Italian gossip mag publishes topless Kate special edition

ROME (AFP) - The Italian gossip magazine Chi, owned by the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's media empire, on Monday published a special edition featuring grainy topless photos of Prince William's wife Catherine.

"The queen is nude!" read a large-font headline on the magazine's front page that also featured three of the photos published last week by the French publication, Closer, also owned by Berlusconi's firm Mondadori.

The decision to run the images has incensed the royal family, whose lawyers are seeking a civil injunction and criminal charges in Paris. Chi editor Alfonso Signorini claims the pictures represent "extraordinary reportage."

"For the first time, the future queen of England was appearing in a natural way, without the constraints of etiquette." The photos were taken through a powerful telephoto lens as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge relaxed in private at a luxury chateau in the south of France.