Royal protection ‘slipped up over hoax phone call’
David Griffin, Princess Margaret’s former chauffeur of 27 years, tells Channel 4 News the sequence of events that may have led to the death of a nurse would not have happened previously.
Jacintha Saldanha unwittingly put the phone call from two Australian DJs, claiming to be members of the royal family, through to the ward where Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was being treated for acute morning sickness.
Ms Saldanha later died in an apparent suicide.
Mr Griffin said that security procedures were very strict at the time when he worked for the royal family, and a security officer would always have been consulted as soon as a call asking about a member of the royal family came through.
Unlikely call
The driver, who says he looked after the Queen’s younger sister on several hospital trips, also pointed out that the Queen would never make such a phone call and a trained security officer would recognise the anomaly immediately.
He said that at the King Edward VII hospital there had been a chair in the reception area for the security officer, who would always take the call if it was made in reference to a member of the royal family.
He said: “That officer would ask some questions and then pass the call on to the princess’s dresser, who would know absolutely everything there was to know about the princess and her acquaintances, and if they were satisfied they would ask the princess if they wanted to take the call.
“It was a 24-hour operation and once a member of the royal family is admitted protocol should be automatic and very tight.
“They had had some issues in France [with security and paparazzi photos] so they should have had that place sewn up like a drum.
‘So casual’
“Royal protection have slipped up again. They all seem so casual now, but they can’t have it both ways. They [the duke and duchess] can’t expect to be among the public and be entirely private. The protection operation has really got to be sharpened up.
“Also that poor women [Jacintha] had clearly not been warned to expect any calls of this nature or she would have been more wary. Everyone in that hospital should have been immediately briefed.”
A spokeswoman for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said they did not comment on matters of security.