A probe has been launched into reports that staff at the London Clinic attempted to view the Princess of Wales’s private medical records. However, the King’s personal data was not compromised. Listen to a Daily podcast on royal conspiracy theories as you scroll.
Thursday 21 March 2024 13:25, UK
A photo has emerged in the last half hour that shows the King in a car being driven out of Buckingham Palace today.
Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers in the UK bugged Prince Harry’s landline phones and accessed the messages on the pager of his late mother Princess Diana, the British royal’s legal team told London’s High Court today.
Harry, the younger son of King Charles and the late Princess Diana, and more than 40 others are suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over accusations of unlawful activities by journalists and private investigators on its tabloids, the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, from the mid-1990s until 2016.
Judge Timothy Fancourt said in a ruling last July that Harry could take his claims of unlawful information gathering to trial, but his allegations of decades-old mobile phone hacking were thrown out for being filed too late.
In a hearing at the High Court today, Harry’s lawyers sought to amend his lawsuit in light of that ruling, and to add other, new allegations.
These include further claims that the Sun ordered private investigators to target his then girlfriend and now wife Meghan in 2016, and accusations of widespread bugging of his calls.
“The claimant also brings a claim and seeks relief in relation to the interception of landline calls, the interception of calls from cordless phones and analogue mobile calls, and the interception of landline voicemails, as distinct from phone hacking,” his lawyers’ said in court documents.
The claim also includes allegations relating to Diana who “was under close surveillance and her calls were being unlawfully intercepted by (NGN), which was known about by its editors and senior executives”.
NGN is objecting to the addition of what it called a “huge number of new allegations” for numerous reasons, including that they were made too late, lacked evidence, and related to phone-hacking claims which had already been dismissed.
“They cover time periods falling outside the scope of the current pleading and the generic statements of case, and in many cases relate to allegations which have been well-publicised for as long as 30 years,” NGN’s lawyers said in court filings.
In 2011, NGN apologised for widespread phone-hacking by journalists at the News of the World, which Murdoch shut down following a public backlash. NGN has since settled more than 1,300 claims, but the group has always rejected allegations of any wrongdoing by Sun staff.
Yesterday, lawyers for Harry and the other claimants told the court that Mr Murdoch and other senior executives were involved in the cover-up of widespread wrongdoing, and that they had given false evidence to courts, parliament and a public inquiry.
NGN says some claimants are simply using the lawsuits, expected to go to trial in January next year, as a means to attack the tabloid press, and that allegations against its current and former staff were “a scurrilous and cynical attack on their integrity”.
The King is “doing very well”, Camilla has said during a visit in Belfast.
The Queen, who arrived to crowds of well-wishers, was handed a get well card for her husband, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, from shop assistant Brenda Robb during her visit to The Arcadia shop.
Camilla accepted the card and thanked her, adding: “He’s doing very well …. he was very disappointed he couldn’t come”.
Responding to quips about men “not being the best patients”, Camilla said: “I try to keep him in order.”
Describing her meeting with the Queen, Ms Robb said she was “beautiful” and a “real lady”.
“She accepted a get well card that I got for her husband and she said she was sorry her husband wasn’t here,” she said.
“It was a very appropriate card. It had a wee saying from Belfast, basically rest up, take care, and on the back of it, it said from Ireland. It was picked with love.
“People say maybe he’ll not get the card, but I think he will.”
Queen Camilla has been meeting locals during a visit to Belfast today.
The royal met business owners and staff on the bustling Lisburn Road in south Belfast on the second day of her stay in the region.
There was an emphasis on local produce and favourite foods, with artisan and family producers sharing with the Queen their contributions to the community.
Camilla arrived in Northern Ireland yesterday evening, with a bugler from the Hillsborough Ford Guard playing to mark her arrival at Hillsborough Castle in County Down, the royal residence in the region.
The Queen was last in Northern Ireland in May 2023 when she and the King undertook engagements on their first visit to the region following the coronation.
She is travelling alone this week after the King stepped back from his public duties while receiving treatment for cancer.
A Kate Middleton lookalike has described having to deny conspiracy theories claiming she impersonated the Princess of Wales during a visit to a farm shop.
Heidi Agan, 43, from Northamptonshire, was first discovered as a Kate lookalike in 2012, and has since worked in the US, Australia and China.
But after some began speculating the authenticity of footage of the royal couple at a farm shop this week, Ms Agan said comments on her social media accounts had gone “a little bit crazy”.
The mother-of-two told ITV’s This Morning that it “definitely” was not her in the footage, adding: “I was at work.”
“I do think it was 100% Kate and William in the video,” she said.
She also said: “I couldn’t quite believe how mad my social media had gone – I didn’t know anything about it. And then overnight, it just went a little bit crazy.”
Ms Agan said she was often mistaken for Kate and was “stopped quite a lot” by people in the street.
The customer who filmed the Princess of Wales shopping with Prince William at a farm shop has branded conspiracy theorists “delusional”.
After footage emerged of the royal couple strolling through a car park at Windsor Farm Shop, close to their home, this week, some on social media have claimed the person in the footage was not Kate.
Nelson Silva, who filmed the couple, said he saw Kate with his “own eyes” and he was “shocked” such comments had continued.
“This is a video clearly showing her and William. I saw them with my own eyes. It was a completely relaxed situation,” he told The Sun.
He said some had “put so much time and energy into these rumours and lies” that they now “can’t pull the plug”.
“Even famous people are guilty. People with a large platform online – they can’t admit they are wrong now because they look so delusional,” he added.
Sir Keir Starmer has said people should “butt out” and allow the Princess of Wales to have privacy while she recovers from her abdominal surgery.
Asked if he felt sorry for Kate, he told Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine this morning: “Yes, I think that we should leave her alone.”
The Labour leader went on to say the royal had undergone “a difficult operation” and “deserves privacy”.
“We should just butt out and leave her alone. That’s not really a political response, it’s a human response, as a dad and a human being,” he added.
The alleged attempt to access the Princess of Wales’s medical records is “outrageous”, health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom has said.
We reported earlier that three members of staff at The London Clinic are under investigation for allegedly trying to access royal medical records.
The staff are facing disciplinary action and the UK’s privacy watchdog has launched a probe.
Speaking to Sky News, Dame Andrea said: “It is completely outrageous.
“Obviously, it is a matter for the Information Commissioner but it is the case that every patient has the right to their privacy.”
Opened in 1932 by the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the hospital in Marylebone has close ties with the Royal Family.
In 1989, the King opened a physiotherapy department there and then in 1991 Princess Margaret opened an MRI unit in the radiology department.
In 2010, the late Queen opened a cancer wing there.
In January, Kate Middleton spent almost two weeks at the hospital while she recovered from abdominal surgery.
King Charles also underwent a “corrective procedure” for treatment for an enlarged prostate this year.
Past patients have also included the late Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret, the former US president John F Kennedy, David Cameron and actress Elizabeth Taylor.
By Laura Bundock, royal correspondent
A trial funded by the Princess of Wales for health visitors has had “overwhelmingly” positive results.
The Centre for Early Childhood – a foundation set up by Kate to explore the importance of a child’s early years on development into adulthood – funded the study which tested a new system for assessing babies.
Health visitors from two locations were trained to use the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB), which uses indicators such as facial expressions and activity levels to understand how well babies are bonding with their parents.
Sky News had exclusive access to the health visitors in Hull who were part of the 10-month study.
You can watch Bundock’s report here…
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