British Royals seek $1.6 m over Kate Middleton's topless photos trial

Washington D.C.: Kate Middleton and Prince William are seeking 1.3 million pounds in damages from the French magazine, Closer, which published topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge in 2012, while on vacation in Provence, France at a chateau owned by Queen Elizabeth II's nephew, Lord Linley.

E! Online reports that according to a new report from The Daily Mail, Kate and Prince William's French barrister Jean Veil requested that the court grant 1.3 million pounds (roughly 1.68 million dollars) to the husband and wife in punitive damages for the pictures on Tuesday, the first day of the criminal trial in Nanterre, France.

According to the report, the magazine's editor in France, Laurence Pieau, Mondadori group chief executive Ernesto Mauri and photographers Cyril Moreau and Dominique Jacovides will appear in court on charges of invasion of privacy and complicity.

"Their Royal Highnesses have been hugely saddened to learn that a French publication and a photographer have invaded their privacy in such a grotesque and totally unjustifiable manner," St. James Palace said in a statement to E! News at the time of the scandal.

"The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to the Duke and Duchess for being so. Their Royal Highnesses had every expectation of privacy in the remote house. It is unthinkable that anyone should take such photographs, let alone publish them."