British Royal Family Current Events 1: November 2002-November 2005

[Jacqueline]

Prince Charles is said to be ordering a formal inquiry into the rape allegations.

Prince orders rape case inquiry
Tuesday, November 12, 2002 Posted: 1:15 PM EST (1815 GMT)


LONDON, England (CNN) -- Prince Charles has ordered an internal review, to be conducted by the private secretary of the heir to Britain's throne, into the collapse of the Paul Burrell theft trial and its aftermath, St. James's Palace said.

Sir Michael Peat will look into allegations that a royal servant was the victim of homosexual rape by an aide to the heir to the British throne, and that it was covered up.

But the queen -- who came forward with crucial information that led to claims that the royal family intervened to prevent embarrassing revelations emerging when Burrell gave evidence -- will not herself be a "witness" in Sir Michael's review as Buckingham Palace said he already knew her side of the story.

The palace inquiry, expected to publish its report for public consumption by Christmas, will also look at the sale of royal gifts by palace staff which has been widely reported in the British press.

CNN's royal commentator Robert Jobson said that for the royal family the inquiry would be "embarrassing to say the least."

The allegations were brought into the public spotlight amid the recent trial of Burrell, Princess Diana's former butler.

Burrell walked free after a statement made by the queen exonerated him. That has prompted questions over whether the queen had withheld information she should have shared earlier -- something an independent inquiry may also look into.

Evidence given in the Burrell case fuelled a frenzy of tabloid stories in the UK, with competing British newspapers promising sensational new revelations. Among the reports is an allegation that male prostitutes were regularly smuggled into the palaces.

Of most concern to the royal family, Jobson said, are the allegations of rape.

"They're hugely damaging," he said. That's partly because the royals held their own investigation in 1996, which they said found no evidence of a rape, but they did not bring in the police at the time.

"There must be some degree of truth in the allegations there was a cover-up," Jobson said, "because there was only an internal investigation."

Under British law, a member of the royal family can be charged and prosecuted -- except for the queen.

The alleged rape victim, George Smith, made his claims in The Mail on Sunday, which paid him for the story. The 42-year-old former valet said he was raped in 1989 by a prince's aide -- who was not identified in the article -- and that the man tried to assault him again in 1995. Smith said Prince Charles "covered it up."

The accused man, without revealing his name, released a statement through his attorneys denying the allegations and calling Smith an "unreliable alcoholic."

Police learned of the rape allegations last year, and held an investigation that concluded in early 2002. They spoke with Smith, but he did not pursue a claim. After Smith's allegations were published on Sunday, a Scotland Yard spokesman said prosecutors had found no grounds for prosecution, and unless Smith comes forward with new evidence "we are not investigating any further."

Lawyers for the man accused said the information Smith gave to The Mail on Sunday did not fully match what he told police.

During Burrell's trial, prosecutors asked him about a tape Princess Diana once recorded in which a royal servant described the alleged rape. The tape has since disappeared. There is no dispute over whether the tape was recorded, but what happened to it is not clear.

The tape's disappearance feeds speculation that there may have been a cover-up.

At a news conference Monday in New York, where Burrell was travelling, he said, "The clear implication was in court that these items were in my possession. They never have been."

After Burrell's trial ended, he was paid £300,000 ($477,000) by the Daily Mirror to share his stories, including that of the tape. He insisted Monday he has not made anything up.

"Telling my story was never about money -- only about truth and justice," Burrell said. "That's what all this is about -- truth."

But Jobson says Burrell has severely damaged his credibility after sharing intimate stories about Diana with the Daily Mirror and scheduling an interview with a major U.S. television network airing next week.

People who want to know the truth about the recent allegations, Jobson said, are looking forward to the inquiry.


ABOVE THE LAW
* The queen is the only person in the UK who cannot be prosecuted

* She is the chief prosecutor and all prosecutions are brought in her name: regina v. .........

* Prince Charles and other members of the royal family can be prosecuted

* The last British royal in court was King Charles I in 1649 for treason... he was executed

* Charles's sister, Princess Anne has been ordered to court on November 21to face allegations her dog bit two children

* Although royals have faced speeding charges in the past they have been dealt with via letter so Anne will be the first royal in court since 1649


Direct link to article, photos and other links: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/11/12/britain.royals/index.html

 

[Jacqueline]

Concerning the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Photographers to stand trial

A Paris judge has ordered three photographers to trial for pictures they took of the 1997 car crash that killed Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

The move follows a complaint for invasion of privacy filed by al Fayed's father, Harrods owner Mohamed al Fayed, said judicial officials.

The cameramen will only go on trial for the photographs they took of Dodi Fayed, however, since Diana's relatives and the Royal family are not plaintiffs in the case, the officials added.

In April, France's highest court dismissed charges of manslaughter against the photographers - who were pursuing the princess's car at the time - ending years of court battles over who was responsible for the crash.

