UK hospital worker tried to sell medical records of Princess Kate, says data watchdog

LONDON - Britain's data watchdog said on Wednesday a healthcare professional at the private hospital where Kate, the Princess of Wales, had surgery in 2024 had tried to sell "highly sensitive personal information", believed to be her medical records.

The Information Commissioner's Office launched an investigation in March 2024 into whether staff had attempted to access medical records at the London Clinic where Kate, the wife of heir to the throne Prince William, underwent abdominal surgery two months earlier.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ICO said it had concluded that criminal investigation and found that a now former healthcare worker had deliberately misused sensitive information with an offer to disclose it for financial gain.

Sky News reported that the case concerned Kate, while the ICO declined to comment on to whom specifically the records belonged. Her office, Kensington Palace, declined to comment.

Kate, 44, had surgery for an unspecified condition during her stay at the hospital. A few months later she announced she would undergo a course of chemotherapy after tests revealed an unspecified form of cancer had been present.

The ICO said it had issued a formal caution in relation to the offence, and did not find there to be any wider failings at the London Clinic, one of the largest private hospitals in Britain which has also treated King Charles.

Kate said last year she was in remission and has returned to public duties, carrying out her first official overseas visit since undergoing treatment when she went to Italy last month.

-Reporting by Sarah Young, additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti; editing by Michael Holden/Reuters