The British edition of Closer magazine would never publish the topless photos of the Duchess Of Cambridge printed by the French magazine with which it shares a name. The UK publisher made that clear this morning - putting the width of the English Channel between it and the French edition "printed under licence by another firm."
The UK statement said: "Closer magazine UK is published by Bauer Consumer Media. The French edition meanwhile is published under a licence by a totally different company, an Italian business called Mondadori. Closer magazine UK would like to make it clear that the two publications make entirely independent editorial decisions."
They even manage to make the word "business" sound tacky.
British Closer took particular exception to the comments of the French editor, defending the pix.
"In this respect the comments made by the editor of the French edition which have been reported in the media today do not reflect the opinions of Closer magazine UK," said the British statement.
"Closer magazine UK was not offered any pictures of this nature and certainly has no intention of publishing the photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge which have been published in France this morning.
"Closer magazine UK takes its obligations under the PCC Code extremely seriously and would never publish topless images of a member of the royal family on its cover or otherwise."
The Independent, produced the most scathing comment, "Clearly, this has nothing to do with press freedom. On that issue, the French edition of Closer magazine has the moral authority of a pervert on the tube taking up-skirt shots with his mobile phone."
For once, even to republican ears, this doesn’t sound like royalist sycophancy or cap-doffing hyperbole, says the Indy. "It sounds like basic common decency."