Verdict due in trial over Duchess of Cambridge topless photos: why are the Royals suing Closer and how much are they asking for?
A French court is due to rule on Tuesday on whether France's Closer magazine should pay up to €1.5 million (£1.4m) in damages to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for violating her privacy.
Why did the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take legal action in France?
They have sued Closer magazine in France for publishing topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge in southern France while on a three-day break with her husband in a chateau in Provence in September 2012. La Provence, a southern French daily also published some of the photos.
What are they suing the magazines for?
Breaching the Duchess's privacy. Her lawyers argue that while they are clearly public figures, they have the right to a private life on private property just like anyone else.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on the terrace of a private chateau in Provence owned by Viscount Linley, the Queen's nephew, when they were photographed.
The long-lens images were spread across the front and inside pages of Closer alongside an article about the pair with the headline "Oh my God!".
One of the most intimate shots showed the Duchess of Cambridge topless and having suncream rubbed into her by the Duke.
Who are the defendants?
Laurence Pieau, the editor of Closer in France, Ernesto Mauri, chief executive of the Mondadori group which owns the magazine, and Cyril Moreau and Dominique Jacovides, two Paris-based agency photographers suspected of having taken the topless photographs.
A week before Closer published the shots, another image of the couple from a different angle - and not topless - were printed in La Provence.
The paper's publishing director at the time, Marc Auburtin, and photographer Valerie Suau are also among the defendants.
Suau has admitted taking the photos but said she didn't consider she had breached their intimacy at the time.
The other two photographers both denied any involvement, despite evidence via their mobile phones that they were in the direct vicinity at the time.
How much are the Duke and Duchess asking for?
They are demanding €1.5 million in damages from Closer and a further €50,000 from La Provence.
The figure of €1.5 million is huge by French legal standards. How did the couple's lawyer justify such a sum?
Jean Veil, their lawyer, said that over and above the issue of privacy, it had brought back painful memories of the way the Duke's mother, Diana, had died 20 years ago.
In a statement read at the opening of the criminal case in May, the Duke said: "The clandestine way in which these photos were taken and published was particularly shocking to us as it breached our privacy."
The snatched images were, he went on "all the more painful as they reminded us of the harassment that led to the death of my mother, Diana Princess of Wales".
How did Closer's lawyer react?
He said the claims were way above the French norm and an attempt to impose "an Anglo-Saxon reasoning of punitive damages" in a Gallic court.
He pointed out that when Prince Albert of Monaco sued Paris Match for publishing a photo of "his illegitimate child", it was ordered to pay €50,000 in damages.
Besides, he added, the trial was "hypocritical" as "the public and private lives of the royal couple are so closely linked as to be inseparable".
“Two billion people watched their wedding, and we even have photos of them arriving at the maternity, leaving and now Charlotte's second birthday.
"It's of public interest to know that the potential future heirs to the throne have a solid relationship and are getting on well. It's all part of the royal business."
When is the verdict due?
1.30pm French time, 12.30pm in the UK.
Is this the first legal ruling in the case?
No, the couple launched legal proceedings soon after the photos were published and the French authorities banned any further reproduction of the pictures before launching an investigation into how the images were obtained.
But the photos still appeared in several other European publications.
What's the link with French president Emmanuel Macron?
Dominique Jacovides, one of the photographers in the dock, regularly takes photographs of President Macron and his wife Brigitte for the Bestimage agency. It is run by Michèle Marchand, aka "Mimi" - a well-known figure in the gossip magazine world who has reportedly become the presidential couple's unofficial image adviser.
