Paparazzi on trial over topless photos of Duchess Kate

Three photographers have appeared in a French court over topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, an invasion of privacy case that has outraged Britain's royal family.

The photos were published in a French gossip magazine in 2012, a year after Kate Middleton married Prince William. The couple didn't attend the trial outside Paris on Tuesday.

The pictures of Kate were taken during their summer vacation in France's southern Provence region.

The owner and executive editor of celebrity magazine Closer also are being tried along with the former publisher of a French regional newspaper that also ran the photos. None of the executives attended.

Neither the photographers nor lawyers for the defendants and the royal plaintiffs commented when they arrived for the trial.  A verdict is expected at a later date.