Here are some photos of Prince William going solo to a charity benefit event in London last night. The event was the Winter Whites Gala, which benefited Centrepoint, a homeless-youth charity. William is one of Centrepoint’s biggest and most vocal patrons. The lady walking along side of William is named Danielle Alexandre, and she’s one of Centrepoint’s trustees. Doesn’t she look like she’s having a grand old time? I swear, she thinks she IS Duchess Kate.
Duchess Kate was originally scheduled to come to this event, of course, but Kate has canceled all of her upcoming appearances and events because she’s so barfy. When William was asked about Kate by the former chairman of Centrepoint, Michael O’Higgens said: “He said they shouldn’t call it morning sickness as it’s a day and all night sickness.” Har har. William jokes like his father. Very awkward. Kate also will miss a scheduled event today – she was supposed to make an appearance at the British Military Tournament at Earl’s Court. A royal aide told Us Weekly, “Catherine is sad not to be at the event. She was really looking forward to it.”
And no, I really don’t want to talk about that horrible thing with Kate’s nurse-receptionist Jacintha Saldanha. When Kate was in the hospital, two Aussie DJs prank-called the hospital, pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, and this Jacinda woman was the one to put the call through, transferring it to Kate’s ward, where the DJs were briefed on Kate’s health. On Friday, Saldanha’s body was found. She had committed suicide, apparently. Do we really need to yell at each other or any of these people? The deejays were obviously in the wrong, and they did something awful, but I don’t believe they had deathly malice in their hearts, you know? It’s just awful that this woman blamed herself for such a terrible “prank”.
Anyway, William did not make any comments about Saldanha during the Winter Whites Gala, but the day before, St. James Palace issued a statement: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jacintha Saldanha. They were looked after so wonderfully well by everybody at King Edward VII Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha’s family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time.”
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
I dont believe Mrs. Saldanha decide to end her life solely because of the prank. There’s something more, that wont be revealed to the public.
back to wills and kate, I used to think they will be together forever, but now I doubt it. The pressure is too hard. If I were kate I choose to runaway. She’s pretty, she has good education, 30 to 40 is not old. and with her celebrity persona she could start her life anywhere.
run kate, run!
This media circus is insane. But I agree, there must be more to it. The poor woman must have been struggling with something else, and I suppose this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
I hope she’s at peace now.
On a slightly brighter, more superficial note – no photos of Novak Djokovic? I heard he was at the gala along with McEnroe and Ivanisovic.
http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Novak+Djokovic+Winter+Whites+Gala+Arrivals+joHXehL1XFnl.jpg
To be honest I don’t find Nole that attractive outside the court 🙁
@goodcapon
Me neither. Djokovic has a gorgeous body but facially he’s a bit goofy looking. He should just never wear any clothes!
Of course there must be more to it, this poor woman had probably other issues going on in her life.
But the “prank” was obviously the cause she killed herself. I find it very alarming that it is nowadays seen as normal to embarrass people in front of the world. It’s not normal and everybody should be aware of the consequences. Everybody is in charge of their actions.
Liv, I’m never a fan of prank show. from candid camera to kutcher’s show, or those silly phone prank that it seems every radio station have. and yes, that radio and those 2 DJs should responsible from what they’ve done.
the thing is, what I see now, the media playing witch hunt without realize that they also have their part in this tragedy.
the hospital and british authority using those two Djs as scapegoat for their own mistake. since when a nurse should take responsibility on the switchboard. and heaven knows how they support their staff regarding prank incident.
How strict is a hospital switchboard, though? I mean, couldn’t I have called the hospital, asked to be transferred to the prenatal ward, and been put straight through? It’s the ward’s job to make a decision on whom to talk to, not the switchboards. I’m not even sure this nurse made an error, really.
Misplaced comment – ignore me.
bettyrose – I’m not sure how it works across the pond, but when I was hospitalised for my 20 hours a day “morning” sickness (I don’t think that was a lame attempt at a joke, I think he was being serious), there was no phone in my room, my only permitted visitor was my then-husband, and my ward nurses were like guard dogs when it came to giving out information.
And I’m not even Royalty. 😉
@bellaluna I had the same thing as Kate and I remember making the same “joke” as Will so yeah I think Kaiser is being too hard on him about that. I hope she gets a break, being sick literally all day is hell so I feel for her. I think most of us Americans think about HIPAA but I don’t know what patient privacy is like in the UK.
I made that joke. My mother made that joke about her own. My husband made it about me.
In all honesty if you need to say it, you aren’t really joking.
ITA. Yes the poor lady probably had other issues going on but the thing that pushed her over the edge shouldn’t have been a frivolous joke from an outside source.
There are even campaigns now to try and support the djs involved which I think is disgusting. They definitely shouldn’t be getting death threats themselves but they certainly shouldn’t be held up as innocent victims.
My thought as an American was not about HIPAA as that is an American law and I do not know what the laws are across the pond.
