Italian Magazine to Publish Topless Kate Photos, Too

An Italian gossip magazine owned by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi plans to publish topless photos of Prince William's wife, Kate, despite legal action against a French magazine that published the images first. Chi is part of Berlusconi's publishing house Mondadori, which also owns Closer, the French magazine that hit newsstands yesterday with the photos—and was immediately slapped with a lawsuit by the royal couple alleging privacy violations.

The photos were taken while Kate and William were at a private estate in southern France last month. Chi said it plans to publish a 26-page spread with photos on Monday. The cover was unveiled today in Italian newspapers and television under the headline "The Queen is Nude." The editor defends the move, presumably with a straight face: "Chi pays attention to respecting people's dignity. I don't think they hurt Kate's image." (More Kate Middleton stories.)