Charlotte Griffiths: Prince William revealed Kate’s first pregnancy & I didn’t report it

The major trial against the Mail/ANL is on-going. As always, I distrust the British reporting around the trial because British outlets work as a cartel, covering up each other’s crimes and lies. In recent days, the Mail’s society/gossip reporter Charlotte Griffiths has testified about how she got certain information about Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton. Griffiths claimed that she got all of her information organically, through the royals themselves or their friends, because she ran in the same circles. She told a wild story about how Prince William went solo to a house party in 2012 and announced that Kate was pregnant and was suffering from morning sickness. Griffiths claims that she didn’t report any of that even though she would have had the exclusive.

The Prince of Wales told a dinner party that his wife was pregnant days before it was announced, the High Court heard. Charlotte Griffiths, 40, a Mail on Sunday journalist, claimed she was present when Prince William explained to a group of mutual friends that his wife had morning sickness. The journalist, who said she had been a guests on the country weekend in 2012, said she opted not to inform her editor and to “miss the scoop” to maintain her friendships. She told the court: “I knew where the line was and had decided not to cross it”. It was claimed she had “invented” the story to enhance her royal connections.

Ms Griffiths was giving evidence in defence against a privacy claim brought by the Duke of Sussex, Sir Elton John and five other high-profile figures against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.

Now the Mail on Sunday’s editor at large, she said her stories and contacts largely concerned “British aristocracy and high society” because she had moved in those circles since her schooldays. Ms Griffiths said that Prince Harry had “friended” her on Facebook in 2011 and sent her his mobile number before they exchanged messages online. They both attended an all-night party the following June and texted each other the next morning.

She said in her witness statement that she had been invited to a weekend away with friends at the end of November 2012, at which Prince William and his wife were expected. “William arrived solo on the Friday and explained that Kate was suffering with morning sickness,” she said. “The fact that she was pregnant with their first child would have been big news and St James’s Palace only confirmed it the following Monday because she had to be admitted to hospital. I decided to keep it to myself… It was information I had learned at a private event and that I was attending in a personal capacity, so I treated it as such.”

Ms Griffiths added there were “many similar examples” she could cite to prove that she “always maintained” the principle of keeping professional and personal lives separate.

Ms Griffiths told the court that in June 2012, she and Prince Harry had both attended the house party of Arthur Landan, a mutual friend. She said she remembered because they found it “quite funny” that the Duke stayed up all night before having to attend a Trooping the Colour event the next morning. Call data is said to show a call between the two at 2:50am and three text messages exchanged between them the following morning.

Ms Griffiths said she had probably called the Duke so he could let her into the house party as she had arrived before Mr Landan. She suggested she had texted him the next morning, either to see if he made it to his engagement or to tell him they would not be joining him “as we had only got to bed in the early hours of the morning”. When the Duke gave evidence last month, he admitted meeting Ms Griffiths at the party but said that when he found out who she was, he “cut off contact”. He denied communicating with Ms Griffiths on Facebook using the pseudonym Mr Mischief. The journalist said she had never suggested this.

[From The Telegraph]

The story about William announcing Kate’s pregnancy is wild. Griffiths has actually told a different variation of this story recently, btw – I knew I remembered it and here’s the story from last year. Griffiths claimed that while Kate was at home, barfing her guts out from morning sickness, William spent the weekend at this same house party and he taught Griffiths how to play beer pong. And now she’s saying that William told the people at the house party about Kate’s pregnancy, which would have been huge breaking news for any reporter??? Absolutely bonkers. As for the Harry stuff – apparently, Griffiths has already been caught in several lies about when and where she spoke to Harry. Incidentally, from where I sit, the trial is going well for Harry and the other plaintiffs.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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17 Responses to “Charlotte Griffiths: Prince William revealed Kate’s first pregnancy & I didn’t report it”

  1. ShazBot says:

    I remember at the time (long gossip memory!) that we all said Carole took Kate to the hospital because William was out messing around and she had to bring him back in line, and this just confirms that story 100%.

