Rumors about a secret daughter. An imposter pretending to be a
famous activist. Ridiculous pranks within the family. These are just
a few of the craziest hoaxes in the history of the British royal family.
In 1995, Queen Elizabeth II got into an embarrassing situation with a Canadian
radio station. Pierre Brassard, a Montreal-based radio personality, impersonated then-Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and reached out to Buckingham Palace. A senior member
of Chretien's office assumed the prime minister wanted to brief the Queen on the upcoming vote
for the succession of the Quebec province, and so scheduled the call with the queen.
However, she ended up speaking to Brassard. The call lasted 17 minutes and the queen confirmed
that in her speech, she would address unity in Canada. They also spoke about personal topics,
like the royal family's plans for Halloween. Once the news aired that the call was a farce,
the palace was obviously irritated, but Brassard said the queen came across as quite likable.
In a bizarre turn of events, Princess Diana got pranked in 1996 by radio personality
Victor Lewis-Smith, who pretended to be theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
Lewis-Smith pretended to first be Hawking's rep and called Buckingham Palace to speak to
the princess, who was then unavailable. A few days later, Diana called back and spoke to Lewis-Smith.
The two exchanged pleasantries and then Diana informed "Hawking" that she had read his book,
"A Brief History of Time," an opportunity that Lewis-Smith didn't seem to want to pass up. He
asked her a deliberately impossible question about physicists, to which Diana replied,
"Yes, I entirely agree with that," though she then quietly let out an expletive,
understandably upset with her unpreparedness.
They then moved to an even more uncomfortable exchange about Diana's alleged affair with English
rugby player Will Carling. The fake Hawking asked about "Wills," and Diana responded,
"Oh, he's doing very well at Eton," thinking he was talking about Prince William. "Hawking"
corrected her assumption, though, clarifying that he meant Carling.
Lewis-Smith finally released the full 18 minute conversation in 2015.
Prince Harry also fell for a hoax phone call. Russians Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov,
known as Vovan and Lexus, managed to get Harry on the phone when he was staying in
Canada. The two pranksters called his landline both on New Year's Eve and on January 22, 2020,
pretending to be Greta Thunberg and her dad, Svante Thunberg.
Harry got remarkably candid on the calls and spoke about the challenges his wife was facing with the
media and excused their use of private jets, explaining it was the only way to ensure their
security. He admitted that he vastly preferred their life in Canada to working as senior royals.
Harry also criticized then-President Donald Trump, claiming he "has blood on his hands" in light of
his views on climate change. Harry also praised Greta and said that, thanks to her activism,
she was able to, quote, "reach into his soul and get him to feel."
"I don't mind saying this to you guys. I think the mere fact that Donald Trump is
pushing the coal industry so big in America he has blood on his hands."
Of course, Harry wasn't speaking to Greta, so the situation was slightly
embarrassing when revealed. Former palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter used it as
a moment to emphasize the potential dangers of the Sussexes' move away from the royal family.
Prank calls aren't the only hoax the royal family falls for. In some cases, they are
also the victims of art fraud. On one occasion, Prince Charles inadvertently hung counterfeit
paintings at Dumfries House in Scotland, a home restored as part of his Prince's Foundation.
Controversial character James Stunt loaned Charles three paintings allegedly by Monet, Picasso,
and Dali to display at Dumfries. Collectively,
the paintings were insured for their estimated value at $134 million.
However, these particular paintings were actually made by art forger Tony Tetro,
who claimed he painted the replicas for Stunt for fun.
Unfortunately, Charles was unaware of this joke
and he displayed the replicas in Dumfries as if they were the real masterpieces.
There's an ongoing tale about a mysterious daughter belonging to Prince Charles
and Princess Diana who was born before Prince William.
While it seems like a tall tale, the rumor has received considerable traction.
Apparently, in 1980, prior to Diana's wedding to Charles, Queen Elizabeth II instructed
Diana to have a gynecological exam to ensure that she could conceive a child. Allegedly,
some of Diana's eggs were extracted and, when combined with Charles' sperm,
they created successful embryos. Once successful fertility was confirmed,
the embryos were supposed to be destroyed, though one of the doctors allegedly took one
and implanted it in his own wife. His wife gave birth to a daughter named Sarah,
shortly after Charles and Diana's show-stopping wedding in 1981, making her older than William.
