U.K.’s Prince William wins case against Paris Match over holiday photos

Prince William attends the launch of the Global Humanitarian Memorial, in London, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (Chris Jackson/Pool Photo via AP)

LONDON/PARIS -- Prince William and his wife Kate won a privacy case against French magazine Paris Match for publishing paparazzi photographs of them and their children on a private holiday, a notice published in the magazine said on Thursday.

William, the older son of King Charles and the heir to the throne, is known to fiercely defend his family’s privacy when they are not at official engagements.

It is the second time the royal couple have successfully sued a French magazine after another one, Closer, published topless photos of Kate in 2012.

Proceedings were launched against Paris Match, owned by French luxury group LVMH, in April, days after it published photographs of the family in the Alps.

“The Prince and Princess of Wales are committed to protecting their private family time and ensuring that their children can grow up without undue scrutiny and interference,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.

Paris Match declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

The couple are known to want to give their three children - Princes George and Louis, aged 12 and 7, and Princess Charlotte, 10 - as normal an upbringing as possible.

William, 43, has made no secret of his dislike of the media after his mother Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Her vehicle was speeding away from chasing paparazzi photographers.

He and Kate have also been the victims of phone hacking, according to court cases against newspapers in Britain. William settled a claim against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers in private.

Paris Match published the judicial notice on Thursday, stating it had infringed on the family’s private life and rights to their image.

William and Kate’s lawyers told the court the couple preferred the publication of the notice rather than any compensation.

(Reporting by Sarah Young, additional reporting by Mimosa Spencer and Alessandro Parodi in Paris; Editing by Paul Sandle and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)