Topless photos of Kate Middleton are fetching six people – including senior media execs and photographers – to trial in France under privacy laws for the publication of semi-nude pics of Britain's Duchess of Cambridge in 2012.
The Duchess and her husband Prince William pressed at the time for criminal charges in France to try to prevent wider publication of the pictures, which were taken of them on a balcony of a private residence while they were on holiday in the southern Luberon region, reported Reuters.
French media reports, citing French national news agency Agence France Presse and a judicial source, said those covered by the case would include senior staff at French regional newspaper La Provence, Closer Magazine, and Closer's parent company - Silvio Berlusconi's Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (MOED.MI) publishing group.
Neither La Provence nor Mondadori could immediately be reached for comment.
According to Le Parisien newspaper the trial is likely to start next year.