Helen Mirren: Death of royal hoax nurse is ‘tragic’

By Tribute News on December 10, 2012 | 2 Comments

Dame Helen Mirren thinks the death of the royal hoax nurse is "incredibly tragic." The actress - who won an Academy Award playing Queen Elizabeth in the 2006 film The Queen - has spoken of her shock at the apparent suicide of nurse Jacintha Saldanha following a prank call made by Australian radio DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian to the King Edward VII Hospital in London to find out the condition of the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge, who was admitted to the hospital last week for severe morning sickness. The DJs spoke with Jacintha when they called the hospital impersonating the queen and Prince Charles. Jacintha put them through to Middleton's ward, where another nurse gave out confidential information to the imposters. Just 48 hours after the broadcast of the call Jacintha was found dead on Friday. Speaking to BANG Showbiz at the premiere of her new film Hitchock in London on Sunday (09.12.12), Helen said the death of the nurse was a tragedy, but she still feels empathy towards the two DJs. She said: "I think that was incredibly tragic, and unfortunate, and silly. People do these silly things for a laugh. We've all done them, incidentally, and I don't think opprobrium should be laid upon the heads of those two very, very silly Australians. [It was] just horribly, horribly tragic. You just don't know what to say really. Just awful."

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1. Jessica • December 10, 2012 @ 1:11 PM

   Pranks aren’t funny. Click on my name to see another prank gone really bad.

2. C-Dub • December 11, 2012 @ 2:07 PM

   I agree with Helen. Doing a prank can really be a 50/50 laugh or something harsh. ie: Scary prank causes heart attack in an old man, while you’re laughing he is dying. Or look at this case. Sadly it’s a form of humour that’s been around forever.

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