A court was told how the News of The World hacked into the Duke of Cambridge's voicemail, where they heard a voicemail intended for his future wife
Kate Middleton is called 'babykins' by Prince William, a jury in the phone hacking trial was told in court today. Voicemails where the Duke of Cambridge referred to his future wife by a pet name were read out in the trial as it was revealed for the very first time that the royal couple were targeted by newspaper officials.
Prosecutor Andrew Edis told the Old Bailey how tapes of voicemails left by Prince William for Kate Middleton were found at the home of the News of The World's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman. Transcripts of these were read out to the court. And you'll never believe what they say.
In one, Prince William says: 'Hi baby. Um, sorry, I've just got back in off my night navigation exercise. I had a busy day today again. I've been running around the woods of Aldershot chasing shadows and getting horribly lost, and I walked into some other regiment's ambush, which was slightly embarrassing because I nearly got shot.
'Not by live rounds but by blank rounds, which would have been very embarrassing, though.'
As intrusive it feels to see them, the messages were read out to the jury in reference to a story in Goodman's 2006 column where he write how Prince William was shot in an ambush.
Another transcript showed a message left for Prince Harry where a friend had pretended to be the royal's ex-girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, and read: 'You are the best looking ginger I have ever seen.' The newspaper claimed this was left by his brother Prince William, while another said: 'It's lovely out here in Africa and hopefully I'll see you very soon you big hairy fat ginger.'
Wow. Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and Clive Goodman are on trial for phone hacking and are accused of corrupting public officials, perverting the course of justice and committing misconduct in a public office.
All three are denying the charges against them.
It's the story – or rather – the intimate details of Kate and William's relationship we never thought we'd read. We'll bring you more as the case continues…
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