The Duchess of Cambridge, pictured visiting a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, is "saddened" after topless photos of her were published. Picture: Tim Rooke/PA

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be “saddened” after a French magazine published photos of the Duchess topless.

Closer magazine in France said its “exclusive” pictures showed the Duchess of Cambridge topless on the terrace of a guest house during a holiday she took last week with Prince William in Provence.

The couple were staying in a chateau owned by the Queen’s newphew Lord Linley.

The magazine’s website is currently showing an image of its front cover with heavily pixellated photos of the Duchess in a bikini apparently about to remove her top.

But the pictures were not pixellated in the magazine when it was published this morning.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are currently on a tour of South East Asia and the South Pacific on behalf of the Queen as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

They were told about the pictures before a visit to the Assyakirin Mosque in Kuala Lumpur and had also looked at the images on the website.

A source said: “They’re saddened their privacy has been breached - if it has been breached.”