Prince William sent handwritten note to nurse's family after tragic suicide over Kate Middleton prank call
Kate was receiving treatment for morning sickness
Prince William, then the Duke of Cambridge, wrote to the family of a nurse who took her own life after she was the victim of a prank call regarding Kate Middleton, it was previously reported.
In December 2012, following confirmation she was pregnant with the baby who would become Prince George, Kate was treated for acute morning sickness at King Edward VII hospital in London.
While she was a patient there, Australian radio DJs contacted the hospital posing as the Queen. Sadly, Jacintha Saldanha – who put the call through to another nurse treating Kate – passed away after taking her own life only days later.
Who made the Kate Middleton prank call in 2012?
Mel Greig and Michael Christian of Sydney’s 2Day FM broadcast the call three days before Jacintha died. Ms Greig pretended to be the monarch enquiring after Kate’s condition.
An inquest later heard how Jacintha took responsibility for the consequences of the hoax, despite the hospital’s support.
She was found dead in nursing accommodation on 7 December 2012. A coroner returned a verdict of suicide.
Jacintha, who was 46 when she passed away, was praised by Lord Glenarthur, chairman of the hospital, as “a first-class nurse who cared diligently for hundreds of patients”.
What did Prince William write to the family of Jacintha Saldanha?
Prince William’s handwritten note, dated New Year’s Day 2013, told Jacintha’s relatives both he and his wife were “shocked” by Jacintha’s passing.
He also mention how highly she was thought of by her colleagues at the hospital.
The new-Prince of Wales reportedly wrote at the time: “It is unbelievably sad and we both extend to and your family our deepest condolences.
“We were both very shocked to hear about Jacintha and have been thinking about her a lot recently. Many of the nurses spoke highly of her and I’m sure you know how great a nurse she was.
I am just so sorry that someone who cared for others so much found themselves in such a desperate situation.
“Jacintha and her colleagues looked after us extremely well and I am just so sorry that someone who cared for others so much found themselves in such a desperate situation.”
‘Three or four seconds changed our whole life’
Jacintha’s widower Ben Barboza told at the time how he was unable to forgive the radio DJs.
He was reported to have said: “I am just really angry, why did they do that? Just a matter of three or four seconds changed our whole life. They were making some kind of mockery, saying: ‘OK we fooled them.’ I can’t forgive the people who broadcast that.”
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Mr Barboza added: “It was the humiliation she felt, and the guilt. I go over that in my mind, over and over. She didn’t want me to know, to share that humiliation.”
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