Kate’s hospital falls for Aussie radio show phone prank
Nurse at King Edward VII Hospital gives private information
Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge visits the Kranji Commonwealth War Memorial in Singapore on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Nicolas Asfouri, Pool)
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The hospital where Kate, duchess of Cambridge, is a patient has admitted to a security blunder after a prank call from two Australian radio show hosts was transferred to a nurse, who gave out private information about the duchess.
The hosts, from 2Day FM, pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles and their call to the the King Edward VII Hospital in London was immediately transferred to the ward where Kate has been a patient since she was admitted with a severe form of morning sickness on Monday. Her condition forced St. James’s Palace to confirm rumours that Kate and Prince William are expecting their first child.
At one point during the call, Mel Greiga, who was pretending to be the Queen, mistakenly called Kate “my granddaughter.” One of the hosts also barked, pretending to be one of Queen Elizabeth’s corgis.
“This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore. We take patient confidentiality extremely seriously and we are now reviewing our telephone protocols,” said the hospital’s chief executive, John Lofthouse.
The hosts’ subpar royal impressions have been uploaded to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa5JQC8VNdw&feature=player_embedded
The hosts and the station, however, later apologized for their actions.
In a statement Michael Christian, the man pretending to be Prince Charles, said: “We were very surprised that our call was put through, we thought we’d be hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents. We’re very sorry if we’ve caused any issues and we’re glad to hear that Kate is doing well.”