While the Prince and Princess of Wales have navigated royal family scandals and sickness over the years, their relationship endured one of its biggest tests shortly after they wed.
In September 2012, a French magazine published intimate photos of Kate – who celebrates her 44th birthday today – sunbathing topless during a holiday in Provence alongside her husband.
Britain’s future King, who was on a royal tour of Malaysia with Kate, ‘could barely contain his fury’ and proceeded to successfully sue Closer magazine for what he called a ‘shocking’ breach of his wife’s privacy during the 2017 trial.
While the controversy was undoubtedly difficult for the royal couple, it underscored Prince William‘s unwavering commitment to his promise of standing by Kate ‘in sickness and health’.
According to royal author Robert Jobson, William, 43, is Kate’s biggest ‘champion’ and he ‘believes that if anyone oversteps the mark regarding Catherine…it is his duty to step in and protect her’.
Writing in his book, Catherine: A Biography for a Future Queen, Mr Jobson suggested that this extended to the paparazzi as both William and Prince Harry had seen firsthand the catastrophic impact it had on their mother, Princess Diana’s life.
‘His stance was clear from the start of their relationship: he would not tolerate the media crossing the line,’ the royal biographer wrote about William’s desire to shield Kate from press intrusion.
His resolve, however, would be ‘tested to the limit’ during William and Kate’s visit to Malaysia in September 2012 when Closer obtained the long-lens topless holiday images and the focus of the tour ‘flipped’ overnight.
While the Prince and Princess of Wales (pictured), who today celebrates her 44th birthday, have navigated royal family scandals and sickness over the years, their relationship endured one of its biggest tests in September 2012
According to royal author Robert Jobson, William ‘believes that if anyone oversteps the mark regarding Catherine, whoever they are, it is his duty to step in and protect her’
Then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate were in Malaysia as part of their tour of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific to mark the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The tour had gotten off to a great start; Kate had delivered her first overseas speech at Hospis Malaysia as she praised the country’s first palliative care programme for critically sick and terminally ill children.
The speech, which Kate drafted herself, earned widespread acclaim, wrote Mr Jobson but ‘media focus of the tour flipped’ after news broke that Closer had published pictures of Kate sunbathing topless during a private holiday to France with William.
The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor, Rebecca English, who covered the royal tour, recalled the Prince and Princess’s contrasting reactions to the scandal as she revealed Kate was ‘cool as a cucumber’.
‘William was the total opposite,’ she recalled his demeanour during a tea party at the British High Commissioner’s residence in Kuala Lumpur.
‘Tired, angry, glowering, he could barely conceal his fury.’
To add insult to injury, the images were taken within days of the 15th anniversary of Diana’s death.
William and Kate were on the terrace of Chateau d’Autet, the private residence belonging to William’s second cousin, the Earl of Snowdon, when the future Queen was photographed using a long-lens camera.
Still grievously wounded by his mother Diana’s death, William took ‘immediate’ and ‘decisive’ action to protect Kate as the salacious photos loomed large over their royal tour – and relationship.
After informing his father, then Prince Charles, and the late Queen of his plans, the prince denounced the ‘grotesque breach of privacy’ and underscored the couple’s ‘profound sense of violation’ in a formal statement, Mr Jobson shared.
The couple, who were still in Malaysia, were now in a desperate race against time as the intimate images began to appear in numerous European publications.
‘They also recognised they needed to act now if they were to protect their privacy and uphold their rights,’ Mr Jobson described the foundation for what would become a landmark royal legal battle.
On September 14, William and Kate announced they had launched legal proceedings against the publisher of the magazine Closer.
Despite the tumult in their personal lives, the couple continued on their royal tour as they headed for the Danum Valley on the island of Borneo.
While Kate’s unflappable demeanour was widely praised, the scandal had ‘clearly unsettled’ William who ‘became – albeit temporarily – withdrawn and unhelpful in media situations’.
As reporters gathered for a briefing at an academic centre in the Danum Valley that day, William’s determination to take a stand against his wife’s privacy violation was plain for all to see.
Miguel Head, then William’s official spokesperson, declared that the prince was not afraid to take criminal proceedings against the photographers behind the invasive snaps.
Describing the couple as ‘livid’ and ‘violated’, he added: ‘It’s part of a very long-standing and heartfelt position by the duke and Prince Harry, given their past, to do everything they can to protect themselves.
