In 2012, Australian DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian played a practical joke by calling the hospital where Kate Middleton was receiving treatment, sh0cking the globe when nurse Jacintha Saldanha sadly committed sui:ci:de.
In order to obtain information about the Princess of Wales, who was receiving treatment for morning sickness while carrying Prince George at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London in December of that year, the two radio hosts, who were then employed at 2Day FM radio, posed as the late Queen Elizabeth and the then-Prince Charles.
Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, forwarded the call to the ward where Kate was residing after being tricked by their prank call impressions into thinking they were the royals.
Sadly, after realising she had been fooled, the nurse took her own life.
According to The Times, in one of three notes written before taking her own life, Saldanha expressed how angry she was with the Australian radio presenters and blamed them for her suicide.
William’s letter
Later, Saldanha’s family shared what was in the letter William wrote to them on New Year’s Day 2013, after the devastating loss.
The Duke of Cambridge at the time spoke glowingly about the treatment Kate had gotten at that specific hospital.
“It is unbelievably sad and we both extend to and your family our deepest condolences,” he said.
“We have been thinking about Jacintha a lot lately and were both astonished to learn about her. She was praised by several of the nurses, and you are undoubtedly aware of her exceptional nursing skills.
William ended his letter by saying: “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.”
What became to Michael Christian and Mel Greig?
After the hoax call, which they claimed should have been handled by the broadcaster, Christian and Greig both experienced severe public outrage, death threats, and permanent harm to their reputations.
Christian chose to remain with Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), his employment at the time, but he said he was “made a scapegoat” and marginalized.
Additionally, he asserted that after the terrible repercussions of the prank call, he never got the supposedly promised assistance to rehabilitate his career.
After being laid off in February of this year, Christian has since sued SCA, claiming his redundancy was not real and requesting damages and compensation for lost wages.
But Greig made the decision to depart the station much sooner.
She openly apologized and said she was embarrassed she didn’t do more to prevent the prank from broadcasting after revealing in 2014 that she suffered from depression and that her mother had gotten death threats as a result of the affair.
Greig reiterated her compassion for the Saldanha family, said she understood Christian’s decision to suit, and called for changes in the way media firms support their employees.
Southern Cross Austereo has already been contacted by Tyla for comment.
