Six face trial in France over topless photos of British royal Kate

Six people including photographers and senior media industry officials are to face trial in France under privacy laws over the publication of photographs of Britain's Duchess of Cambridge topless in 2012, according to French media reports.

The reports, citing French national news agency Agence France Presse and a judicial source, said those covered by the case would include senior staff at French regional newspaper La Provence, Closer Magazine, and Closer's parent company - Silvio Berlusconi's Arnoldo Mondadori Editore publishing group.

Neither La Provence nor Mondadori could immediately be reached for comment.

The Duchess, Kate Middleton, and her husband Prince William pressed at the time for criminal charges in France to try to prevent wider publication of the pictures, which were taken of them on a balcony of a private residence while they were on holiday in the southern Luberon region.

According to Le Parisien newspaper the trial is likely to start next year.