Link: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_713189.html?menu=

 

[Jacqueline]

Tuesday, 19 November, 2002, 17:18 GMT
Diana memorial fund sued

The memorial fund set up in the name of the late Princess Diana - along with Diana's mother and sister - is being sued by an American company for £16m.

US-based Franklin Mint has launched the lawsuit in the latest twist of a row over a commemorative plate.

The Mint has accused Diana's sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale and her mother Frances Shand Kydd and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund of "maliciously" fighting to retain the rights of the princess's name.

Lady Sarah and Ms Kydd are executors of Diana's estate.

The fund has branded the action "a waste of time."

Mint's legal success

In June, the fund lost an attempt to prevent the Mint producing Diana souvenirs, leaving it facing a £4m legal bill.

The fund and estate had argued the Mint's production of a "limited edition commemorative plate" soon after her 1997 death violated their "exclusive rights" to Diana's name and image.

The estate's action was thrown out after being labelled "groundless and unreasonable".

Now the company is counter-suing.

A fund spokeswoman said: "They are suing us for malicious prosecution.

"We are seeking advice. It's a lot of money they are demanding but, as far as we're concerned, it's a complete waste of time and brought about in very bad blood.

"They have had their cash and won the case - they should let sleeping dogs lie.

"We brought the case in good faith based on legal fact, rather than a malicious whim."

The Franklin Mint is claiming that in 1998, Diana's estate "decided to run a public relations campaign".

It says the estate launched legal action against the mint "on the theory that a high-profile lawsuit must be pursued to send a message to others".

But the US-based company claims the action was "merely an effort to damage the Franklin Mint's sales efforts, embarrass it and sully its reputation".

The mint is seeking punitive and exemplary damages.

A spokesman for the Spencer family did not wish to comment.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2492995.stm

 

[Lorraine]

Hey Everyone,

How are you all? This article is from the latest Australian Women's Day, dated November,25th,2002.

It begins with..A year which promised so much has turned into "Annus horribulus" mark two for the Queen and the Royal family. It started badly with the death of Princess Margaret as well as the Queen Mother. Then things improved temporarily with the amazing success of the Jubilee celebrations. But the extraordinary fallout form the acquittal of Diana's butler Paul Burrell on theft charges has tarnished those memories, plunging the monarchy into its worst crisis since the Princess's death in 1997.

No wonder the Queen burst into tears at the Remembrance day service outside London's Westminister Abbey. Not only had the deaths of her sister and mother finally sunk home, in a case of delayed grief, but she also knew that 2002 is most likely to be remembered for the a serious of embarrassing moments rather than her half century of devoted duty.

Diana continues to haunt the Royal family. According to Journalists who knew her best, Richard Kay of Daily mirror, whenever things went wrong in the Palace. Courtiers would say "Its all Diana's doing...she's out on her broomstick again". At the heart of the scandal are the so-called "Crown jewels" which Diana kept in a monogrammed oak box at Kensington palace, her London home. Police were looking for these explosive belongings when they raided the home of paul Burrell - the man Diana called - "her rock".

So what were the box's content and why were they so dangerous that the Queen and Prince charles were desperate to halt a trial? Most damaging was a tape recording Diana has made, interviewing Royal servant George Smith in 1996. The valent claimed that in 1989, when he was 29 years old, he was raped by a senoir male aide to charles and had to fight off a similiar attack six years later on a Royal trip to Egypt. The servant suffered several nervous breakdowns and developed a drinking problem, as a result fo the horrors he witnessed in the falkland wars which led to his wwife leaving him.

Diana who hated the alleged attacker because of his closeness to Prince charles, told George "You will get over this, I have been through worst". She encouraged him to have a drink and to tell her the details of what happened. He told her about a homosexual encounter between a member of the Royal family and a servant. For years there had been rumors that Prince Edward was gay and had a realtionship with a footman. There were even stories that fergie left Prince Andrew because she came home to find him in bed with a sailor. Neither has been proven to be true. But George Smith was given $100,000 pay off to keep his mouth shut. The box also contains letter from Prince Philip to Diana which he called the Princess a "trollop" and a "harlot" and Fergie a "Whore". There was also a signet ring given to Diana by her lover of five years James Hewitt.

The box also contained official papers about Diana's divorce as well as resignation letters from Diana's private secretary who later betrayed her by writing a book about her life. The police did not find the jewellery box at Paul Burrell's home and its whereabouts are a mystery. But they did find more than 300 other items which once belonged to Diana - and charged him with theft. After the Queen eventually remembered a cinversation in which Paul told her about the items for "safe keeping" he eventually walked free on November 11, in a blaze of publicity.

The Queen did not kill the scandal by doing this, but instead opened a Pandora's box of gossip. She has now told friends, "Charles has really dropped me in it this time". For it was the Prince of Wales who was anxious to stop the trial at all costs, to protect himself and his staff.

