Kate Middleton Top Off Photos: "Le Rat" Possibly Alerted By Chateau Staff, Location Considered a "Crime Scene" (DETAILS)
New reports are suggesting the Duchess may have been betrayed from several members of her own country. Detectives are investigating the chateau in the south of France where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were vacationing when a photographer captured photos of her sunbathing topless.
According to a report, authorities are probing the theory that the staff at the chateau alerted French Closer of the royal couple's visit. Therefore, the holiday spot is now being considered a "crime scene."
The staff at the Chateau d'Autet will be questioned by authorities who will also investigate the surrounding area where the images may have been taken from. Additionally, police will look for traces of DNA to help capture the photographer who has been nicknamed "Le Rat" in European reports.
"Officially the crime scene is the chateau and its environs," a source told The Sun. "This will be visited by detectives who will then have to work out how the photographer came to be there - who alerted him to the presence of the royal couple and where he took the pictures from. This kind of investigation involves interviewing as many potential witnesses as possible."
The Chateau d'Autet in Provence is owned by Queen Elizabeth's nephew Viscount Linley.
While the identity of the photographer who took pictures of Middleton sunbathing topless is still a secret, another photojournalist confirmed that the cameraman is British.
The source, famous cameraman Pascal Rostain who is a friend of former French First Lady Carla Bruni, claimed that the Closer photographer lives in the south of France, according to French Metro newspaper in Lyon.
"The irony of this whole thing is that the photographer is an Englishman living in the south of France," he said. "These photos were taken on the orders of Closer, who asked him to sit around for several days to take them, and for his efforts he did not earn a lot. He was just paid wages for going to take them."
The images show Middleton, 30, topless while sunbathing on the terrace of a private house at the chateau.
Rostain also told the Herald Sun that he and other paparazzi photographers know who took the controversial shots but won't reveal the name.
"In our small paparazzi world, we know who it is but obviously don't say anything," Rostain said. "I can just say it is an Irish national who lives in the south of France," he said.
The possibility that Middleton was betrayed by an Englishman and Linley's staff is reportedly considered a double blow to the royal famiy.
Another photographer, Valerie Suau, has come forward after being considered "Le Rat." Suau admitted she also took pictures of the Duchess from a public road near the estate but her photos were of Middleton wearing a bikini top, according to DNA India.
