David Crump - WPA Pool/Getty ImagesPerhaps a Patronus charm would have come in handy against News of the World.
While Kate Middleton was long ago named as a target of the now-defunct tabloid, which was brought down by a shameful phone-hacking scandal in July after 168 years in print, it turns out the future Duchess of Cambridge (not to mention Sienna Miller, Jude Law, Tony Blair, et al.) was not alone.
Not surprisingly, Prince William was also a person of interest for the tabloid, as was Prince Harry. And if Queen Elizabeth's own grandkids weren't safe, who was?
The list is certainly getting shorter.
Derek Webb, a former police officer once employed by the News Corp-owned News of the World to dig up information, has revealed a list of 90 prominent Brits he was asked to spy on, according to the BBC.
Along with William and Harry, Webb said in an interview with the BBC program Newsnight, he was hired to trail Harry's former girlfriend Chelsy Davy, the family of Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, soccer player Gary Lineker and former Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith.
The revelation comes as Rupert Murdoch's son, News International chairman James Murdoch, is set to speak with parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee about the hacking scandal, which also allegedly involved bribes being paid to Scotland Yard officials. Seventeen people have been arrested in the course of the investigation and authorities have said that News of the World targeted roughly 5,800 people.
"While surveillance is not illegal, it was clearly deeply inappropriate in these circumstances," New International said in a statement responding to Webb's revelation. "This action is not condoned by any current executive at the company."