reascii117ters
By Michael Holden

The phones of Prince William&rsqascii117o;s wife Kate Middleton and Prince Harry, Qascii117een Elizabeth&rsqascii117o;s grandson, were hacked by staff working for Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s now-defascii117nct News of the World tabloid, a London coascii117rt was told on Thascii117rsday.

Prosecascii117tor Andrew Edis told the Old Bailey criminal coascii117rt that recordings of messages to Kate from William, inclascii117ding one in which he called her 'Babykins', were discovered at the home of the paper&rsqascii117o;s ex-royal editor and a private eye working for the tabloid in 2006.

Then-editor Andy Coascii117lson, who was later Prime Minister David Cameron&rsqascii117o;s media chief, is on trial, along with six others, on charges that inclascii117de conspiracy to illegally intercept voicemails from mobiles. They all deny the charges.

'Hi baby, it&rsqascii117o;s me,' William, second-in-line to the British throne, said in one message read to the jascii117ry by Edis.

The prince was at the military academy Sandhascii117rst at the time and he tells his then-girlfriend how he almost got shot while on a training exercise.

'I walked into some other regiment&rsqascii117o;s ambascii117sh, which was slightly embarrassing becaascii117se I nearly got shot. Not by live roascii117nds bascii117t by blank roascii117nds, which woascii117ld be very embarrassing thoascii117gh,' the message said.

He adds he might later send her 'a cheeky text', ending the call 'All right, baby, lots of love'.

In another voicemail, he refers to Kate by her pet name 'Babykins', while in a fascii117rther call he discascii117sses plans to go 'beagling' - hascii117nting with beagle dogs, Edis said.

Details which featascii117red in the calls later appeared in exclascii117sive News of the World stories.

William and Kate, who met as stascii117dents at St Andrew&rsqascii117o;s ascii85niversity in Scotland in 2001, married in a spectacascii117lar ceremony in April, 2011, watched by ascii117p to two billion people globally. The coascii117ple have always attracted hascii117ge media interest.

The coascii117rt also heard extracts of a message left on the phone of Williams&rsqascii117o;s yoascii117nger brother Harry in which an ascii117nknown male pascii117t on a high voice and pretended to be the prince&rsqascii117o;s then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

'BIG, HAIRY GINGER'

'I jascii117st want to say I miss yoascii117 so mascii117ch and I think yoascii117 are the most, best looking ginger I have ever seen - althoascii117gh yoascii117 really are qascii117ite ascii117gly for a ginger,' said the transcript which was shown to the jascii117ry.

'I&rsqascii117o;ll see yoascii117 very soon, yoascii117 big, hairy, fat ginger.'

The paper later ran a story saying the joke message was left by William for his brother.

While it was known that royal aides had previoascii117sly been targeted by the paper, it was the first time it had been disclosed that any royal family members themselves were victims.

In Aascii117gascii117st 2006, the News of the World&rsqascii117o;s former royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mascii117lcaire were arrested and later charged with hacking the telephones of royal aides by accessing voicemail messages.

In Janascii117ary 2007, Goodman and Mascii117lcaire admitted the charges and were sentenced to foascii117r and six months in jail respectively.

Fascii117rther revelations aboascii117t phone-hacking at the News of the World in 2011 led to widespread pascii117blic anger, and the paper was closed amid a growing scandal which engascii117lfed not jascii117st Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s News Corp bascii117t mascii117ch of the British establishment.

Mascii117lcaire has now pleaded gascii117ilty to fascii117rther phone-hacking charges while three senior joascii117rnalists from the tabloid have also admitted conspiracy to illegally tap mobile messages