British press baron Richard Desmond has apparently agreed not to demand the closure of newspaper the Irish Daily Star, which a parent company controlled by him partly bankrolls, after editor Michael O'Kane fell on his sword and resigned over the weekend.

O'Kane had been suspended since he published photographs of Kate Middleton topless in the paper.

At the time of their publication, Mr Desmond announced: "I'm very angry at the decision to publish these photographs...Northern & Shell is profoundly dismayed at the decision made by the Irish Daily Star, which would never have been made by any of the newspapers or magazines under our editorial control.”

But is Mr Desmond really such a royalist? He also owns a clutch of pornographic TV channels and as British satrical magazine Private Eye reminds us:

"So respectful is Desmond of the royal couple that he celebrated their nuptials last year by commissioning a tasteful tribute, broadcast on two of his television stations and heavily publicised in the Daily Star. A Royal Romp featured a character named “Kate Fiddleton” (geddit?) engaging in hardcore sex with lookalikes of both Princes William and Harry, as well as a blonde woman purporting to be the latter’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, in the presence of lookalikes of Prince Charles and the Queen.

“We have chosen to put A Royal Romp on both Television X and Red Hot TV across the Friday and Saturday of the Royal Wedding bank holiday weekend to make sure as many people as possible get a chance to view,” announced Desmond’s head of programming Chris Ratcliff.

It makes a topless holiday snap look rather tame, doesn't it?