Prince William Was 'Ready to Go to War' Over Kate's Topless Photos in 2012, Book Claims

Prince William was reportedly 'ready to go to war' with the press after topless photographs of Kate Middleton were published in 2012. A book excerpted in a report on March 2, 2026, claims the Prince of Wales pushed for the strongest possible legal response following the release of images taken during a holiday in the south of France.

The episode occurred just months after William and Kate's 2011 wedding, when the French magazine Closer published photographs taken while the couple were relaxing privately. The palace pursued legal action, which ultimately resulted in a damages award several years later.

The 2012 Photos Storm

The account comes from royal expert Russell Myers, who writes that the couple's 'world came crashing down' when the photographs appeared, describing the episode as less a tabloid embarrassment than a profound breach of privacy. In Myers's account, William was 'distraught' at what was described as 'the utter violation' and made 'frantic' calls to his father, then Prince Charles, and to Queen Elizabeth II as the Palace scrambled to respond.

It is worth pausing on what can and cannot be proved here. Much of the most vivid detail rests on Myers' description of private conversations and on 'sources close to the prince,' none of which is independently verifiable from the material provided, so readers should treat those claims with a grain of salt. Still, the broad outline is on the record in court history as well as in the book's narrative: the Prince and Princess of Wales decided to sue, and the dispute escalated into a bitter legal fight.

Myers portrays William as both furious and fixed on control, not simply in the legal sense but in the moral one. 'Years before, William had gone against the grain when he warned the Fleet Street photographers that he would not tolerate a life of intrusion,' Myers wrote. 'This time, he was ready to go to war with the press.'

The language is striking, and it is also careful in what it suggests. It does not claim William could prevent publication, only that he was prepared to punish it, with the palace leaning on law where persuasion had failed.

Palace Anger and the Legal Gamble

In the book, aides are described as reacting 'furiously,' with Myers adding that staff felt 'the clock had been turned back 15 years to the dark days of Princess Diana being hounded to her death by the paparazzi.' That comparison, deployed from within the palace ecosystem, underlines how the family's trauma still shadows decisions today, even when the facts of each case differ.

The legal strategy, as Myers recounts it, was intentionally maximalist. 'Aides, describing the publication as "grotesque and totally unjustifiable," said the couple [was] "livid" and felt "violated," and would pursue full criminal proceedings,' the book states. William, Myers adds, told his lawyers to seek the maximum possible damages, with the intention of donating any award to charity afterwards.

Closer countersued after Buckingham Palace filed the initial case, according to the same account, a reminder that these battles rarely stay one-sided once lawyers take over. In 2017, the outlet was ordered by the courts to pay the pair approximately $117,000 in damages, as cited in the report, closing one chapter while leaving the wider argument about press behaviour very much alive.

Myers has also offered a more human explanation for William's stance, telling Fox News that, early in the relationship, Kate felt, 'If I'm going to put myself forward for something like this, then I not only need the support of William, but also the support of the institution,' and that William was 'absolutely integral' in telling her, 'I will support you,' with 'the mechanism of the palace supporting her as well.'