside Paris, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she had instructed police to get the names of some Closer employees, including the journalist who wrote the article.
According to AP, Daubigney hadn't told police to identify the photographer who took the pictures because that will be part of a “later investigation.”
In addition, she denied to the Associated Press police raided Closer magazine headquarters Wednesday, calling the French media reports of the incident “completely untrue.”
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