Charles' buggery end of British monarchy

Revealed: the rumour that has rocked the royal family
By David Leigh and Sarah Lyall in London, with John Hooper in Rome
November 9, 2003

Desperate efforts by Prince Charles's personal staff to quash rumours of a
sexual incident involving the future king failed yesterday, buried under a
tidal wave of media reports in Europe and on foreign-language websites.

Though still not officially confirmed, the rumours surround a purported
sexual contact between Prince Charles and Michael Fawcett, one of his
closest advisers.

While British papers were last night fighting a court battle to publish the
names of those involved, readers in other parts of the world could find out
on the web what Britain is still waiting to read.

According to one report on The New York Times wire service, the allegations
come from a tape found in a mahogany box owned by the late Diana, Princess
of Wales.

George Smith, a former royal servant who suffered from alcoholism and
post-traumatic stress syndrome after fighting in the Falklands War, said on
the tape he had been raped by another male royal aide. But far more
explosively, he also claimed to have witnessed a compromising homosexual
encounter between a senior royal aide and a member of the royal family.

This was the claim that Prince Charles was denying - although he didn't say
so - on Thursday.

"Anyone who knows the Prince of Wales at all would appreciate that the
allegation is totally ludicrous and, indeed, risible," his secretary Sir
Michael Peat said in an unprecedented statement on the matter. His pleas
for restraint were echoed by the Prince's former private secretary Sir
Stephen Lamport, who accused the media of pursuing an agenda which
undervalued the Prince as a "force for good" who had touched the lives of
so many.

The publication of the rumours came as the Prince was preparing for a
private dinner in Muscat with Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

The issue first surfaced last year during the trial of Paul Burrell,
Diana's former butler.

Mr Burrell was unsuccessfully prosecuted on charges that he had stolen
possessions from the Princess's estate and from other members of the royal
family after her death in 1997.

One of the items he was accused of stealing was a cassette tape that Diana
had recorded several years earlier and that she kept in a special mahogany
box.

The matter then died down until last month, when Mr Burrell began
publicising his tell-all book, A Royal Duty. When he mentioned the
now-notorious tape and said that revealing its contents would have
disastrous consequences for the country, newspapers seized on the issue
again and began ramping up the speculation.

Yesterday's rash of stories in the continental media followed Clarence
House's controversial decision to break its silence to denounce the
rumours.

In Britain, the Popbitch email bulletin also broadcast details of the
rumours, while TV stations flashed up images from Italy's Corriere della
Sera, the first newspaper to publish the story.

It is also understood that the London-based The Mail on Sunday, which was
injuncted at the request of Michael Fawcett when it sought to publicise the
allegation, has had the terms of its injunction relaxed.

It will be allowed, like the rest of the nation's media, to publish
whatever is in the public domain. However, this is unlikely to open the
floodgates as the details in foreign media are not generally regarded by
the courts as part of the public domain in Britain.

The report on page 19 of yesterday's Corriere della Sera was filed by its
London correspondent, Alessio Altichieri. Before detailing the allegations,
the paper said that "the most lurid accusation against the British royal
household came dramatically into the open yesterday".

A semi-pornographic Italian website has also set out the central
allegations. Other websites carried versions of the claims in Flemish and
Portuguese.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...243307798.html

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Her Majesty wrote:

Revealed: the rumour that has rocked the royal family
By David Leigh and Sarah Lyall in London, with John Hooper in Rome
November 9, 2003

Desperate efforts by Prince Charles's personal staff to quash rumours of a
sexual incident involving the future king failed yesterday, buried under a
tidal wave of media reports in Europe and on foreign-language websites.

Though still not officially confirmed, the rumours surround a purported
sexual contact between Prince Charles and Michael Fawcett, one of his
closest advisers.

Well he is a Prince, not a Queen. The Royalty has always been
predisposed to sexual experimentation. I see not cause for
alarm, especially considering the laws on such things have been
abolished, finally.
*
*

*

While British papers were last night fighting a court battle to publish the
names of those involved, readers in other parts of the world could find out
on the web what Britain is still waiting to read.

According to one report on The New York Times wire service, the allegations
come from a tape found in a mahogany box owned by the late Diana, Princess
of Wales.

George Smith, a former royal servant who suffered from alcoholism and
post-traumatic stress syndrome after fighting in the Falklands War, said on
the tape he had been raped by another male royal aide. But far more
explosively, he also claimed to have witnessed a compromising homosexual
encounter between a senior royal aide and a member of the royal family.

This was the claim that Prince Charles was denying - although he didn't say
so - on Thursday.

"Anyone who knows the Prince of Wales at all would appreciate that the
allegation is totally ludicrous and, indeed, risible," his secretary Sir
Michael Peat said in an unprecedented statement on the matter. His pleas
for restraint were echoed by the Prince's former private secretary Sir
Stephen Lamport, who accused the media of pursuing an agenda which
undervalued the Prince as a "force for good" who had touched the lives of
so many.

The publication of the rumours came as the Prince was preparing for a
private dinner in Muscat with Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

The issue first surfaced last year during the trial of Paul Burrell,
Diana's former butler.

Mr Burrell was unsuccessfully prosecuted on charges that he had stolen
possessions from the Princess's estate and from other members of the royal
family after her death in 1997.

One of the items he was accused of stealing was a cassette tape that Diana
had recorded several years earlier and that she kept in a special mahogany
box.

The matter then died down until last month, when Mr Burrell began
publicising his tell-all book, A Royal Duty. When he mentioned the
now-notorious tape and said that revealing its contents would have
disastrous consequences for the country, newspapers seized on the issue
again and began ramping up the speculation.

Yesterday's rash of stories in the continental media followed Clarence
House's controversial decision to break its silence to denounce the
rumours.

In Britain, the Popbitch email bulletin also broadcast details of the
rumours, while TV stations flashed up images from Italy's Corriere della
Sera, the first newspaper to publish the story.

It is also understood that the London-based The Mail on Sunday, which was
injuncted at the request of Michael Fawcett when it sought to publicise the
allegation, has had the terms of its injunction relaxed.

It will be allowed, like the rest of the nation's media, to publish
whatever is in the public domain. However, this is unlikely to open the
floodgates as the details in foreign media are not generally regarded by
the courts as part of the public domain in Britain.

The report on page 19 of yesterday's Corriere della Sera was filed by its
London correspondent, Alessio Altichieri. Before detailing the allegations,
the paper said that "the most lurid accusation against the British royal
household came dramatically into the open yesterday".

A semi-pornographic Italian website has also set out the central
allegations. Other websites carried versions of the claims in Flemish and
Portuguese.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...243307798.html

*