Perfidious Albion! The photographer who took the topless pictures of Kate Middleton is English, it is being claimed today.

A  French photographer named Pascal Rostain is also pouring cold waters on Closer magazine's claims that they simply bought the pictures after being offered them, sayign that Closer sent the man on the job.

M Rostain said that he knew the identity of the man who took the pictures of Kate sunbathing, and who is now wanted by French police as part of their investigation into the invasion of Kate's privacy. French police raided the offices of Closer mon Tuesday in an attempt to track the man down.

In an interview with the 'France Metro' newspaper, M Rostain said: "The irony of this whole thing is that the photographer who took these pictures is an Englishman living in the south of France.

"These photos were taken on the orders of 'Closer', who asked him to sit around for several days to take them.

"For his efforts he did not earn a lot. He could have sold them for €10,000, but in fact he was just paid his wages for going to take them.

"And he didn't put them on the open market either, where he could have earned a lot more."