What I wondered about was the cultural significance and attitude toward royalty in the UK and how horrid it must be for the average person to deal with it.
I can’t imagine a nurse in the US committing suicide because she messed up a call re: Michelle Obama or Angelina Jolie or whatever the closest person we have in the US to royalty.
Yes, there had to be some other issues in Mrs. Saldanha’s life but as an American, I just don’t see how that could be a trigger.
I am sure whomever let Dr. Phil into Britney Spears room at Cedar’s Sinai is still alive and well.
The nurse’s death has turned into a witch hunt for the pranksters, but just how hard did William come down on her for compromising Kate’s privacy? With as vigilant as he is toward people who threaten their privacy, I cannot imagine he did anything less than demand she be fired, or even worse. Just how truly “saddened” was he by her demise? -Just saying. It’s tragic all the same, but if it was a suicide, I wonder how much William may have contributed to her negative state of mind.
They specifically said they hadn’t made a complaint about her. William is a big rabid about the press, not individual people. He’s far more likely to go after the radio station than a private person.
The lady was Indian, and there several comments about how she felt ‘shamed’, which of course is a big thing.
Even leaving out the tragic bit, it was a stupid prank, and treading an extremely fine line legally, surely. It’s a total invasion of privacy, and not even funny.
Well, I had always hoped that Will would be just like his mother–warm, charismatic, charming. Ooops I guess I was wrong. He seems a big bore who loves to vacation and sue people who interfere with his life (ie. paps). In fact invasion of privacy seems to really set him into a tizzy. I just can’t believe he wasn’t upset about the nurse’s error.
A story appeared day before the suicide in a few british tabs where it was alleged that he was angry. Plus a few former RF handlers were on the news talking about how the palace must be pissed because of lax security at hospital that allowed prank call.
After suicide was made public, it all died down to ‘deeply saddened’.
William lashing out is the accepted view of him, rightly or wrongly. He really needs to work on that.
LAK, I know you know PR. Is it me, or was their “we’re so sad” statement a bit on the perfunctory side?
Given Wills’ track record, I don’t doubt that he or the palace threatened that heads will roll. As it stands they put out a statement emphasising that they had nothing to do with triggering the suicide. This distancing act is kinda weird. I simply don’t believe that they weren’t pissed.
Ah underlings. Always expendable. I am sure neither he nor Waity have given that poor woman a second thought. As for Centrepoint, what does Wills do other than show up for galas and photo ops?
Yeah the story I read said Prince William was incredibly angry about the call. If the nurse was hyper-sensitive, hearing that, along with any flak she caught at work must’ve been torture to her.
I understand the dj’s did this as a joke but I think it was wrong to involve unwilling participants.
Bluhare – if I were writing his response to this, I’d include a ‘shocked’ in there.
He overreacts to quite superficial events, putting out statements that include ‘betrayal’, ‘distraught’, ‘distressed’, ‘furious’,’angry’, ‘jail time’ etc frankly ‘deeply saddened’is overwhelmingly dismissive in the lexion of language he uses to discribe the state of his emotions!!!!
Their statement after the suicide was just odd:
“The Duke and Duchess did not complain”.
I mean, why even mention that instead of just saying they were sorry and saddened?
It sounded like they were washing their hands off of the situation and taking 2 steps ahead of whatever questions may arise.
Knowing William and his aggressive attitude towards privacy and the press, I doubt that he wasn’t angry about the hoax call and that he didn’t say anything to the hospital and its staff.
We all know about his witch-hunt of the French photographer. The French publication house of the magazine was raided. An Irish newspaper was closed down and many people fired from their jobs.
All that over Kate’s t*ts and being caught skipping out on the Paralympics to indulge themselves.
I dread what the next 7 months will bring if the media doesn’t curb its frenzy.
It’s just getting ridiculous to be so crazy over a woman’s womb and a fetus. No royal pregnancy is worth someone’s life and no royal pregnancy deserves to be put in such a pedestal that people are attacked and harassed by others around the world for a mistake.
Sachi: That’s a great point. Why did they feel they had to say they didn’t complain? Because they did and now that the woman’s dead, they want to wash their hands of it?
I’d never thought of that angle. This whole thing is icky through and through.
bluhare: The whole thing is just so grim.
I also read that the DJs have gone into hiding and one of the DJs is now under surveillance because she’s close to a mental breakdown.
This is just getting worse by the day.
The DM at its worst:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244999/Jacintha-Saldanhas-husband-reveals-heartbreak-death.html
They’ve moved on from criticizing the nurse to publishing the price of her house and the Facebook messages of her children.
Many of these rags were all crying about Kate’s privacy being breached and were calling for the nurse’s head just last week, yet they can’t even leave a deceased woman and her family alone. Unbelievable.
As I said, I dread the next 7 months if more of this is coming.
