First his mother. Now his wife. When will it end? That would be uppermost in Prince William’s mind as he and Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton try to come to terms with the media storm surrounding them.

For the 30-year-old prince, it could have been deja vu.

Paparazzi, the French media and a British royal: The publication of topless photos of his wife has reunited the same players whose clash ended with the death of his mother, Princess Diana. She died in a Paris car crash.

Prince William, who has long harboured a grudge against the paparazzi for chasing Princess Diana in the days and hours leading up to her 1997 death, was clearly infuriated.

The royal couple hit back with an immediate lawsuit against the popular French gossip magazine Closer, which is owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Mondadori publishing empire.

The blurry photos, called a “grotesque” abuse of privacy by royal officials, show Ms Middleton – wearing only a skimpy bikini bottom. They are the first to show Britain’s likely future queen with her bosom exposed.

The parallels between the past and the present are eerie. Paparazzi took telephoto shots of Princess Diana vacationing on a yacht with her boyfriend, Mr Dodi Al Fayed,and tailed them relentlessly in Paris.

Instead of challenging the authenticity of the blurry photos, palace officials said they appear genuine – and should never have been taken, much less published, AP reported.

“The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to the Duke and Duchess for being so,” a St James Palace official in London said in a statement.

The pictures, which were not available on English news stands, appeared to unite many Britons behind their royal family.

“I think it’s quite outrageous,” said Ms Alice Mason, 24, from London.

“They were on holiday in a private place and some creepy journalist took pictures. It’s not in the public interest to see this.

“They are always going to be in the public eye, but there is a line, and they (the media) crossed that line.”

She said the royal couple has “every right to be outraged, especially with what happened to Diana”.

The British media – chastened by a scandal over phone-hacking and other misdeeds – all shied away from using the photos.

That restraint came even though Mr Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid is famed for its daily “Page 3” topless shots.

The UK media, wary about the ongoing inquiry into suspected criminal wrongdoing at a number of papers, has generally respected palace guidelines.

“There’s absolutely zero chance of the British press publishing these photos,” Mr Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of Mr Murdoch’s News Of The World, told AP.

Mr Wallis, who was arrested last year in the British phone-hacking scandal, said the arguments against publication under British rules are many: Ms Middleton had an expectation of privacy, she was doing nothing wrong and she was photographed stealthily by someoneusing a long lens.

In contrast, he said, publishing the naked photos of Prince Harry was legitimate because they raised questions about his judgment and the security arrangements around the third in line to the British throne.

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