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Partial nudity in a tabloid newspaper is nothing new, but when the subject happens to one of the most high-profile members of the Royal Family, it’s going to provoke some debate.

The topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge surfaced worldwide yesterday after they appeared on the front cover of the French magazine Closer, having been taken while Kate and Wills were on a private holiday in France.

Having announced that they were going to sue the publishers of Closer yesterday, there was further anger in St. James’ Palace today when the topless photos of Kate appeared in the Irish Daily Star today, but not in the paper’s UK edition.

Commenting on the presence of the photos, a St. James’ Palace spokesman said that there could "no motivation for this action other than greed".

A quick Twitter search of the terms ‘Kate Middleton’ and ‘Irish Daily Star’ will give you a flavour of the public reaction to the appearance of the pictures in the red top, but Irish Daily Star editor Mike O’Kane was stunned by the response and defended the paper’s right to publish them.

"The duchess would be no different to any other celeb pics we would get in, for example Rihanna or Lady Gaga,” O’Kane told the BBC.

"She's not the future queen of Ireland so really the only place this is causing fury seems to be in the UK.

"She's married into the royal family, she's one of the most photographed people in the world, and she decides to partially disrobe on a balcony where it can be seen from a public road and she's stunned now, or the Palace are annoyed that people are interested in this.

"Of course people are going to be interested in this.”

That sure told her. We don't think we've heard the last of this yet.