LONDON, Jan. 30 -- An amateur radio operator intercepted and taped a mobile telephone call between Britain's Prince Philip and an unidentified woman, the tabloid Sun newspaper reported Tuesday. The conversation involving Queen Elizabeth II's husband was said to contain delicate remarks about royal family affairs, including the expected divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, as well as 'sensitive issues which could be politically embarrassing.' The phone call reportedly was recorded on Dec. 21, the day after the queen wrote to Charles and Diana recommending they divorce. It was taped by a man using monitoring equipment worth just 200 pounds ($300). The Sun bought the tape recording but did not reveal how much it paid. 'I know this voice...so I plugged the recorder into the scanner... and sort of fiddled around with the frequency,' the man, identified only as John, told the Sun. John said he was 'amazed' at what he heard and beckoned his wife to listen in on the conversation as he taped it. His equipment was capable of picking up conversations on older-style analog telephones like the one used by Prince Philip, the Sun said. The digital phones used by other members of the royal family are eavesdropper-proof. Buckingham Palace stiffly refused to comment on the latest apparent intrusion into family matters. 'The palace has not discussed publicly previous incidents like this, and it does not intend to do so now,' a spokeswoman said. If the taped conversation, labeled 'Dukegate' by the Sun, turns out to be genuine, it will be the fourth time that a member of the royal family has suffered the bugging and recording of a private telephone conversation.
Princess Diana was the first victim of telephone snoopers when a confidential conversation with car dealer James Gilbey was intercepted and published by the Sun in 1992. This was followed by 'Fergiegate,' in which the duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and her husband Prince Andrew discussed their marital problems, and 'Camillagate,' an intimate telephone call between Prince Charles and his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles.