This isn’t the person they would upset with though. She was a nurse in an understaffed hospital who also had secretary duties thrown on her plate. The worst thing she did was believe the stupid accent, she just directed the call to the correct floor which isn’t confidential information.
I think said clarified the fact they did not complain because of the speculation that this meant she could lose her job, her home (she was living with her husband and kids in a place specifically for nurses I think), and potentially her license. However, the people saying it probably thought she was the other nurse who actually did give out information.
I do wonder what their patient privacy laws are in this situation. Hospitals here can report on the status to the press (stable, critical, in surgery, ect) and give general information over the the phone to family members. What she gave out was pretty general no diagnosis, no mention of medications, ect. I guess we will get our answer when we find out what happens to the other nurse.
@Sachi – The Irish Star editor stepped down to appease them without shutting down the paper and putting so many people out of work.
irrespective of available laws, when it comes to the royal family or high security risk people, protocols are in place to prevent this type of thing.
Clearly the hospital didn’t have them set up for the visit. Which makes them negligent seeing that they are the preferred hospital of the RF for decades now.
It also brings into question the RPOs performance. Again. They aren’t there for physical protection alone in the manner of celeb bodyguards. Despite reports that WK drove themselves to the hospital, they are never without RPOS, who are alway briefed as to what the hospital protocol should be and who clearly didn’t brief the hospital on this visit.
Considering how his mother died don’t you think it’s understandable that he has a hate on the paparazzi?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2159265/The-Royal-Familys-visit-Nottingham-captured-huge-FIVE-BILLION-pixel-camera.html
And they didn’t know about the cameras during their vacation? The comment here is that Kate is looking “…eerily at the camera… So who knows what games they’re playing behind closed doors.
William is a real jokester(eye roll). I would had given him the finger for that one if I were Kate. My heart goes out to the nurse and her family. The dj’s were being irresponsible, but i also feel that the nurse was unstable. The whole situation is sad, and horrible. I feel it was a stupid prank and this whole thing could had been avoidable. Really sad
I know he is incredibly dull, but I had the same condition as Kate and made the same lame “joke” so I will give him a pass.
“The lady walking along side of William is named Danielle Alexandre, and she’s one of Centrepoint’s trustees. Doesn’t she look like she’s having a grand old time?” – she really does. Wouldn’t you though?
“Oh, hey, I can’t come round and watch Downtown Abbey with you and Fluffers tonight because I am going to be Wills’ DATE! Seems the missus is chucking and he needs someone on his arm – I am going with the hot pink wrap! *squee*”
Lmao
Haha..she is probably thinking she is just the older version of Kate..’In 20 years, Kate will look just like me..I’m like her older sister! yay..’
That’s a joke? If he were a regular Joe, I doubt anyone would laugh at that pathetic attempt. Note to William: You are not funny, repeat, you are not funny. They are only laughing out of obligation.
I seriously doubt it was a joke. There is no indication that he was being factious
People are being way too hard on him about this. Believe me, if you have that condition you make the same “joke.”
Exactly, in seeing the comment as a bad joke, there is an implication that he is capable of being facetious.
I’m loving the Danielle lady- having the time of her life. Fun!
Lol she is hamming it up! She kinda looks like Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa.
Why is that joke awkward? It is just goofy…He is goofy. Big deal.
Yes, chill out people. The dumb joke doesn’t define him.
Come on people. Do you know how many people have actually said something similar. It’s more of a true statement than a joke. Some women LITTERALY do have morning sickness all day
William on his own without speech writers seems less tactful than his father. Maybe he really has little sympathy for Kate’s nausea or maybe he just does not care that much. This is in a long line of him saying or doing dumb things without thought of others, but it rarely gets reported on.
I’m sure he cares for Kate and his growing child inside her, but this “dumb joke” is him.
Over the years, it has seemed to me that William got Diana’s looks and Charles’ personality while Harry got more of their father’s looks and their mother’s personality.
That said, I am cutting the dude some slack. Those early pics of him emerging from the hospital showed a very worried husband. If carrying your child has made your wife so sick that she winds up in the hospital, you might be making lame jokes in public too, just as a distraction tactic.
”William got Diana’s looks”
We wish! Back in his early 20s, it looked as though Wills was going to be a male version of Diana – tall, with big blue eyes and a gorgeous face. Didn’t quite work out that way – those Windsor genes soon kicked in and bam! now he’s as goofy and balding as the rest of them!
As for Harry, he reminds me much less of his mother and much more of his grandfather, Prince Philip. He has the same ‘coudln’t give a f**k’ attitude, lack of PC, and snobbish disdain for the little people. He’s also great fun, which is more than can be said for his dullard of a brother.
Unlike Charles, William has a chin.
RIP Jacintha. It’s sad that a family has to be torn apart because of a prank call. But was it really the DJs’ fault? How would they know that what they did was supposed to have disastrous consequences?
You have to be angry at the media though. A couple of days ago they were calling for the nurses’ heads because of the breach of security. Now they are swiftly backpedaling because one of them committed suicide and have instead focused all their rage on the DJs.
