I’m using some older photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton (as she was then) from before they were married. I’m doing this because this is a vintage-y kind of royal story. Again, I haven’t been following all of the British media hacking trials with any kind of consistency – I just read the odd story on The Mail or The Telegraph, depending on whether the story is about a specific royal. And this is a really good one!

The News of the World – the now-defunct Rupert Murdoch publication – hacked into the phone accounts of Prince William, Prince Harry, Chelsy Davy and Kate Middleton back in the day. The heyday of these hacking activities seems to have been 2004 through 2007-ish. Which was a prime moment in royal gossip – Kate and William graduated from university in 2005, and many thought William would quickly propose to Kate soon after they graduated, but nothing came. 2006 passed with William spending most of the year at Sandhurst, undergoing his military training. Towards the end of the year, William seemed to have some kind of romantic wanderlust, which came to a head in early 2007, when he and Kate broke up. They ended up getting back together (“for good”) by the early summer of 2007. Anyway, the hacking trial has revealed some interesting stuff about their relationship during that 2006 time period. And it’s cuter than you think.

Intimate messages between Prince William and Kate William when they were dating were revealed in court today in the News of The World hacking trial. William’s pet nickname for his future wife before they were married was ‘Babykins’, jurors at the Old Bailey heard.

Transcripts of the voicemail messages between the couple who became the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when they married were read out in court. They were discovered by detectives investigating hacking allegations against the now-defunct News of the World.

William, who left the messages while he was training at Sandhurst military academy, calls his future wife ‘Babykins’ and ‘Baby’, tries to arrange to meet up, and also tells her that he would love to see her if it is not too late or she is busy at the gym.
In one message, sent after he has finished training, William tells her he nearly got shot in an ambush on an exercise. The story appeared in the News of the World – ‘William shot in ambush’ – in January 2006.

In a voicemail read out by prosecutor Andrew Edis QC, William starts by saying ‘Hi baby’ adding: ‘I had a busy day today again. I’ve been running around the woods of Aldershot chasing shadows and getting terribly lost, and I walked into some other regiment’s ambush, which was slightly embarrassing because I nearly got shot. Not by live rounds but by blank rounds, which would be very embarrassing though. Um, er, yeah, I’m off on exercise tomorrow morning, just for the day, and then I’m back on Saturday first thing, erm, so I probably won’t be able to speak to you tomorrow night.’

He then told her he might send her ‘a cheeky text message’ because he might have his phone with him before signing off: ‘All right, baby, lots of love, um, speak to you soon. Bye bye.’

Among the details of the voicemails discovered by detectives at the home of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was a call from William in which he said: ‘My head’s all right. I’ve just picked up your message. Oh, my little babykins! I hope you are all right. I just tried ringing you but I do not thing you would pick it up because it is 5.35am in the morning so it is probably not a very good time to ring you. I hope you are all right.’

In another message William says: ‘Hello baby, it’s me. Sorry I did not ring you earlier and tell you what I was doing. Been a bit of a nightmare day. I think I would just about be finished in a minute. It has just gone six but I don’t think I will be able to leave here til about seven. I have got stuff here to do, bits and pieces, but I should be able to leave at about 7 at the least. Crack on with what you have got to do and don’t worry about me . I will give you a buzz later. I always thought you were going to the gym. Hopefully I can come and see you. I will give you an update. Planning on definitely coming out, hopefully by sevenish, so I will be with you by quarter to eight at the latest. Hope that’s all right, baby. I can’t wait to see you. Lots of love and I’ll speak to you later.’

In one call from William, he talks of wanting to go on a ‘beagling’ drag hunt.

In the call, he said: ‘ Hi honey, it’s me. I’m back in the small land of Sandhurst. A couple of pretty nasty days on exercise. Decided to just enjoy them. I am feeling a bit sh-tty at the moment but hope you are OK. Lovely to speak to you … You are probably very busy working but if there is any chance you are free, maybe later this afternoon or evening, I might be able to get out. I am going to try and go out beagling again and then come to you afterwards. So if you are around at home this evening I would love to see you. Let me know. Give me a text or ring back. I am around about the rest of the day.’

[From The Mail]

So, we’re learning some new stuff. For one, William is a detailed phone-message-leaver. It’s not just “Hey, it’s Will, call me back.” He carries on conversations with his messages. It’s sweet – it seems like he really was missing her and thinking about her while he was at Sandhurst. We’ve also learned that it seems like Kate was, like, never answering her phone, right? How often was she at the gym?! Also: “babykins”?! Baby is fine. Honey is sweet. But “Babykins”? No judgment.

Also – remember, William called her “Poppet” after she gave birth to George too. I think Poppet is cuter than Babykins.

Photos courtesy of WENN.