Kate Middleton topless

Mimi Turner, Northern and Shell's communications director, said: "We abhor the decision of the Irish Daily Star to publish these intrusive pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, which we, like St James's Palace, believe to be a grotesque invasion of their privacy."

The editor of the Daily Star Sunday in Britain, Gareth Morgan, told Sky News: "It's absolutely disgusting. We're horrified here in the office and and as a company. I'm speaking for the Daily Star Sunday and for four other responsible titles in Northern and Shell. This has no merit as an editorial decision, no merit morally. It's frankly a horrible decision."

He later said the paper was so disgusted they would be "open to discussing withdrawing completely from this joint venture."

But Mike O'Kane, the editor of the paper, who also published pictures of Prince Harry partying naked in Vegas, told the BBC: "The Duchess would be no different to any other celeb pics we would get in, for example Rihanna or Lady Gaga.

"She's not the future Queen of Ireland so really the only place this is causing fury seems to be in the UK, and they are very, very tasteful pictures."

He said the UK had "given the world a free press" and suggested the Leveson inquiry had gotten the British press into a "muddle."

"Leveson has failed to do what it should really have done," he said. "Elites are being protected by the press."

Despite the palace describing the publication of pictures of Catherine in French magazine Closer yesterday as a "grotesque and totally unjustifiable" invasion of privacy, on Saturday it emerged that the Irish Daily Star paper was running the images in its Republic of Ireland edition.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge earlier launched legal action for breach of privacy against the publishers of Closer magazine in France after it published topless pictures of Kate.

The pictures were taken last week while the couple were staying in Provence at a chateau owned by Lord Linley, the Queen's nephew, ahead of their Diamond Jubilee tour of the Far East.

Gossip magazine Chi is understood to be planning a 26-page photo special of the pair sunbathing in the south of France, to run in an edition next week.

Both Chi and the French edition of Closer are published by the Mondadori media group, which is owned by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Chi magazine's editor Alfonso Signorini said: "The fact that these are the future rulers of England makes the article more interesting and topical.

"This is a deserving topic because it shows in a completely natural way the daily life of a very famous, young and modern couple in love."

The Irish Daily Star images were not printed in any title associated with the paper in Northern Ireland or Britain.

The Press Council of Ireland was unavailable for comment on the decision to publish the photographs, but its 10-point code of practice includes a section on privacy.

The guidelines state "privacy is a human right, protected as a personal right in the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, which is incorporated into Irish law. The private and family life, home and correspondence of everyone must be respected".

The principle on privacy goes on to say that the right to privacy "should not prevent publication of matters of public record or in the public interest".

It adds: "Taking photographs of individuals in private places without their consent is not acceptable, unless justified by the public interest."

Independent News and Media tonight issued a statement saying: "The decision by the Irish Daily Star to republish pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from the French magazine Closer was regrettable and in poor taste.
"Independent News and Media had no prior knowledge of the decision to publish."

source: huffingtonpost