Irish tabloid runs topless Kate pics

The British royal family faced a multinational battle to contain the spread of topless photos of Prince William’s wife Kate, as an Irish tabloid published them Saturday and an Italian gossip magazine planned to do the same despite the threat of legal action.

The royal couple’s St. James’s Palace office condemned the moves as unjustifiable and evidence of pure greed, and said it was considering “all proportionate responses.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sued French magazine Closer on Friday after it ran the photos, taken while Kate and William were on vacation at a relative’s private estate in southern France last month.

The Dublin-based Irish Daily Star ran a blurry reproduction of the pages from Closer over two inside pages Saturday.

Editor Mike O’Kane told the BBC the photos weren’t included in the edition distributed in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

Northern and Shell, the British company that co-owns the Irish Daily Star – and publishes its British sister tabloid, the Daily Star – said it was “profoundly dismayed” the Dublin newspaper had run the pictures. It said it had had no control over the decision.

Northern and Shell’s chairman, Richard Desmond, said he was “taking immediate steps to close down the joint venture” that runs the tabloid.