Australian radio announcer expressed sorry as new British royal baby is due

An Australian radio announcer who took part in a telephone prank involving the birth of British Prince William's son George which ended with a nurse taking her life, spoke of her shame on Wednesday.

With the imminent birth of Prince William and his wife Catherine's second child, the announcer Mel Greig has written an open letter about the live on-air prank which led to a nurse committing suicide.

Greig and her on-air colleague Michael Christian called the hospital ward just after George was born and pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles.

The London nurse named Jacintha Saldanha, who answered the phone, believed she was speaking to the royal pair but killed herself after world-wide publicity that followed the stunt.

The Sydney radio duo were immediately stood down from their posts, but Greig on Wednesday said she was deeply ashamed, and blamed a culture of sensationalism for the incident.

"I sat there and agreed to prank call a hospital to create a ' unique angle, a harmless and stupid idea that sadly ended in tragedy, as we felt obliged to cover the pregnancy and to do it differently," Greig wrote in an open letter released on Wednesday.

"It's an amazing industry (radio) to work in, it really is. But for the first time I'm sitting on the outside looking in and I have to ask: Is the pressure from above becoming too much? Are we becoming careless and ruthless to chase a headline?"

Greig did not explain why she had chosen the expected birth of the British royal's second child to time her public letter. Endi