The official pregnancy announcement was made at 4pm that Monday afternoon after the then Duchess of Cambridge was admitted to hospital with acute morning sickness.
Newspaper coverage at the time suggested that Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, later the King, were only told around an hour earlier because the Cambridges had planned to share their news that Christmas at Sandringham, before the need for a hospital admission forced them to tell.
David Sherborne, cross-examining Ms Griffiths on behalf of the claimants, suggested she had invented the story and was “making up connections with the Royal family”.
Harry ‘up all night before engagement’
Ms Griffiths told the court that in June 2012, she and Prince Harry had both attended the house party of Arthur Landan, a mutual friend.
She said she remembered because they found it “quite funny” that the Duke stayed up all night before having to attend a Trooping the Colour event the next morning.
Call data is said to show a call between the two at 2:50am and three text messages exchanged between them the following morning.
Ms Griffiths said she had probably called the Duke so he could let her into the house party as she had arrived before Mr Landan. She suggested she had texted him the next morning, either to see if he made it to his engagement or to tell him they would not be joining him “as we had only got to bed in the early hours of the morning”.
When the Duke gave evidence last month, he admitted meeting Ms Griffiths at the party but said that when he found out who she was, he “cut off contact”.
He denied communicating with Ms Griffiths on Facebook using the pseudonym Mr Mischief. The journalist said she had never suggested this.
Elizabeth Hurley ‘godparent’ story
Ms Griffiths wrote one of the stories cited in the joint claim on Sir Elton and David Furnish, his husband. It described Elizabeth Hurley, the actress, being concerned that she might not be asked to be godparent to Zachary, Sir Elton’s son.
Ms Hurley previously told the court that she had “mortifying conversations” discussing such concerns with two friends, Patrick Cox and Susannah Constantine, who Mr Sherborne described as “a very close circle of two individuals who she trusted and were not indiscreet”.
Ms Griffiths replied: “I don’t think they are that discreet.”
She strongly refuted the suggestion that such stories were obtained by blagging or voicemail interception.
A story about Sir Elton being rushed to hospital after his leg swelled up during a tennis match had come from Gary Farrow, his publicist, she told the court.
Meanwhile, David Dillon, the current editor of the Mail on Sunday, admitted paying Steve Whittamore, the private investigator, for stories but said he did not know at the time that he was acting unlawfully.
The trial continues.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
