From Good Morning Britain to every news website out there, you’ve probably seen the news about Prince Harry this morning. Two pranksters have claimed they hoax-called the Duke - posing as Greta Thunberg and her father - and duped the royal into candidly speaking about his decision to leave the royal family, along with his thoughts on everything from climate change to politics.
The Sun report that Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov spoke to Harry twice - in two separate calls - on the landline at their home on Vancouver Island, Canada. (Once before, and once after the announcement Harry was stepping back from the royal family.)
‘I can assure you,’ Harry told‘Greta’. ‘Marrying a Prince or Princess is not all it's made out to be! But sometimes the right decision isn't always the easy one.’ He also spoke about how Trump has ‘blood on his hands’ for ‘pushing the coal industry in America’, and said that he thinks Boris Johnson is a ‘good man’, albeit ‘set in his ways’. Harry even spoke about the allegations against Prince Andrew saying ,’Whatever he has done or hasn't done, is completely separate from me and my wife. We operate in a way of inclusivity and we are focusing on community. We are completely separate from the majority of my family.’
Following the news, people have been quick to call Harry stupid (and every other synonym) for believing that the pranksters were Greta and her dad, Svante. Or, if he isn't being accused of being dumb, then he's being mockingly called 'woke' by the likes of Piers Morgan on GMB.
And there’s also the question how, and why, is he talking to a teenager - even if she is a very famous activist - about his family over the phone?
But regardless of what you think about what Harry said, that’s his business anyway. The call wasn't meant to be heard by everyone, juxtaposed against some cartoons, in an online video. It's a massive breach of privacy, not too dissimilar from phone hacking. In the call, Harry speaks about his troubles with the media - so it will hurt further that the recording, which has been confirmed by the pranksters, was handed to the tabloids.
Yes, it does seem baffling that the pranksters got through to Harry and Meghan’s landline - whether that was direct or screened by staff - and it does make you think whether their security is strong enough to withstand the couple stepping down from the royals at the end of this month.
But, then again, Harry isn’t the first royal to be hoodwinked by the phone - with even the Queen falling victim to a Canadian impressionist pretending to be then Canadian PM Jean Chretien in 1995. And, far more tragically, in 2012, Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse who was treating the Duchess of Cambridge while she was pregnant, took her own life after being duped by two Australian DJs pretending to be the Queen and the Prince of Wales.
With intense media (and now social media) scrutiny, for the royals, prank calls are far less funny than getting a pub landlord to shout out a fake name. It may be time to take such an act far more seriously.
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