Even the BRF and William were initially said to be ‘furious’ about the incident but has since put out statements that they are deeply saddened over the suicide. They also didn’t forget to mention that William and Kate ‘did not complain’ which -given William’s diva attitude towards privacy and litigious past- I’m inclined to believe is BS.
They’re all taking a defensive CYOA stance here, because they know they’re all to be blamed for this.
”It’s sad that a family has to be torn apart because of a prank call. But was it really the DJs’ fault? How would they know that what they did was supposed to have disastrous consequences?”
Obviously they couldn’t have know the woman might commit suicide. However, they MUST have known that they would be humiliating her in front of a global audience and quite possibly putting her job at risk. At the very least, they used her embarrassment for their own profit, which is inexcusable. At the very least, they should have asked for her and the other nurse’s consent before broadcasting their voices.
I also would question the ‘royals’ claim that they did not complain, just as I’d question the hospital’s claim to have been ‘supportive’ of the nurses. We’ll probably never know, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Jacinta had been told her services were no longer required, and that this is what led to her suicide.
Actually @goodcapon is right. There was a failure of protocol procedures at the hospital. Not so much by this nurse because she was the receptionist but by the handlers at Kate’s bed/ward.
No one, including these DJs would have thought they’d get through so easily much less be given Kate’s info. It’s similar to ringing up BP expecting to be put through to The Queen. You might get past the switchboard, but you’d be stopped further in. It really isn’t easy.
And this hospital has been dealing with the royal family for decades so they should have the protocols in place.
The call was transferred to someone who took the request from reception nurse, who them proceeded to provide the details.
It’s a pity the reception nurse, who isn’t at fault at all, was pushed to kill herself over this.
I suppose the reports that William was angry and furious about it made her assume the worst-she had the example of France before her, and am pretty sure the hospital told her off behind the scenes even if it wasn’t a formal telling off.
The suicide allows the hospital to play the blame game when they clearly didn’t have the protocols set up.
I am an RN state side and if I had given information out to about a patient in a prank call…I’d be in a world of trouble. We have HIPPA and I constantly have to tell families that because of the law and can only tell them that their family member is stable and most of the time the patients are with it and I transfer the call to patient so they can tell the caller what they choose. People get pissed at me all the time but oh well, I am not loosing my job over it.
I don’t get why the one transfering the call was getting so much flack, I’d think the one that gave out the info would be in the most trouble. Maybe the usual secratary would be more skeptical, I mean it’s the Royal Family, there must be a protocol to give them information and no nurse would be the one giving it…it would come from a doctor.
Okay, ‘fess up … who else had to google CYOA to figure out the acronym?
All I could see was “choose your own adventure”, and it didn’t quite seem to fit.
Sorry Lucrezia. I guess the added O in the acronym had you confused 😉
I thought the same thing. Everyone is back tracking because she died, but they were more than willing to rake this woman over the coals over a prank. Complete overreaction by William, BRF, and the media. They aren’t to blame for the nurse’s obvious fragile mental health but please stop acting as if you laughed it off & said nothing.
Everyone is talking about how disturbed this woman must have been, but I don’t think so. I am not a cultural expert, but she was Indian. Is this a culture where shame is a huge issue like Japan? I have wondered if this isn’t more of why she killed herself rather than mental disturbance.
That presumes a higher level of responsibity than she actually had. Acting as receptionist, she answered the switchboard phone & transferred the call to another department. No harm, no foul. The staff member who answered the phone in Kate’s ward is the one who disclosed info. The receptionist’s apparently self-inflicted death is very sad & an emotionally well-balanced person wouldn’t have overreacted in this way.
Saving face probably played a part. Hate she felt this was the only option left to her. Sad situation for her family.
I agree. She was humiliated and probably (even though the media is reporting otherwise) feared for her job. Maybe she thought she let down the royal family and put their safety in jeopardy. Bottom line, we will never know.
Taxi: I am not comfortable calling the nurse unbalanced. I am just not.
Suicide is a very complicated thing. It has touched my family, and there are no words. I agree that Taxi, you should not be calling this poor woman disturbed. We don’t know what happened but certainly we need to show a little more respect than this to the dead. All of us humans need to treat people with more respect. This happened because the DJs did not think about what would happen, they were callous and cruel, and even though obviously the results were not anticipated let’s stop the cycle by being respectful.
The whole thing is like the Omen and Rosemary’s Baby combined. Starting off with a suicide and is Kate going to be sequestered for the rest of her pregnancy? This family is cursed. The whole thing is sinister as hell.
Just because two idiot DJ’s wanted to have a little fun at Kate’s expense, doesn’t mean the baby or family is cursed.