According to The Daily Mail, Sarah does take after Diana and as a kid, and the publication called her
"a dead ringer" for the princess. Both of Sarah's parents died in a car accident and Sarah later
found a diary, allegedly, with the details of her secret origins. Rumor mills and tabloids
made much of the story, even claiming that Kate Middleton had a secret meeting with
Sarah. But as the story goes, Sarah began digging into her past a little too intensely
and received an ominous phone call, so she now lives in the United States under an alias.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana aren't the only ones with rumors of a secret child.
An Australian man by the name of Simon Dorante-Day
has come forward, claiming to be the son of Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
The link gets interesting when it was discovered that Winifred and Ernest Bowlden,
his adoptive grandparents, were employed by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
They worked in the royal household as a cook and a gardener. Dorante-Day
claimed that Winifred agreed to have her daughter take the baby.
Dorante-Day said that his grandmother told him plainly
that he was the son of Charles and Camilla.He also claimed to have memories of being in
grand houses in Portsmouth with a blond woman, whom he believed to be Camilla.
"I could be wrong, and yeah I've thought about that and how I am gonna look in front
of the world. Would they go over my face that I'm wrong, but I don't think I am."
Sophie, Countess of Wessex operated a public relations firm called R-JH with business
partner Murray Harkin, and in 2001, they were duped into thinking they were going to land a
contract with a Saudi prince. British journalist Mazher Mahmood pretended to be the Sheik's
assistant and they met at the Dorchester Hotel in London to discuss the phony business deal.
Mahmood secretly taped the conversations, and once they were exposed, both Sophie and Harkin
got in trouble. During the conversations, Sophie spoke candidly about her political affiliations,
a big no-no for the royals, and dissed then-Prime Minister Tony Blair,
calling him ignorant. She made fun of William Hague,
who was then the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the United Kingdom.
Despite this awkward experience, Sophie and Edward have risen above the mistakes
of their past and come forward as key players in the royal family.
Another conspiracy theory involving Kate Middleton revolves around the idea that
Kate used a surrogate for her pregnancies and attended events with a fake baby bump.
Others claim that Kate gave birth to her children days before making the public appearance outside
of the hospital, giving her more time to rest and therefore look so refreshed.
While Kate's appearance outside of the hospital was indeed inspiring,
she did have a small postpartum bump after each of her three pregnancies,
making the idea of the Cambridges using a surrogate far-fetched.
Not all of the pranks and hoaxes the royal family has faced have been dark.
When Prince Harry was just a little munchkin, he was allegedly a huge trickster around the palace.
Once, he managed to get his hands on Queen Elizabeth II's cell phone
and recorded a new automated message. The new message was,
"Hey wassup? This is Liz." A curious recording for those looking to reach the Queen of England!
Princess Diana had the same prankster spirit and loved getting gag stocking
stuffers. She once gave Harry fake dog poo. Harry was, of course, delighted with the gift
and planned on using it on his grandmother -— a plausible trick, since she has numerous corgis.
In one of the more unusual hoaxes involving the royal family,
social media in late 2021 went wild with the story that Queen Elizabeth II had died. Influencers
claimed the palace was keeping her death a secret, planning to unveil the news at a strategic time.
The phenomenon happened again in February 2022, when an Instagram account posted a
statement that the queen had died. The queen had previously tested positive for COVID-19 but,
as The BBC reported, she was well enough to continue with "light duties" from home.
"The queen is battling a case of COVID, but this story is fiction."
By far the worst hoax to ever happen to the royal family occurred when Kate Middleton
was pregnant with her first child, Prince George. She was staying at the King Edward
VII Hospital in 2012 for acute morning sickness, when Australian DJs Mel Greig
and Michael Christian called the hospital. Greig pretended to be Queen Elizabeth II
on the line and nurse Jacintha Saldanha took the call and transferred it to another nurse,
who spoke to Greig about Kate's symptoms, thinking she was speaking with the queen.
Three days later, Saldanha commited suicide. The experience was deeply humiliating to Saldanha.
Her husband, Ben Barboza, told The Telegraph that Saldanha took
her own life because of the "guilt" and "humiliation" she felt about the call.
For her part, DJ Greig attended the court hearings in London and addressed the nurse's family,
saying, according to The BBC, "This tragedy is always going to stay with me as a constant
reminder." The radio station with which she was affiliated made a donation to Saldanha's family
and Greig later said that others shouldn't be involved in pranks,
quote: "The joke should always be on us, the DJs."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts,
please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.