Paul Burrell has now also betrayed the Princess of Wales, he has always promised not to reveal any secrets. But recently released to the press that Diana used to ask him to go out and buy porn magazines for Prince William. He has also signed a deal with Daily Mirror for 1.3 million dollars as well as other newspapers to write his story. There was reports that Paul Burrell dressed in Diana's clothes and tried to seduce top entertainer, Micheal Barrymore just days after Di's funeral.

At laest two ex-boyfriend's have come out and told about Paul's double life and gay lifestyle. This secret out in the open has shocked his wife and two sons. Australian Greg Pead has branded him a hypocrite and told of a long affair they had when he was a waitor in Sydney. Many are shocked when Paul burrell called himself Diana's rock and then sell her secrets. Maria Burrell who was a former palace maid and dresser to Diana, says that she knew about his double life and that she felt often that there was three people in their relationship.

 

[Lorraine]

Same magazine.

Another Butler shames the Queen. Just as the paul Burrell fiasco dies down, a second Royal butler is to go on trial. heaping more misery on the Queen. Harold Brown worked with Paul Burrell for Diana and the late Princess Margaret and became her favourite servant. After the collapsed of the Burrell case, meetings took place between the attorney-general lord Goldsmith and the prosecutors as Brown is accused of stealing more than $1 million dollars worth of valuables from Diana's estate. Allegedlt taken were earrings, a bangle and a gem-encrusted dhow, an Arab boat which was broken down and re-sold.

But the fear for the Royals is that if Harold Brown feels he is heading for prison, he too may expose Palace scandals in court. "The Queen will be just as glad when all this is over" said one courtier, "She doesn't deserve this after 50 years of service. The other bog losers in this saga are the Spencer family, who took a terrible bashing in court. It was revealed that Diana had not spoken to her mother Frances Shand Kydd for the past four months of her life, after she had criticised Diana's choice of boyfriends. Diana's brother Earl Spencer had abgered her by not allowing her to live on his Althorp estate. And her sister Lady Sarah McCorqudale, who once dated Prince Charles, said bitterly, "I thought all this would be mine one day". According to Paul Burrell, the Spencers had found Diana unacceptable in life but she suddenly became acceptable in death at $10.50 ($30 Aus) a ticket for the Earl's museum at Althorp.

 

[Jacqueline]

Prince Philip denies Diana insults
Saturday, November 23, 2002 Posted: 10:22 AM EST (1522 GMT)

LONDON, England -- Prince Philip has denied writing insulting letters to Diana, Princess of Wales, in the latest twist following the collapse of the trial of royal butler Paul Burrell.

In a statement on Saturday, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II denied calling Princess Diana "a trollop and a harlot."

A statement authorised by the Duke of Edinburgh said: "Prince Philip wishes to make it clear that at no point did he ever use the insulting terms described in media reports, nor that he was curt or unfeeling in what he wrote.

"He regards the suggestion that he used such derogatory terms as a gross misrepresentation of his relations with his daughter-in-law and hurtful to his grandsons."

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Burrell trial, faith healer Simone Simmons said the princess had shown her letters from the duke in which he branded Diana a trollop and a harlot.

Simmons, 47, told a Sunday newspaper the letters were handwritten on cream-coloured A5 headed notepaper, were short and to the point, and signed curtly "Philip."

However, a source close to Prince Philip told the UK's Press Association that the duke typed all his personal letters, rather than write them by hand, and used white A4 paper, not the smaller, cream A5 notepaper.

The royal source told PA said the duke's letters to Diana were not short and were signed "With love from Pa" rather than a curt "Philip."

The whereabouts of original letters have apparently been lost but, according to Prince Philip's Buckingham Palace statement, he kept copies as well as Diana's replies.

But the duke refuses to make the letters public, insisting the correspondence was private.

The authorised statement said the duke started the correspondence in June 1992 "in a friendly attempt to resolve a number of family issues" during the period before the Prince and Princess announced their official separation in December that year.

While the duke would regard any publication of his original letters -- should they be found -- as a breach of his copyright as their author, the emergence of the original letters would confirm his statement, said the royal source.

Should any copies of the letters seen by Simmons, and purportedly handwritten by the duke, be published, the handwriting alone would show these alleged letters did not come from him, said the source.

Whatever letters were seen and described by Simmons, they were certainly not written by the duke, the source added.

The faith healer, who says she was a close friend of Diana for four years, made her statements to a Sunday newspaper two weeks ago, saying she had been prepared to reveal the contents of the letters when called as a defence witness for Burrell.

But a last-minute intervention by the queen caused the trial's collapse and the acquittal of the ex-butler who was accused of stealing 310 items belonging to Diana, the Prince of Wales and their son Prince William.

Simmons told the newspaper Diana kept the bundle of correspondence in a now infamous mahogany box with a signet ring given to the Princess by her lover James Hewitt, and a tape-recording detailing an alleged homosexual rape by a close aide of the Prince of Wales on then Royal valet George Smith.

The contents of the box, referred to during the Burrell trial as the "Crown Jewels", have since gone missing.

Immediately after the damaging allegation against the duke, he considered various courses of action including taking legal advice and making a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission, PA reported.