My thoughts exactly… This is all so morbid. Not to mention, William is allowing the DJ’s to get the brunt of the blame considering the DJ’s may not have been the first to call inquiring about Kate Middleton. He’s not owning up to (according to the tabloids)his part in the fiasco. Maybe he wanted heads to roll and the hospital came down very hard on the nurse. After all, it’s a private hospital and maybe private hospitals are privately funded and they have to make sure their rich and private clientelle are going to keep coming back??? Can’t imagine the hospital patting the woman’s back saying “There there, it’s only the Royal Family, could’ve happened to anyone. We’ll let this blow over, the public will forget about it… there there…” Besides all that, what if the caller was the Queen? The nurse was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t. So shame on the hospital and shame on the RF for letting the DJ’s take the brunt of the blame.
I’m glad the Palace issued a statement recognizing the nurse, Jacintha. They are really starting to learn what the public needs to hear from therm.
The DJs were selfish in making that prank call. Hospitals are different. It’s similar to pranking 911, and they shouldn’t have done it.
They didn’t think about the consequences for the hospital staff. Didn’t they think that if they were successful with their prank that the staffers involved would get in trouble?
I’m totally conflicted. My personal opinion is that pranking a hospital is not cool (EVER), the DJ’s should feel terrible and lose their jobs. But when I hear hundreds of other people saying that (in the Aussie media, not here at CB), it feels like everyone is piling on and I should be defending the underdog.
For 2 days the media was all: “terrible failure of patient confidentiality, sack the nurses” and now it’s all: “the DJ’s have blood on their hands, sack the DJ’s”.
It just seems like asking for the same damn tradgedy to happen again. Makes me uncomfortable.
The DM has an article where friends of the female DJ are now concerned about her. DOn’t know whether to believe it or write it off as sympathy ploy.
Bottom line is if you aren’t prepared to face the consequences of what you do, you shouldn’t do it. And if you are fragile, you probably shouldn’t be a shock jock.
I think another issue in the whole thing was that the deejays said over and over “our accents were so bad, I can’t believe they fell for it” which probably added to the nurse’s humiliation.
I think they are completely overreacting. I don’t think the DJ’s should lose their jobs at all. Their job is to entertain and that was their intent.
I think the real fault is lying at Prince William’s feet with the nurse’s death. He should truly be ashamed of himself. This nurse shouldn’t have been embarressed to make a mistake. She was more than likely raked over the coals and then informed that William was ANGRY. I will never feel the same about him again. He seems to have little feeling or recognition of how powerful his influence is.
That’s a bit dramatic. Someone who kills themselves over someone else’s short lived anger at them obviously has serious psychological problems. Also, those DJs have a very sorted history with their “jokes”. Look up the time they had a mother and her 14 year old daughter on their show and basically colluded with the mother to make the young girl admit she was raped at age 12 on the air. And instead of ending the interview at that point, they had the gall to ask her if that was her “only experience” with sex. They are disgusting.
Marigold:
What is a bit dramatic?
Sure this woman may have had some serious mental issues, but then again we don’t know what was done to her exactly. Only that the royals, in particular, Wills was angry.
If I were in Wills shoes I would attempt to make amends with the family, but perhaps he is behind the scenes.
Did not know the other info on the DJ’s. It seems in our societies that people make more mistakes trying to constantly entertain to stay on top and keep their jobs- that is also a shame.
Marigold- i am australian an d whilst i don’t listen to this crappy radio network i just thought i’d clarify. The stupid segment with the teenage girl that you speak of was a different radio show and different DJ’s. the ywo that did the prank call to the hospital had only been in the job for 3 days.
The situation is of course tragic. But as the DJs said themselves, they didn’t actually think they would get trhough. The female DJ was doing a terrible impersonation of the queen in an australian- accented posh english voice, and the male DJ was barking in the background pretending to be the queen’s corgis. Stupid joke, yes, but not malicious.
DJs have lost their jobs for less in the US but they end up getting better jobs. That is what shockjocks do. I don’t listen to them and I am not a fan but a lot of people like them.
If there is no equivalent to HIPAA in the UK then I don’t see what anyone did wrong.
@Angie, I’m just reiterating what I read on Jezebel or Gawker earlier today regarding the 14 year old girl. Maybe I read it incorrectly.
And @ Allie May, what I find dramatic is laying someone’s suicide at someone else’s feet who had limited contact with or influence on this woman’s life. It takes more than an angry prince to make someone kill themselves and if it doesn’t, then there is far more to her psychological story than we know. Also, all she did was direct the call. She gave out no information about Catherine.
Marigold:
You’re right, it’s not like he killed her. His anger didn’t help, however. It is just a sad situation.
Marigold – sorry about my post written in haste. I didn’t mean to imply that you had said anything in particular. Just wanted to clarify the information regarding the DJs.
Prsonally I dont see the humour in hoax calls either. I just think perhaps, as other posters have said, the media need a scapegoat, and the hospital definitely has an interest in terms of PR to shift the blame.
