William and Harry’s faith in pals restored by media hacks

Prince William and Harry during phone hacking scandal 

reportedly didn’t trust friends Credit: WindsorWedding

There was one good thing that came out of the tabloid phone hacking expose in Britain. The scandal made Prince William and Prince Harry sit up and realize that they could trust their friends again, opined one of their closest confidantes.

The discovery that the stories splashed across newspapers was due to their phone calls being intercepted. And that their close inner circle had nothing to due with the leakage has “restored their faith in human nature”, disclosed ITN political editor Tom Bradby, a friend of both the princes.

It may be noted that it was Bradby, who carried out the first television interview with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, during their engagement in Nov. 2010. In an interview to Sunday Express S magazine (15th July issue) Bradby reveals all.

Prince William and Kate Middleton answering questions from 
ITN's Tom Bradby during TV interview

It was Bradby’s jewellery designer wife, Claudia, who also happens to be Kate’s friend, who first told her about the phone hacking in 2005. The latter in turn alerted Prince William about the possibility that his phone was being hacked after the ‘News Of The World’ carried an article about Brady lending editing equipment to the Prince.

The discovery of the private information shared, lead to a police investigation which finally resulted in Clive Goodman, the newspaper’s royal editor and its private investigator Glenn Mulcaire being sent to jail. Bradby said: “He kind of knew that it wasn’t me and he said, ‘Look I know it wasn’t you but that was weird’. It was kind of embarrassing because he’d only told me and his secretary, who would never dream of telling anyone.”

Even during Princess Diana’s time the phones were hackled, which Bradby remembered and hence warned William that he could also be a victim. This advice, he said, Prince William took seriously. “He put what I said to him into his head along with lots of other stuff that had happened and went off and did something about it and the rest was history.”

 

Tom Bradby with his wife Claudia at the Royal Wedding / 
Credit:   (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

Naturally when these unsavory incidents were taking place, said the political editor, there was “constant mistrust” of their friends by William and Harry, who were thinking ‘endlessly’ as to who was leaking their private stories.

“It was the real bane of their lives,” Bradby opined . “Since then it’s all stopped and they’ve realized that   their friends, and even casual acquaintances, are not  betraying them and I think it’s made a huge   difference  to their lives,” he surmised.

According to Bradby, forget betraying the princes, on  the contrary, people set up a "protective shield”   around them. “I think that’s been great for them. I   think they found that very heartening and I think in   some respect it’s helped restore their faith in human   nature,” declared an elated friend.

  
Being a royal is no easy job, being constantly in the news, and hence even being vulnerable to exploitation. It is believed that in the past, William and Harry would flush out informers by providing them a sham story just to check if it appeared in the newspapers. They have seen while growing up how their mother had been hounded by the paparazzi. Therefore have exercised control over the press by complaining about any photographs they feel transgresses their privacy.

Source:  Daily Mail.co.uk 

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