However, on reflection, said PA, the duke and his palace advisers decided to issue a statement -- albeit delayed -- timed for the Sunday media where the allegation first appeared

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/11/23/uk.philip/

 

[Jacqueline]

Palace at war with BBC over 'biased diatribe' against Queen
By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
(Filed: 01/12/2002)

Buckingham Palace has sent a furious letter to the BBC complaining that a report by the Corporation's "flagship political programme" on the future of the monarchy was biased and inaccurate.

In a rare move, one of the Queen's most senior officials formally protested about last Sunday's On The Record on BBC1, which her aides thought was irresponsible and potentially damaging. They were particularly incensed that a public service broadcaster should screen such a one-sided report.

"The programme was inaccurate and extremely biased," said one Royal official yesterday. "Our letter takes the BBC to task and criticises it for broadcasting a diatribe against the monarchy."

The Telegraph has discovered that the letter was sent by Penny Russell-Smith, the Queen's press secretary, to David Jordan, the editor of On The Record, on Friday. It was done with the knowledge - and support - of the Queen's private office.

Miss Russell-Smith criticises the BBC for not seeking a "right of reply" from Buckingham Palace and for not checking facts, particularly over the Civil List payments, the money paid annually by Parliament for the Royal Family's expenses.

There has been a series of disagreements between Buckingham Palace and the BBC in recent years. In 1995 the BBC's Panorama programme broadcast a sensational interview with Diana, Princess of Wales. It was screened without Marmaduke Hussey, then the chairman of the BBC, being forewarned, because his wife, Lady Susan Hussey, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.

The following year, in apparent retaliation, the Palace ended the BBC's monopoly of producing the Queen's Christmas Broadcast. Two years ago there was private anger within the Royal Family at the BBC's refusal to broadcast live coverage of the Queen Mother's 100th birthday celebrations.

Buckingham Palace has become more active in challenging inaccurate and unfair stories. Last weekend Prince Philip publicly denounced as fictitious claims in the Mail on Sunday that he had called the late Princess of Wales "a harlot" and a "trollop" in letters to her in 1992.

In the On The Record report, Gloria De Piero, the BBC reporter who presented the item, said the Golden Jubilee celebrations had been "spectacular but expensive", costing nearly £500,000 from the Civil List, "the £7.9 million a year we give the Queen".

The BBC in its poll of MPs asked whether the Civil List should be cut back, which in turn "would reduce the money available for the Queen's extended family, for her staff and for a suitably regal lifestyle", said Ms De Piero.

There was no mention of the Queen's reforms to the Civil List. Since 1990 she has repaid all Parliamentary annuities to members of the Royal Family with the exception of those for the duties carried out by herself, Prince Philip and the late Queen Mother.

Payments for eight other members of the Royal Family, totalling more than £1.5 million a year, are reimbursed to the Government. There was also no mention of the Queen's decision in 1993 to pay income tax.

Ms De Piero opened her report by saying that "a poll last week showed even lower public support for the royals than at any time since Diana's death. An embarrassing court case, allegations of rape and rumours that you're raising cash on the side are bound to spoil the festivities".

The report continued with interviews with committed republicans and Left-wing Labour MPs. Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West, said the popularity of the monarchy had "collapsed in ruins and we had these stories that are more reminiscent of a porn movie, or the fencing that takes place in an Arthur Daly shop".

A spokesman for the BBC declined to comment on the criticisms of On the Record, which is presented by John Humphrys. "We have no indication that a letter of complaint has been sent or is being sent," he said.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../ixnewstop.html

 

[Jacqueline]

December 04, 2002

Prince's wedding-ring note widens palace inquiry
By Andrew Pierce

THE emergence yesterday of a note from the Prince of Wales, which offers his staff the chance of a “very good gold wedding ring”, is the first written evidence that senior members of the Royal Household are involved in the lucrative sale of private gifts.
The disclosure of the note, scrawled on the back of an old envelope, will intensify demands for a proper independent inquiry into the royal-gifts-for-sale practice endemic within the Royal Household.

The swift agreement of St James’s Palace, after questions from The Times, to extend the investigation to cover the fallout from the collapse of the Harold Brown case will increase pressure for similar transparency on the Crown Prosecution Service and the Director of Public Prosecutions, who authorised the trial to go ahead despite the collapse of the Paul Burrell case.

St James’s Palace was at pains yesterday to say that it had never denied that senior members of the Royal Family, including the Prince of Wales, regularly gave their employees expensive gifts.

The Harold Brown prosecution team was told as much more than two years ago and the witness statement from Mr Burrell, butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, made the same point. The information given by St James’s Palace to the prosecution was that the Prince regularly gave champagne and polo prizes to staff.

However, few gold wedding rings are given as prizes in polo.

The Peat Inquiry, which is being assisted by Edmund Lawson, QC, will look at the flourishing grey market in royal artefacts, which has included chairs used at the investiture of the Prince of Wales, menus from the Queen’s Flight, books given to the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother by her grandchildren, and wrought-iron chairs from the garden at Highgrove.

