Prince Harry’s pranksters also duped Elton John, Joaquin Phoenix, among others

Prince Harry has allegedly been tricked into speaking candidly on a phone call, and the pranksters behind it have done it to other high profile stars.

Joaquin Phoenix was also duped by the Russian hoaxers. Picture: Rachel Luna/Getty Images

Prince Harry was allegedly fooled into believing he was talking to climate activist Greta Thunberg and her dad in a hoax phone call.

The Duke of Sussex spoke openly about his agony over Megxit and claimed President Donald Trump had “blood on his hands” in the chat with the Russian pranksters.

But the hoaxers have been hoodwinking high profile people with bogus calls for years counting Elton John and Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix, along with his actress girlfriend Rooney Mara, among their many victims.

The famous couple were duped into believing they were being asked to lend their celebrity status to a fictional project called Stars Save The Earth – a humanitarian outfit aimed at fixing global problems.

Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov – aka Vovan and Lexus – have also duped US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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Elton John was duped by the pranksters. Picture: Evan Morgan

The Russians post their phone chats online to their YouTube channel vovan222prank.

Last month, they convinced Mr Sanders he was chatting to Swedish ecoactivist Greta Thunberg.

They promised him she could arrange for Kanye West and Billie Eilish to perform a “cool rap” for his Democrat campaign.

Delighted Mr Sanders replied, “They would be willing to do something on the internet?”

In 2015, they had Elton believing he was chatting to Vladimir Putin about laws on gay rights in Russia.

The singer, believing he was talking through an interpreter, said it was “a great privilege to … speak to one of the most influential people in the whole world”.

Mr Putin did call Elton to clear up the gaffe.

In another audio, the pair tricked US congresswoman Maxine Waters into believing she was helping to support people in need on the fictional island of Chunga-Changa.

The pranksters deny claims they are “Putin Puppets” who target Western celebrities and politicians to make them look stupid.

Joaquin Phoenix was also pranked. Picture: Rachel Luna/Getty Images

“I can assure you, marrying a Prince or Princess is not all it’s made up to be,” Prince Harry allegedly said in the recording.

The Russian jokers twice claim to have spoken to Harry, 35, on the landline at his luxury home on Vancouver Island, Canada.

The conversations were on New Year’s Eve and January 22.

One of the calls was recorded and published on YouTube and Facebook on Monday night by the hoaxers with an animated cartoon of Harry and Greta.

In both calls, Harry opens up to the fake Greta about the tension at the heart of the royal family.

“You can call me whatever you want – Harry is fine,” he says in one.

He then speaks about how hard it was for him and Meghan, 38, to quit Britain.

“Um, it’s, that’s probably a conversation for another time, there’s lots of layers to it and lots of pieces to the puzzle,” he says.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends the Commonwealth Day Service 2020 on March 9 in London. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

“But sometimes the right decision isn’t always the easy one.

“And this decision certainly wasn’t the easy one but it was the right decision for our family, the right decision to be able to protect my son.

“And I think there’s a hell of a lot of people around the world that can identify and respect us for putting our family first.

“But, yeah, it’s a tricky one, but we will start a new life.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission