The phone of the Duchess of Cambridge, while she was still Kate Middleton and dating Prince William, was hacked by the News of the World, it has been claimed.

Transcripts of voicemails of calls between the royal couple were read out at the Old Bailey hacking trial.

The transcripts were unearthed during a police investigation.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC, read out “Hi baby, it’s me” from one voicemail that William left to Kate.

He also called her “Babykins”.

In the voicemail, Prince William – now the Duke of Cambridge – starts the message to Kate with the words: “Hi baby. Um, sorry, I’ve just got back in off my night navigation exercise.”

He tells her that he nearly got shot while on a training exercise.

In the call, he said: “I had a busy day today again. I’ve been running around the woods of Aldershot chasing shadows and getting horribly lost, and I walked into some other regiment’s ambush, which was slightly embarrassing because I nearly got shot.

“Not by live rounds but by blank rounds, which would have been very embarrassing, though.”

The court was read excerpts from the voicemails in which it is claimed William left a message for his younger brother Harry, putting on a high-pitched voiced and pretending to be Harry’s then girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

In the jokey message William called Harry “ginger”.

Edis noted the voicemail was recovered from private investigator Glenn Mulcaire’s home address, and quoted from it: “It’s Chelsy here and saying you are the best looking ginger I have ever seen.”

Former News of the World (NotW) managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, of Woodford Green, Essex, and the tabloid’s former editor Andy Coulson, are accused of conspiring to hack phones between October 3, 2000, and August 9, 2006, along with former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.

In May last year, Kuttner made a statement to police denying the allegations and stating he was not willing to answer any further questions.

Former NotW and Sun editor Brooks also faces two counts of conspiring with others to commit misconduct in public office – one between January 1, 2004, and January 31, 2012, and the other between February 9, 2006, and October 16, 2008 – linked to alleged inappropriate payments to public officials.

She also faces two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice – one with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, of Chelmsford, Essex, between July 6 and 9, 2011, and a second with her husband, Charles Brooks, and former News International head of security Mark Hanna and others, between July 15 and July 19, 2011.

Coulson is also facing two allegations that he conspired with former NotW royal editor Clive Goodman, 56, from Addlestone in Surrey, and other unknown people to commit misconduct in public office between August 31, 2002 and January 31, 2003, and between January 31 and June 3, 2005.

Jurors were told that news editor Ian Edmondson, who is charged with conspiring to hack phones between October 3, 2000, and August 9, 2006, is “currently unfit” and will take no further part in the trial.