They were sold through upmarket jewellers, on the internet and through newspaper advertisements. The Prince of Wales has himself benefited by more than £100,000 a year from the sale of gifts no longer wanted or loathed in the first place. They were sold on his behalf by Michael Fawcett, one of his closest advisers, who kept about 20 per cent from the sales, earning him the nickname Fawcett the Fence.

Mr Fawcett remains a paid and trusted member of the Prince of Wales’s most intimate circle of advisers.

The existence of the envelope suggests that the largesse over royal gifts extends to all 85 of the Prince’s employees.

Sir Michael, in a series of interviews when he announced last month the establishment of his inquiry, admitted that the rules distinguishing between public and private gifts had become “blurred”.

Guidelines at the palaces, which have been in existence for years, state that official gifts given during engagements have to be catalogued, displayed, put on loan or in storage. They are not subject to tax because they belong to the nation.

Private gifts are barred to members of the Royal Family if they are cash or of a commercial nature. However, as with any private individual, private gifts can be disposed of in whatever way they regard as appropriate. The wedding gifts of the Prince and Princess of Wales, which were numbered in their hundreds, were regarded as private, even if they came from heads of state. Staff members are entitled to gifts: they are logged if they are valued at more than £50.

Mr Brown, a servant of Diana, Princess of Wales, had been selling off her unwanted treasures for years. Unlike the Prince, she never paid commission, but was generous with gifts as Mr Burrell was able to testify successfully in court.

The Peat report could well bring an end in the new year to the lucrative gravy train that has been a big earner for royal retainers, who are badly paid, although many live in cut-price accommodation.

The fallout from the collapse of the latest butler trial will be more limited than the aftermath of the Burrell case.

Mr Brown, who remains a favoured servant of the Royal Family as butler to Viscount Linley, the son of the late Princess Margaret, whom he served after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, will never sell his story. Not while he remains a fully-paid-up member of “the Firm”.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-...-502016,00.html

 

[Jacqueline]

Kents sit tight at Kensington Palace six months after peppercorn rent outcry
By Marie Woolf Chief Political Correspondent

05 December 2002

Palace insists it did not obstruct police inquiry into royal butlers

Kents sit tight at Kensington Palace six months after peppercorn rent outcry
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent are still paying a peppercorn rent for their sumptuous apartment in Kensington Palace almost six months after the arrangement was heavily criticised by MPs.

In a parliamentary written reply, Kim Howells, the Culture Minister, confirmed that the couple were paying £69 a week for the property.

Angry MPs accused the Kents of ignoring calls for them to increase their rent or move out by the end of this year. One backbencher described the sum paid for the grace and favour apartment, in one of London's finest addresses, as a rip-off.

Sir Michael Peat, the Prince of Wales's Private Secretary, who lives in a neighbouring apartment pays £48,000 a year compared with the £3,500 a year rent paid by the Kents.

MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee first raised the issue of the Prince and Princess Michael's cut price accommodation after visiting Kensington Palace in June.

Edward Leigh, the Tory chairman, said he wouldn't be surprised if "a hint was dropped" that the royal couple should either move out or pay a more commercial rent.

The Kents own a £3.5m listed 16th-century house in Gloucestershire.

Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, said they were unfairly benefiting from a form of taxpayers' subsidy.

"It's a form of royal housing benefit for millionaires," he said. "It's very dangerous to have a dependency society whether it's among working- class estates or the recipients of regal housing benefit."

Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP whose question prompted the disclosure, accused the Palace of presiding over a "royal rip off." He said: "Why should poor taxpayers subsidise this pampered pair living in the lap of luxury?

"We are now at the date when they were going to vacate the premises or pay a sensible rent back dated to their date of occupancy. This shows total contempt for public accountability and public finances. It's disgraceful that they are continuing to get away with this."

The Prince and Princess, who do not receive the same financial support to defray the cost of their duties as the Queen, the Prince of Wales or the Duke of York, were given the royal apartment in 1978 by the Queen after they married.

The Queen is said to be reluctant to renege on an agreement she made with them to allow them to live in the accommodation, although her senior advisers are said to want them to move out or subsidise their work.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said last night: "From the Queen's point of view the couple have been living in Kensington Palace since their marriage and it was agreed at the time that they would remain there.

"That is the agreement that she came to at that time and as far as the Queen is concerned that won't change."

The private office of the Prince and Princess at Kensington Palace said yesterday that they could not add to Buckingham Palace's comments and the matter was "entirely a matter for the Queen to decide".

A spokesman said: "The Prince and Princess carry out close on 200 charitable and other engagements per year on average over the last five years in the same way as is undertaken by their cousins." He said the Kents' duties were not official, and they paid their own costs.

