The Australian DJs behind the hoax call to the hospital that treated Kate Middleton said they were “gutted, shattered, heartbroken” by the death of a nurse they had duped.

King Edward VII’s Hospital in London has condemned a prank phone call that led to the death of a nurse, as her family struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.

The Australian radio station embroiled in the royal baby hoax scandal has said it tried to make contact with the hospital again after recording the prank call.

The chief executive of the company behind a prank call to the hospital caring for the pregnant Kate Middleton has stood by the two DJs who made the call.

2Day FM presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian, whose initial apology for the prank call to the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge was followed by further boasts about it, have been bombarded with online abuse following the news that nurse Jacintha Saldanha had taken her own life.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been left “deeply saddened” after the 46-year-old nurse duped by hoax callers into revealing details about Kate’s health apparently took her own life.