Really though- who can know what was going through that poor woman’s head when she did what she did. Who knows what else was going on in her life? People who do these things are desperate and not thinking rationally by our standards, but to them it makes sense at the time. A tragic situation.
I wrote it on another thread and I shall repeat it, however I take back what I said on Royals being not to blame. I believe everyone has their share of responsibility in this tragedy. There is a catalysis that pushed that woman over the edge but it’s certainly not just a prank call, it’s a snowball of what followed IMO. DJs of course humiliated the nurse in front of millions obviously, as it was that intention behind the prank, to mock the Royalty. I believe something more happened behind these doors, Royals aka Wills must have reprimanded the hospital staff for their lack of professionalism, they were so embarrassed to have been duped by the prank call that, instead of thinking rationally and take better precautions, the CEO board lashed out at that woman with harsh words say she has tarnished their reputation, not knowing how to do her job etc; now add to that probably work colleagues who will point fingers at her and mock her all day long, bully her, moral harassment happens real fast, as if the pressure of working a in a hospital looking after Royal families wasn’t enough… That woman probably suffered from depression for a while who knows, and this unfortunate event must have been the last straw she snapped and it ended in tragedy. Now the hospital is trying to save the face by saying she was an excellent nurse etc. Same for Royals who now send their condolences whereas Wills was furious in the 1st place. Same for the media who now makes a diversion and goes on a Witch hunt after the DJs whereas they were pointing fingers at the hospital staff in the first place. Well indeed they have to take responsibility for their prank call, as much as what they did is despicable, still they are not murderers and don’t deserve to loose their jobs over it.
my thought exactly.
I think they should go on a witch hunt after William. He is not the King of France or Ireland. He is not even the King of England. He has no right to step over newspapers in Ireland and in France. I would like to see him try that here in the US or even in his own country. Rupert Murdoch is still in business even after his scandal.
He has no right to go after anyone unless they broke the law. I’ve not seen anyone on this board mention a UK version of HIPAA which makes me believe there is none and therefore no wrong was committed.
I don’t even know what the nurse told the DJS. To be honest, I wasn’t really interested until that poor woman committed suicide and as an American my first instinct was to blame the royals and the culture who makes them out to be more than they are.
If you mean the photos, taking them and showing them to others would be a crime in this country. A regular Joe did it, and got a year in jail and a decade I think on our Sex Offender’s Register. It’s seen as a sexual offence, sneaking naked pictures of people who think they’re in private. So I can see why he was so angry, tbh.
On this – there are laws on data protection, there are specific laws governing medical data protection, yeah, and nurses also self-regulate via a professional body. But this nurse didn’t actually tell them anything, just passed on the call, so I don’t really understand why she was blamed. Maybe this swish private hospital do screen calls at the switchboard as they have so few patients, but most hospitals screen calls on the ward, so she wasn’t the one to do anything wrong, anyway. I do wonder what was happening in this poor woman’s life – if may be that the media is running with this because of the story they can create, and the inquest will show it wasn’t relevant? Who knows.
I am so sorry for her children, though. Unimaginably horrible to have your mother take her own life, but to then have it tacked on as a footnote to some stupid media feeding frenzy over someone else’s life? And whenever there is any reference to this new baby, ever again, they will remember their mother’s death. Horrible, I am so sad for them.
I hate that perma-fake-grin on his face (which he probably calls “a smile”). He doesn’t manage to even look smug, he’s just looking like constantly hearing someone scratching chalk board with a knife or something…
He doesn’t so much smile as just bare his teeth. He has the same smile as his mother, but the effect is completely different.
the big teeth are a family trait. see also Andrew, Beatrice, Anne, Zara, The Queen, Sarah Chatto and Gabrielle Windsor to name afew. The Queen, Gabrielle and Zara’s mouths are in proportion to their teeth so it’s not as glaringly obvious.
As usual, the media is hyping up the nurse situation and the flocks are falling for it. It’s a myth that people commit suicide over one reason. Life is tough – you don’t end it over a prank call and people live through far worse every day. Suicide is the most selfish act there is, especially when you have two kids like this woman did. They should have been a reason for her to be an adult and carry on like the rest of us. She was obviously unstable and had other issues and we have no idea if the joke factored in at all or if it was coincidence and she was most likely going to do this at a future time over something else. Adults develop coping mechanisms and they deal with what comes at them, including more traumatic events like the death of family and loved ones. The DJ’s aren’t evil people, nor did they do something countless DJs and radio personalities haven’t done before. You can’t control how people will take a joke and the intention wasn’t harm. No one is questioning the media’s role in any of this, hyping up this royal baby fever and putting royals and celebrities on pedestals while stalking them like cattle, or the inherent disparities of royalty and the “common folk” that result in them being considered “more important”. Needless to say, societal priorities are solely misguided. People are overreacting to this. Yes, it’s a shame a woman is dead, but that’s a choice she made, and thus she bares inherent responsibility.