Link: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_brit...sp?story=358606

 

[Jacqueline]

The duchess and the Gainsboroughs

Angelique Chrisafis
Thursday December 5, 2002
The Guardian

Buckingham Palace last night refused to comment on suggestions that the Duchess of Kent discreetly sold off two Gainsborough paintings through Spink and Son, the trusted royal art dealers who also purchased Princess Diana's golden dhow from her butler, Harold Brown.
A senior royal is reported to have taken two watercolour landscapes by the 18th century master Thomas Gainsborough into Spink's headquarters near St James's Palace in the early 1990s and sold them for around £100,000.

She is said to have asked for the paintings to be photographed. The high-quality photographic replicas were replaced in the original mounts and frames and taken to her apartment at St James's Palace. The duchess, who is married to the queen's cousin, is believed to have inherited a series of Gainsborough paintings from her father, Captain William Worsley, a baronet who collected fine art.

A jeweller who worked for Spink's, Jan Havlik, was acquitted on Monday, alongside Mr Brown, of handling stolen property. Spink bought the dhow for £1,200 from the butler as part of their traditionally discreet service to members of the royal family and their staff. It still possesses it.

Hugh Belsey, curator of the museum at Gainsborough's Suffolk birthplace, said: "I understand that the Duchess of Kent did own a number of Gainsborough drawings inherited from her father, which she has sold."

One of the watercolours sold is thought to be a study for Gainsborough's 1788 landscape painting, Cottage Door, owned by the Cincinnati Art Museum in Ohio, US.

A good Gainsborough landscape drawing is expected to reach between £50,000 and £70,000 on the art market and the duchess is said to have received a fair price for the watercolours, believed to be among Gainsborough's finest.

A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said: "If such a sale took place it would involve private possessions, not official gifts, and it would be a private matter that is no one's business. Individuals are allowed to sell private items." Spink'swas unwilling last night to comment.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/monarchy/story/0...,854087,00.html

 

[Lorraine]

Hey Everyone,

Just stumbled across this today which I thought was very interesting. It is from New Idea, dated 30 November,2002.

It is titled "Sex, drugs and Royals" by Ingrid Seward, Majesty magazine.

Prostitutes, rent boys and drug dealers were all smuggled into Buckingham palace for wild sex and drug parties, according to shocking new reports. Former Royal staff have now revealed that they regularly indulged in ecstasy, LDS and cannabis at the debauched below stairs parties were there were drunken and nude servants running around and gay men dressed in women's clothes. Even more shocking is the fact that the paries were attended by members of the Royal family themselves.

"Parties happened two to three times a week and were attended by dishwashers and Royals alike" former palace aid Geoffrey Todd told British paper News of the world reporters Clive Goodman and Anna Gekoshi. "Princess Diana, Prince Charles. Andrew and Edward used to come. The Queen encouraged the wildest parties. I lost my virginity at the palace". And former Royal housemaids told reporters " Drugs like Pot, ecstasy and acid are routinely available at the palace. At least a quarter of the staff were on something.". :x

The Queen is said to be shocked by the reports, which come hot on the heels of weeks of bad publicity over the Paul Burrell trial. Questions are now being asked as to how such breaches of security could have been allowed to go on for so long. The article calims that staff would pick up strangers in nightclubs and bring them back to the palace for sex, putting the Royal family's safety at risk. "They could have been anyone, even a terrorist" says one former Royal footman. "Security there is a joke. One time an American girl was smuggled in, who bragged that she'd let a group of under butlers have sex with her if they showed her around the palace. She got her wish". :x

Another Royal servant revealed how the staff even sneaked prostitutes in to the Queen mother's home, Clarence House, while she was ill in bed. Another told how one servant would watch the Queen drive off for the weekend before letting his drug dealer in to the Palace under a false name. "The Paul Burrell trial has blown the lid on the bizarre behavior of the Royal family and their staff". A Royal source tells New Idea. "They don't live in the real world. Can you imagine any other employer allowing their staff to behave this way?". The insider adds that the staff can get away with o much as the Royal family is so dependent on them. A majority of the staff employed there are Gay, as Liam Brooks, a former footman to the Queen, explains that the large number of gay men at work in Royal households goes back to when the Queen and her sister, the late Princess Margaret were young girls. The Queen mother thought it was better to have men around who were not going to touch them' says Liam who is Gay. He adds "Its not the Royal family that is the problem, It is some of the people who run their households. They are servants - but believe they are Royal".

 

[Lorraine]

The same magazine also has a section about the late Princess Diana and claims that she had a close friendship with Princess Margaret's son, David, Lord Linley, after it was revealed that the pair had exchanged intimate letters. The two became close as Charles and Diana's marriage was breaking down in the early 1990's. David accompanied her and sons William and Harry on a skiing trip. The letters were unearthed during the Paul Burrell case. Some were so sensitive that Diana's mother, Frances Shand Skydd had them shredded right after her death. One letter survived and became eveidence at Paul's trial. It started with "Darling Diana" and ended with "masses of love from David". The rest was deemed to epersonal to be read out in open court. Lord Linley who is now happily married to Serena Stanhope, insisted last week that they were just good friends and never had a intimate relationship.