  2. Duch says:

    Great picture selection as always! The vibe between them.. oy. and the other thing I noticed is how genuinely happy and engaged she seemed at one point.

    • Royal Downfall Watcher says:

      My thoughts exactly. Look how healthy she looks back then. She is a shell now. The royal family destroys women. Im so happy for Meghan she got the heck out. It saved her life.

      • Gloriana says:

        A very unhappy shell. William always had an unhappy look but now both of them just look miserable.

  3. Tessa says:

    Keen does the jazz hands back then also. She needs to update the hairdo .

    • LBB says:

      These were my EXACT same two thoughts!

    • Starry Owl says:

      He sucked the life right out of her. She is a husk of herself.

      I forget that she used to look connected to and aware of what was going on around her. Regularly. Not just occasionally and for brief snippets of time, while also appearing deeply unhappy.

      Yes. She’s awful. But that doesn’t mean that she deserves whatever has been going on these last years. Disappearing from public. Then disappearing before our eyes.

  4. So she “knows when not to cross the line”? Only when it concerns her royal incandescent bedmate. She crosses the line when her bedmate asks her too. Lying is her forte!!

  5. Dee(2) says:

    So William was out at a house party for the weekend playing beer pong and chatting with his friends while his wife was so ill in the early pregnancy of their first child that her mother ended up taking her to the hospital on Monday? Stand up guy.

    And as for her and Harry being friends, sounds like you met someone at a friend’s party, texted him, he found out you were actually a reporter, and was like no thank you. That doesn’t make you friends. To have an example of your friendship to be three text messages one time, is doing some heavy lifting.

    I gather that this trial wasn’t going well for the Daily Mail, because I haven’t heard much reporting about it. But it sounds like these reporters really thought/think they are close to these people and are true confidants and not people that they have to tolerate due to the invisible contract.

    This and the Richard Kay article waxing on about his closeness with Diana, does a lot to explain why they’re so angry at Harry and Meghan. They really thought that they were going to be able to get the inside scoop, and hang out with them, and basically have a reciprocal gossip relationship. They’ve done it since they were in their twenties, they just couldn’t imagine that they wouldn’t be a favored pet reporter, and would actually be cut off.

  6. Miranda says:

    Slightly off-topic, but the custom of the post-birth royal photocall is so shitty. What women wants to do that so soon after giving birth? You know it’s bad when the thought, “poor Kate” crosses my mind even momentarily.

    • Starry Owl says:

      I remember this. And we were going to be new parents soon too. And that’s the first time that they looked slightly relatable. Before or since I guess.
      Because they both looked like – Omg he’s a tiny baby and they are letting us just leave with him

    • Inge says:

      Nah she chose this. Full hair and makeup hours after giving birth.

      I know they got a lot of stick for it but I’m so glad Harry&Meghan did not do this with Archie

    • Becks1 says:

      I would agree with you, except for when Kate went on a podcast and basically shamed Meghan for not doing it and talking about what an honor it was.

  7. Jais says:

    So she’s saying she didn’t cross the line for a story about the heir? Sure, that tracks. However, reporters were more than willing to cross the line about the spare.

  8. Inge says:

    Does she want a sticker?

  9. Amy Bee says:

    According to Charlotte’s first story, she met him for the first time at the party. So I have a hard time believing that William would be telling a stranger that Kate is pregnant. That’s not to say that the press doesn’t keep secrets for the Royal Family. I just don’t think this story was one that she kept to herself. Her testimony about Harry is all over the place.

  10. Becks1 says:

    If william announced Kate’s pregnancy at this house party, I’m going to assume he was really drunk and completely unaware of who else was in the room. that would have been a HUGE scoop, even a friend of a friend who wasnt a reporter could have given a tabloid the tip. I’m not sure he announced it that way though, it seems like a bridge too far even for him and it seems like a way for this reporter to act like she was more in the know than she actually was.

    But what DOES track with this is the story we’ve heard over the years that William was partying while Kate was vomiting and that’s why Carole took her to the hospital – to force William to behave.

    Notice here though it says she had morning sickness, by that Monday it was all HG, HG, HG and that’s why she was hospitalized.

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