Despite the picture scandal being the couple’s ‘worst nightmare’, the Prince and Princess of Wales put on a brave face as they arrived at their next destination during the tour: the Danum Valley (William and Kate pictured a day after the intimate pictures were published)
‘They’ve always said they don’t have an issue with the mainstream media just doing their job, but they have always had an issue with paparazzi whose work intrudes on their privacy.’
Even public figures took to social media to share their thoughts on the intimate images, with Donald Trump writing on X, Twitter at the time: ‘Kate Middleton is great – but she shouldn’t be sunbathing in the nude – only herself to blame.
‘Who wouldn’t take Kate’s picture and make lots of money if she does the nude sunbathing thing? Come on, Kate!’
The comment reportedly left William ‘furious’. Ahead of the trial surrounding the images in 2017, the prince submitted a statement to the court in which he laid his anger bare.
‘The clandestine way in which these photographs were taken was particularly shocking to us as it breached our privacy,’ he said.
Meanwhile, the couple’s spokesman repeated once again that the entire affair had left Kate feeling ‘violated’ and that the prince would legally ‘go all the way’.
In September 2017, five years after the grainy images of Kate first hit the magazine cover, a judge in a Paris courtroom ruled that the images constituted an unwarranted invasion of the royal couple’s privacy.
Laurence Pieau, then editor of the magazine, was charged with complicity, while the three photographers who had snooped on the princess were also found guilty of charges.
Publicly, the pair sought to maintain a stance of professionalism and even abseiled (pictured). But behind the scenes, according to Mr Jobson, the scandal had left William feeling ‘overcome with anger and frustration’
While Kate’s unflappable demeanour was widely praised, the scandal had ‘clearly unsettled’ William who ‘became – albeit temporarily – withdrawn and unhelpful in media situations’, according to Mr Jobson
More than a decade after Kate’s topless image scandal, William’s unwavering commitment to ‘champion’ and ‘protect’ his princess would once again be illustrated when Kate faced one of her greatest life’s challenges – her heartbreaking cancer diagnosis
William and Kate were awarded €100,000 (£91,000) in damages and interest. Mr Pieau and the CEO of the magazine’s publisher faced additional penalties of €45,000 each, the maximum amount permitted by law.
Despite the amount being one of the highest ever in a privacy case in France, it was a mere fraction of the £1.4million that the couple were seeking in damages. However, the couple remained grateful that justice had been served.
More than a decade after Kate’s topless image scandal, William’s unwavering commitment to ‘champion’ and ‘protect’ his princess would once again shine through when Kate faced one of her life’s greatest challenges.
Following weeks of speculation about her absence from public life, Kate announced she had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer on March 22, 2024.
In a deeply personal video message filmed at Windsor Castle, the princess described the diagnosis as a ‘huge shock’ and explained how she was in the ‘early stages’ of preventative chemotherapy treatment.
William visited his wife when she was admitted to The London Clinic in Marylebone in January to undergo abdominal surgery and even took time off to be with his wife and look after their young children, postponing his royal duties to put his family first.
Much to the relief of royal fans, the Waleses in September shared an update about Kate’s cancer journey in a deeply personal and intimate three-minute video as Kate confirmed she had completed a course of preventative chemotherapy.
In the deeply moving clip released by Kensington Palace, the royal mother-of-three also shared how the diagnosis had shaped her relationship with her husband.
Since Kate’s cancer diagnosis, the Prince and Princess of Wales have become more forthcoming with their affection for each other
According to royal historian Amanda Foreman, William and Kate are ‘more loved-up than ever’ following a particularly tumultuous few years for the couple. Rather than tearing them apart, Ms Foreman told PEOPLE that Kate’s cancer diagnosis had ‘brought them together’
‘This time has above all reminded William and me to reflect and be grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted. Of simply loving and being loved,’ she said.
Since Kate’s cancer diagnosis, the Prince and Princess of Wales have become more forthcoming with their affection for each other.
Most recently, William was captured kissing his wife’s hand when they attended the Royal Variety Performance in London in December last year.
According to royal historian Amanda Foreman, William and Kate are ‘more loved-up than ever’ following a particularly challenging few years for the couple, who will soon celebrate 15 years of marriage.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Ms Foreman said: ‘What they have been through over the last few years has been so terrible.
‘That either drives couples apart, or, in their case, it brings them together. It irons out the kinks and enables them to see each other clearly.’