 

[Jacqueline]

People by Andrew Pierce

The Queen Mother's secret diary

AS IF turbulent butlers and missing dhows were not enough, Buckingham Palace now faces more embarrassing revelations — from beyond the grave.

The Cabinet Office is to make an announcement shortly about the publication of secret papers concerning the 1936 Abdication crisis, which were withheld during Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s lifetime to protect her sensitivities.

She deeply resented Edward VIII’s decision to abdicate and marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. She believed the consequent burden placed on her husband, George VI, contributed to his death in 1952 at the age of 56. The duchess was known for ever afterwards as “that woman” and the “the lowest of the low”.

While the official papers will reveal far more than has ever been told about Edward and Mrs Simpson, the most interesting document may be the diary of the Queen Mother herself, which is stored at Windsor Castle.

The existence of her memoirs was revealed in the entertaining diaries of the late Woodrow Wyatt. The Queen Mother, according to Wyatt, said of her diary: “I shall put it in the archives at Windsor and they can decide what to do about it years ahead. Nobody else knows that I’m going to do this.”

Buckingham Palace, which has no control over the release of the official papers, declined to comment on whether the Queen Mother’s thoughts would ever see the light of day.

A spokesman for the Public Record Office said: “Papers about the Queen Mother have been identified. We are looking to them being available to the media in the new year.”

Unless, of course, the most interesting documents have been through the shredder.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-...-504440,00.html

 

[Jacqueline]

Transcript from Paul Burrell's (The Princess of Whale's former butler) interview with Larry King on CNN Larry King Live.

CNN LARRY KING LIVE

Interview With Paul Burrell

Aired December 5, 2002 - 21:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, HOST (voice-over): Tonight Princess Diana's butler Paul Burrell. He sold intimate details of palace life to the tabloid, setting off a royal scandal that infuriated Di's own family. Tonight in his first live primetime interview, what other secrets will we learn? Paul Burrell, Princess Diana's rock, is here for the hour taking your phone calls. He's here next on LARRY KING LIVE

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Every time I get around the British I either go British or resort back to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Brookland. Any ways Paul Burrell our special guest. He was Princess Di long time butler and confidant, she referred to him as her rock. He was arrest on charges of stealing more then 300 hundred items. That whole trial collapsed when the queen literally exonerated him. We welcome him to LARRY KING LIVE.

What's life been like for you?

PAUL BURRELL, PRINCESS DIANA'S LONG TIME BUTLER: It's been a roller coaster of emotions, ups and downs.

KING: When you were arrested were you shocked?

BURRELL: I was. How naive could I be to think the police would not come to my door. They did come to my door and they found more than they should have.

KING: How did you get to be a butler?

BURRELL: How? I went to Buckingham Palace when I was 18.

KING: Learned it there?

BURRELL: They taught me. For three years they taught me the ropes and how to behave and speak properly and behave properly around the palace.

KING: What does a butler do?

BURRELL: A butler does everything for his master. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was it Helina (ph) the film "Gosford Park" she said? To be a servant is to have no life. That's exactly what a butler does. KING: You married, have children. So you were able to have that kind of life, weren't you?

BURRELL: Well, True, for some of the time. But your boss always comes first, and the princess always came first.

KING: Before your wife and children?

BURRELL: That's right. My family knew that.

KING: And accepted it?

BURRELL: Yes, they knew and understood it.

KING: How did you get the specific job of being her butler?

BURRELL: Well, the princess was looking for someone she could trust. And I was looking after the queen at the time, at Buckingham Palace. She worked on my wife. She said to Maria, wouldn't you like to come and live at Highgrove it's beautiful down in the country side? And you could have an idealic lifestyle there. Why not come and look after Charles and I in country home. And I said, No, I couldn't leave the queen. She said, course you can. So I did. And I went to look after both of them, in Highgrove.

KING: Looking out means -- anything they want?

BURRELL: Everything. Every single aspect of their life. Absolutely everything.

KING: Where they want to go, you take care of their travel, you do all the kind of things. Lay out their clothing?

BURRELL: A dresser normally does that. If they're traveling alone then you take all responsibilities.

KING: What was she like to work for?

BURRELL: She was sometimes very difficult, but interesting. She was an amazing lady. Huge amount of giving. Wherever she went in the world she was embraced. Especially in America.

KING: There are lots to talk about tonight. Well be taking calls. How do you account -- you said especially in America. You mentioned before to me before we started, she was going to live here?

BURRELL: That's right. Yes, she had plans to live in Malibu.

KING: Malibu?

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Was she going to marry the friend who died with her?

BURRELL: I never saw any plans for marriage. I have to say that because that's true. But she did want to come to America, because America is all embracing, isn't it? People easily are forgiven here in the states and not so much in England. She wanted to come here and start a new life. Great place to bring the boys for summer holidays and a great lifestyle.

KING: What happened with the items? How did those items come to you? How did you come to possess them? Give me the story.