When a person starts thinking of suicide, they’re usually at a point where they’re past being considerate and sensitive to the people around them. Suicidal thoughts can be very consuming and for some people, they can’t be switched off.
It doesn’t make sense to call them selfish and irresponsible since it’s not like people with suicidal thoughts and those who succeeded in committing suicide wanted to be under such enormous pressure/stress/problems that their last resort is to kill themselves.
Suicide isn’t a sign of weakness nor is it a sign of immaturity that can be easily solved by “being an adult” and “carrying on like the rest of us”.
You think she was selfish and insensitive to have left her 2 kids, yet here you are being the exact same thing to a dead person.
Nobody gets to the part of thinking about killing themselves without being in a really dark point in their life.
To blame the nurse and say she was selfish is really awful.
Suicide isn’t a choice to be made. For some people, it’s the only way.
I don’t know how people can still misunderstand suicide and think it’s all just someone’s selfishness and that person is immature and weak to ‘choose’ to kill themselves.
Those who characterize suicide as “selfish” tend to focus on its effect on those left behind, rather than on the pain of the suicide, and whether it is fair to expect her to continue living so that her friends will not be deprived of her company… Who knows may be she tried to get help, but no one gave her that hand? Anyway, suicide is a deep issue so those always jump into the “selfish” conclusion should think twice imo.
I’m not sure I think he was making a joke. I was sick all day in the beginning of my pregnancy and when asked how I was feeling, I would often respond that calling it morning sickness was incorrect because it usually is all day sickness. I wasn’t joking and I kind of doubt he is too. I just think he was being matter-of-fact.
Thank you for not dwelling on the tragedy. I just can’t either. It was done. The unexpected sickness of it all is what’s hard to cope with. Move on, and God look over and care for the hearts of those children please!
yah..enough. just…done w/ it. Peace.
Baldy really is an insensitive ass with his stupid comments. I bet he is mean to Waity behind closed doors. And he is morphing into a balding Napolean Dynamite at a rapid rate.
jesus. just lay off them. this woman will be hounded until she gives birth; and considering the inauspicious beginning, i fear for her and the baby’s well-being.
I’m conflicted. On one hand, I understand the stress W&K must be feeling around this pregnancy. Not easy for anyone and certainly more difficult for them given the expectations and spotlight. I can understand an over-reaction in this context.
On the other hand, I just don’t like him.
If I cared more, I would be worried about Kate. I don’t see him as someone that a sick, pregnant woman can lean on. I wish she could just go hide out at home with her parents and Pippa until she gives birth.
The more I hear about him the less I like him. I used to be neutral now I’m close to revulsion when I see him.
Can it just be a tragedy without a witch hunt? I’m not fond of childish DJ pranks, but as DJ pranks go this was a rather innocent one. Some DJs are downright mean spirited. So then a person put through the call, perhaps trusting the regular ward nurse to vet it, meanwhile the ward nurse trusted reception to vet it. IMHO, the correct word to describe the success of the prank is “oops”. Now, it turns tragic with the suicide, certainly, but the prank itself is not suicide worthy (as if anything were), so to speak.
I do agree that it must be a combination of the nurse’s personal issues and the witch hunt that resulted in pushing her over the brink.
Though based on some things I’ve seen on TV the Brits do seem to love their royals, so perhaps the nurse saw her failure to be on par with treason, instead of an innocent mistake.
Yeah William does have the goofy energy gene from Charles. Where on earth did Charles get it? I don’t consider the Queen or Prince Philip goofy at all.
Princess Anne’s son has the most King-like desired qualities of all male descendants of the Queen.
I am the switchboard operator at a hospital and whenever someone asks for a floor, you ring them to that charge nurse. You don’t have time to play 20 questions with ten calls backed up in queue to try and determine if the caller is legit, and we are not given any patient information other than their name. Had the patient requested to be confidential or have their line blocked, I would have done so. Code words can be established at the charge nurses desk. I call in the cath team, nincharge of the code panel, page doctors, and deal with people who ring in saying “I have surgery Monday but I don’t know what it’s for or what time it is, I don’t remember my doctors name but he’s the fella in the west building”. Dealing with two childish DJs who play a middle school prank…it’s like crank calling 911. We don’t have time for it and there’s not a time or a place where that nonsense is appropriate.
Had it been me sitting at that desk, I would have done the exact same thing the nurse did unless protocol has been established otherwise. And I am willing to bet the hospital was ready to come down like a ton of bricks on those nurses regardless of the “we stand by them” statement. Investigatory committees in hospitals are bloody terrifying.
I completely believe you, but that strikes me as a particularly dumb allocation of resources.
(Ignore the fact we had a nurse acting as receptionist in this particular case) Surely trained nurses are paid more than a trained receptionist? So shouldn’t the receptionists be the ones screening calls, while the nurses focus on nurse-stuff.
Can we really be angry with William for being sensitive to the media constantly hounding them? His mother was killed by the paps after all. And that was only after they had spent years almost ruining her life.
