Phone Hacking Scandals That Rocked The Royal Family

In many ways, members of the British royal family belong to the people of the Commonwealth. After all, British taxpayers help fund the family's luxurious lifestyle. And, in return, royals must expose their lives to the public, televising important family events, like royal weddings, and allowing viewers a glimpse into their mysterious world of protocol and fancy dinners.

However, while the British public certainly enjoys keeping up with the royals' shenanigans, it remains unclear just how much insight they are actually owed into their lives. While it may seem fine for tabloids to talk about Princess Catherine's favorite workout routine, for example, it might be considered more invasive to discuss the actual state of her physical health. Likewise, reporting on how Prince Harry popped the question to Meghan Markle could be construed as cute. Meanwhile, knowing the duke's pet name for her could be more of a violation of privacy. 

Unfortunately, from a historical perspective, the British press has rarely respected these fine lines between public interest journalism and salacious sensationalism. This became all the more clear in 2023, when Prince Harry accused tabloid conglomerate Mirror Group Newspapers of illegally hacking his phone to obtain information about his personal life. Sadly, this is not the only time U.K. tabloids have been accused of similar privacy violations. From Princess Diana's Squidgygate embarrassment to Prince William's pillow talk revelation, these are some of the most invasive royal phone hacking scandals of all time.

When 'Squidygate' first hit the press, it was viewed as one of the most compromising royal phone hacking scandals of all time. However, it would not take long for that to change. In 1993, just months after Princess Diana's private conversation was aired, numerous tabloids printed King Charles III and then Camilla Parker-Bowles. The extremely private exchange, which is now remembered as "Tampongate," was taped when both Charles and Camilla were still married to other people. In this conversation, Charles famously told Camilla that he might come back in the next life as her "Tampax." He also joked, "Oh, God. I'll just live inside your trousers or something. It would be much easier" (via Insider).

Tampongate ultimately proved humiliating to all parties involved. Its explicit content made it clear to the world that neither the prince of Wales nor his so-called "friend" Camilla were being faithful to their respective partners. Indeed, the scandal ultimately led Camilla and her then-husband, Andrew Parker-Bowles, to officially call it quits. It also cast Charles in a negative light, cluing the public in to the fact that he cheated on Diana over the course of their marriage. 

In the eyes of Diana's former bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, Charles suffered greatly following this incident. As Wharfe wrote in his book, "Guarding Diana: Protecting The Princess Around The World" (via Esquire), "The backlash was savage. Establishment figures normally loyal to the future king and country were appalled, and some questioned the prince's suitability to rule."

It is not easy falling in love with a British royal, and no commoner may be as aware of this as Hasnat Khan. As a lung and heart surgeon, Khan was living a fairly normal life before he fell for Princess Diana. However, as soon as he got involved with the Princess of Wales, Khan's life was turned completely upside down. He became a major target not only for the paparazzi, but also for tabloid journalists. In 2012, it was revealed that reporters likely tampered with the surgeon's phone in order to listen in on the personal voicemails he left for Diana.

When the information came to light, Khan expressed disgust and dismay. Speaking to the Daily Mail, the doctor shared, "To know that someone has been listening to your private messages is awful. It is absolutely terrible. It feels as if you have been robbed. We live in the UK. We are supposed to have civil liberties. I feel really, really violated. I am very angry." In many ways, Khan's reaction is unsurprising. After all, most commoners would be astonished to realize that you don't have to be a royal to get sucked into a royal phone hacking scandal.

Interestingly, following the news, Khan publicly defended Diana, saying, "There is no way at all that Diana was mentally unstable. There is nothing wrong with expecting your husband to be faithful and being angry when he isn't."

Back in the 1990s, Paul Burrell was known as Princess Diana's trusted butler and good friend. However, as time went on, members of the royal family began to doubt his good will. After all, following Diana's tragic 1997 death, Burrell published several tell-all books that betrayed some of her most intimate secrets. In the view of the princess' sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, this behavior was unacceptable. To try to stop Burrell from doing any more damage to the royal family, the boys phoned each other to come up with a plan.

Unfortunately for the princes, their private conversations about Burrell leaked to the press. In 2003, The People reported that William wanted to meet with Burrell, much to Harry's chagrin. According to Harry's witness statement in a 2023 civil suit against the Mirror Group Newspapers, this was report was eerily accurate. The Duke of Sussex wrote, "The article accurately sets out the position that my brother was open to fixing a meeting with Paul to discuss his ongoing exposés about our mother, however I had made up my mind about the kind of person I thought Paul was and was firmly against meeting him" (via The New York Times). 

In the lawsuit, Harry alleged that the tabloid gathered this information via a royal phone hacking incident. Harry also claimed that the outlet quoted him using the voicemails he had left on William's phone.

In the face of never-ending press scrutiny, members of the British royal family try to remain discreet in public. However, in private, they inevitably discuss this issue among themselves. Unfortunately, in 2004, these lines between private and public life were blurred. The trouble started when Prince Harry exited a nightclub, only to be immediately surrounded by a swarm of paparazzi. Years later, the prince recalled the situation in the written statement he submitted in a complaint against The Mirror Group Newspapers, "The paparazzi had me surrounded ... I couldn't even see where I was going. As I reached the car, I could hear taunting ... A camera hit me across my nose as I was opening the door, I turned, grabbed the nearest camera to me and shoved it backwards" (via The New York Times). 

Naturally, following this altercation, Harry had a serious phone conversation with his father, King Charles III. As Harry remembered, "Everyone in the family, including my father, was sympathetic to the position I was in." That being said, these private chats between Charles and Harry failed to remain under wraps. Indeed, the Mirror published an article titled "I'm sorry, Papa," which exposed the intimate details of these family conversations. In his lawsuit, Harry alleged that the press hacked his phone to inform this article. The prince wrote, "I'm not sure how the Defendant's journalists could have legitimately obtained that information."

Unfortunately for Prince Harry, Chelsy Davy was hardly the first girl to break up with him as a result of a royal phone hacking scandal. As the prince relayed in a written statement that he submitted to the British courts in 2023, he often felt that the press wanted to ruin his romantic relationships. Harry explained, "I always felt as if the tabloids wanted me to be single, as I was much more interesting to them and sold more newspapers. Whenever I got into a relationship, they were very keen to report the details but would then, very quickly, seek to try and break it up by putting as much strain on it ... as humanly possible" (via The New York Times).

Regardless of whether the tabloids actively tried to ruin Harry's relationships, it is not difficult to understand why the prince would believe that to be the case. As per Harry's account, virtually all the women he dated were subject to phone hacking — and their families were, as well. The prince wrote, "Every time I was in a relationship or even a rumored relationship, that whole person's family, and often their friends, would be dragged into the chaos and find themselves the subject of unlawful activity [like phone hacking] on the part of [Mirror Group Newspapers]. That's horrible for anyone." Apparently, this invasion of privacy motivated girls to stay clear of Harry.