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Former lieutenant governor Lise Thibault leaves a courtroom, on March 26, 2014 in Quebec City.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

Former Quebec lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault has lost a bid to have her fraud trial quashed.

A Quebec court judge ruled this morning that Thibault is not entitled to royal immunity.

Thibault is on trial after being charged with fraud and breach of trust in connection with more than $700,000 in alleged improper expenses.

She held the provincial vice-regal post between 1997 and 2007.

The charges were laid after a joint report filed by former provincial auditor general Renaud Lachance and his federal counterpart at the time, Sheila Fraser.

Thibault's lawyers tried repeatedly to have the case tossed out by arguing that, as the highest representative of the Crown in Quebec, she could not be prosecuted by herself.

The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear her case in May 2013.

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