Jacintha Saldanh, the King Edward VII Hospital nurse who answered the telephone when two shock jokes called inquiring about Kate Middleton’s condition, was found dead in an apparent suicide Friday morning.
The Daily Mail reports that the nurse was pronounced dead at an address near the hospital, and one source said that she appeared to have committed suicide.
Two Australian radio deejays, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, prank-called the hospital Tuesday morning pretending to be the Queen (with bad British accents and all), and Saldanh answered the phone because no receptionist was on duty.
She patched the deejays through to Middleton’s personal nurse, who then gave the gave the pair information about the duchess’ condition. Middleton was brought into the hospital Monday for acute morning sickness and released Thursday.
The nurse told the pair that Middleton “was quite dehydrated when she came in,” but that she hadn’t been “retching” all night.
“When is a good time to come and visit her?” Greig asked. “‘Cause I’m the Queen, so I need a lift down there.”
The hoax sparked international outrage over the fact that the duchess’ privacy had been invaded.
Christian continued to brag on Twitter about the “royal prank” all week.
UPDATE: The original version of this story originally stated that the victim was Middleton’s personal nurse who gave confidential information to the pranksters. However, Jacintha Saldanh was a nurse in the same ward who answered the phone and then patched the deejays through to Middleton’s nurse.
Listen to the prank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa5JQC8VNdw