I honestly don’t know how he is going to be able to get through a lifetime of putting up with the press since it is only going to get worse. I feel like he’s going to blow a gasket someday- especially when they start going after his kids.
Diana was killed by a drunk driver. If her driver had not been, what, four times the legal limit of intoxication–or if her bodygaurd had noticed and gotten another driver–she would still be alive. And you are forgetting that Diana sought out the press, and then pushed them away–it was a game she played. She wanted the attention, but only on her terms–just like Will. She used the press when it suited her, and cried “victim” when it didn’t.
Perhaps the question you should ask is why is it that Diana’s OTHER SON handles the media much better than William.
In his case, his privacy is always breached, the media doesn’t hesitate to point out or print rude and vile things about him, they have consistently published stories about him even as a teenager, said rude and crude things to his alleged and real girlfriends in order to elicit a reaction to get a story, they have no trouble crucifying him whether he does good or bad.
And when such stories appear, he is expected to take it on the chin and be grateful for his privileged position.
And yet, his mother died too. Harry has as much reason and right as William to pull the Diana card to stop the press attacks. And yet he does not. He simply gets on with his life.
He has come to terms with that part of his life, and doesn’t make excuses nor does he expect others to make excuses for him because of Diana.
Rather than learning to deal with the press and his very public role, William deploys the Diana card. So ingrained is this behaviour that even the public do it for him. No one ever thinks about Diana in reference to Harry.
Harry is the spare and as such, essentially redundant, esp now with baby on the way. Therefore the harsh reality is that no one really cares about him.
Remember when Kate said she felt “so excited” about Royal Life during the interview when they announced the engagement.
Royal Life IMO would be a horrible existence. No amount of $, vacations or jewels would ever be worth the goldfish bowl life.
Less is More: No one cares about Harry? Do you know how many second sons have inherited the throne? Not just the UK one?
It’s not the DJs that should be blamed. It’s her bosses, colleagues and other Brits who made her feel as if she did something terrible and acting as if this so called “Royal” family is something that they all should treat as sacred.
This dysfunctional at worst and boring and useless at best- family is really what English people should be ashamed of.
Financing and wasting so much time, respect and public funds over this family is the real abomination. I feel terrible for both that poor nurse and her family and the 2 DJs for having the misfortune of dealing with a nation of lunatics that have clearly lost any sense of judgement when it comes to this family.
The hospital worker did not commit suicide and the paps did not kill Diana. On the flip side, I wish I could blindly believe what the media puts out so I can book my next vacation to go unicorn hunting.
I’m with you.
LOL.. well said
As far as those djs are concerned, they’re finding out what a joy and thrill it is to be mocked the world over. What a good lesson for them.
Here’s a thought: if you can’t face the consequences of what you did in public, if you can’t in public face the consequences of a joke that you played in public and then repeated endlessly for the entire world, then maybe you shouldn’t have played that prank in the first place. Otherwise, suck it up and face it.
And it’s not JUST that they played a joke, they played a very public joke, encouraged world wide mocking of the victims of that joke, victims to whom honour and a sense of duty meant something, regardless of whether or not you agree with the validity of the royals or not. Something those DJs have no concept of. Sure they had no way of knowing she’d commit suicide, but you know what, decent people consider the consider the consequences of their actions. That radio station and DJ have no decency. And don’t get me started on the interview they played with the girl and her mother. There’s a special placae in hell for that radio station.
He is very unfortunate looking.
I feel really horrible for the nurse/ acting receptionist. Like many on here have said, this poor woman would not have killed herself if she didn’t have other things going on in here life. Lord knows that depression and exhaustion are rampant in healthcare (highest rates of depression in any given field.) Throw a lot of crap from the media on top of it and you have a ticking bomb.
All that aside, she wasn’t even in the wrong. The DJs did do something stupid, but they probably thought they would get a thorough tongue-lashing about how no one would be allowed to speak to the Duchess. Seriously, how many harassing phone calls had already been made to the hospital with people trying to talk to Kate? I’m guessing these two are the only ones who got through, though they’re sure to be far from the first who tried. No, the blame on this goes squarely on the nurse who divulged the information once the call was through. I worked in healthcare for years, and unless you’re someone’s spouse, guardian, or POA, you don’t get so much as a confirmation that the person you’re looking for is even there. Bitch dropped the ball 🙁
As a shallow American, I would just like to ask, “Would it KILL him to use a whitening toothpaste?!”
I’m not looking for car salesman white; I just don’t want the contrast between his shirt and his teeth to be so obvious.
My question is why a hospital that treats royalty was short-staffed and without a receptionist when a member of the family was within their care. Are the Brits so cheap?!? That nurse didn’t have to do one more thing on her night shift by answering the damn phone too. It’s inexcusable on the facility’s part.
Why do we care about these people again? All they do is dress up and get their picture taken, while trying to muster the correct facial expressions. Seriously.