"The incident, if true,
turns the clock back 15 years," a royal source travelling with the couple
in predominantly Muslim Malaysia told AFP, referring to the intense media
attention on William's late mother Diana.
Diana died in a car crash while
fleeing paparazzi in Paris in 1997.
France's Closer magazine said
its latest edition would feature "the photos that the world can't wait to
see; the Duchess of Cambridge topless on a guesthouse terrace".
The story was picked up in the
British media on Friday, less than a month after the publication of naked
pictures of William's brother Harry.
"Their royal highnesses
were saddened to learn about the alleged photos," the royal source said.
The monarchy was investigating
the authenticity of the photos and will then "make a decision about what
to do," the source added.
Britain's younger royals are
touring the globe throughout 2012 as part of celebrations marking the 60-year
reign of William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
They are now on a nine-day trip
that started in Singapore, saw them arrive in Malaysia on Thursday, and which
will move on this weekend to the Solomon Islands and later Tuvalu.
Visiting a hospice in the
Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur Thursday, Kate made her first comments on
foreign soil, discussing care for disease sufferers in brief remarks as the
British monarchy continues to ease her into her official role.
But the photo row risked casting
a pall on the tour, which was meant to help introduce the couple overseas after
their pomp-filled marriage last year that was watched around the world.
The royal couple dazzled
thousands of cheering Malaysian fans on Friday in a public appearance where
they were welcomed by a performance by practitioners of the Southeast Asian
martial art known as silat and the rumble of traditional drums.
They arrived to wild cheers for
the event, held at a park under the shadow of Kuala Lumpur's iconic Petronas
twin towers in tropical heat that at one point had Kate complaining, "It's
hot."
They greeted a crowd of
students and other fans who shoved floral bouquets upon Kate.
As the couple were chatting
with the crowd, William at one point nimbly caught the falling sunglasses of a
star-struck Michelle Marlow, 39.
"Chivalry isn't
dead," swooned Marlow, who promised never to wash the glasses.
During a lunch Thursday with
Prime Minister Najib Razak, the royal couple sampled durian -- the large, spiky
fruit whose flesh is notorious for its pungent odour and which is known in
Southeast Asia as the "king of fruits".
But at a lunch Friday with
British and Malaysian business figures, William quipped: "For a start I
would just like to say how delicious lunch was and how relieved I was that
durian was not on the menu."
"Having tried it yesterday
at the prime minister's lunch, I fear for the safety of the people I met
thereafter," he said, causing the assembled crowd of hundreds of
executives to erupt in laughter.
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