Hacking Trial: Kate Middleton's voicemails hacked

The jury were read messages left on Prince Harry and Kate Middleton's phones

Voicemails left for Kate Middleton by her boyfriend Prince William were hacked by the News of the World, the phone-hacking trial has heard.

In one message William used the pet name "babykins" and in another told her he had almost been shot with blanks.

An unnamed male also left a message for Prince Harry impersonating his then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

It is the first time the jury has heard that the Duchess of Cambridge's phone had been hacked.

Former NoW editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are on trial with then royal editor Clive Goodman and four others, accused of a number of offences, which they all deny, including conspiracy to illegally intercept voicemails.

Prince William was undergoing officer training at Sandhurst in 2006 when he said he "nearly got shot" with blank rounds during a training exercise in Aldershot.

'Very embarrassing'

In another message, the prince said he was going "beagling" - hunting with beagles - and invited his future wife to go with him.

A message he left on the duchess's phone was discovered at the house of Mr Goodman in 2006, prosecutor Andrew Edis told the Old Bailey.

The prince, now the Duke of Cambridge, opened one message to his girlfriend by saying: "Hi baby. Um, sorry, I've just got back in off my night navigation exercise."

He went on: "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."

When the exercise story was reported in the News of the World the paper said that Prince William had been shot with blanks, even though this did not actually happen.

In court Mr Edis also quoted from a jokey message left for Prince Harry by a male impersonating Chelsy Davy saying: "You are the best looking ginger I have ever seen."

At the time the NoW said the message had been left by his brother William.

The message, which was found at the home of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, went on: "It's lovely out here in Africa and hopefully I'll see you very soon you big hairy fat ginger."

'Hooray Henry'

Police also discovered a message left for Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, an aide to the princes, by Andrew Ritchie, William's commandant at Sandhurst.

The message, found at Mulcaire's home asked Mr Lowther-Pinkerton to call about "an incident at the ball last night".

The Duchess of Cambridge watched Prince William at a military parade in 2006

It appeared to relate to a story which later appeared in the NoW - headlined "So Silly Willy" - in April 2006.

It said: "Boozy Prince William and his gang of braying pals outraged guests at Prince Harry's passing out ball with his drunken antics."

The jury saw an email from Goodman to colleagues sent on 14 April 2006 which said William and his friends were "upsetting other guests with their braying hooray henry antics".

"A lot of the cadets are from normal non-aristo backgrounds and found the royal party's behaviour offensive. William himself was sent upstairs to bed before the ball ended. Another was regaling guests with an anecdote about how his wallet had been stolen by a hooker the night before," it said.

It was noted that the events did happen and William was drunk, plus he was also sent to bed early and his friend did pretend to be a brigadier, but it "was not that bad".

In the email it is noted that William was making a strong defence regarding what happened that night.

It added: "Interestingly, Kate was not there. On the list but no show. No love lost between her and Chelsy."

The trial continues.