BURRELL: Well, during my time with the princess, she gave me lots of things to keep safe. She was paranoid about her security inside the palace. She never knew who was coming in and out of her rooms at any one time. No, when she was away, a plumber or electrician or somebody could have been entering her room and looking at her private things.

So she gave me things to keep safe, and said, Paul, you take care of them, they're safe with you. Other things she had given to me and my wife and children as gifts. She was a very generous lady. She gave Maria a cast of clothes, Vesache, Valentino, all the beautiful clothes that she didn't want, Maria had. Hand bags from Gucci. Valentio hand bags and hand bags from famous designers. So all these shoes, hand bags, clothes. The police said -- course, they don't belong to you Maria, they belong to the princess took them and said that I had stolen them. Course I hadn't stolen them.

KING: They were given to you to take care of...

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: ... and what had you intended to do with them after she had died?

Well, some of the items she had given to me, she said destroy them. Very recognizable suits or hats. And they were in my possession at the time of her death, but after she died, Larry, I couldn't burn anything or destroy anything which belonged to her. But a I was going through a very deep grieving process. And actually, I wanted to keep everything safe. I sort of mummified everything.

KING: You had no idea of keeping this for sale or profit? Step right up and buy lady's hat?

BURRELL: No. The police said I was selling things to America. What they didn't know was I have some very close American friends who had supported us during the time we didn't have an income. A very wealthy American family in Manhattan had sent us many thousands of dollars and course, the police thought that I was selling items to these people for gain.

KING: Could you reveal that family's name?

BURRELL: Could I reveal that family's name. Would that be very fair to say that?

KING: Why not, if they helped the queen.

BURRELL: They helped us a great deal -- Mr. And Mrs. Kingsberg in America, in Manhattan. Very generous family.

KING: A couple? What does he do?

BURRELL: He's a financier and works in the city.

KING: So you have all this stuff. Now you're arrested.

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: Did you fear that nothing happening like the queen stepping in, you would be found guilty?

BURRELL: Yes, of course. When you're sat in the number one court in the Old Bailey on trial in a place where murderers and rapists had sat for generations. People were taken from that dock downstairs and hung. I was sat there thinking well my fate's sealed. I'm going to prison. I can't prove myself. The only person that could prove that was the lady that wasn't here any more.

KING: But you also knew the queen knew?

BURRELL: Well, I did, but you know, Larry, conversations I had with the queen I thought were private. One to one conversation I had with her majesty of Buckingham Palace, we spoke for literally three hours. Lot of newspapers say three minutes.

KING: Standing all the time.

BURRELL: We stood in her sitting room.

KING: Why didn't you sit in her sitting room?

BURRELL: She didn't invite me to sit down, so I stood with her and we chatted.

KING: You knew she knew you did nothing wrong?

BURRELL: Yes, absolutely.

KING: You didn't expect her to come forward?

BURRELL: No, I didn't.

KING: Because queens don't do that?

BURRELL: Unprecedented.

KING: Why do you think she did?

BURRELL: Because I felt she really thought at the time this has gone far enough. And she never expected it to go that far. She had to step in. The queen's incapable of telling a lie. She can't tell lies she's a good, kind, Christian lady, fascinating woman. And...

KING: How did you get the news that she revealed it?

BURRELL: My brief, my (UNINTELLIGIBLE), my QC, in the Old Bailey, she said, Paul, it's over and thought...

KING: Where were you?

BURRELL: I was sat in the dark and...

KING: Who knew you was in the court room.

BURRELL: In the court room. He beckoned me to come out of the dark, which is the place you sit surrounded by glass. And I stepped out of the dark and went to him. He said, the queen's stopped the trial. I literally embraced him and cried.

KING: Why suddenly did everyone come down on you?

BURRELL: Because I sold my story to a tabloid newspaper in England.

KING: Why -- that was the "Mirror," right?

BURRELL: "The Dailey Mirror"

KING: Why did you do that?

BURRELL: I had to do that because I had to; a, tell my story. I was denied telling my story because the prosecution had their go. They had two weeks to try and prove me guilty. It was my turn then to tell people why I was innocent. Plus, the amount of money which I received for telling my story replaced the money which I would have earned previous two years when I didn't have an income. I literally...

KING: You were out of work for two years?

BURRELL: I was out of work for two years.

KING: You had a shop though.

BURRELL: I had a small flower shop which had a small income which paid for the small expenses such as paying the phone bill and electric bill. But in that time, there was no money coming in. Maria had to sell some of her jewelry. I had to spend the boy's savings, we cashed in our life policy.

KING: So you needed the money?

BURRELL: We needed the money. To replace our debts.

KING: What happened is, what every other tabloid jumped on you.

BURRELL: They all turned against me.

KING: Were they all offering you money before they turned against you?

BURRELL: They were. But when I was acquitted, the day I was acquitted all the newspapers were for me. The day after I had signed the deal, everyone was against me except the "Daily Mirror." They all offered me money ranging from 50,000 pounds to 2 million pounds. That's $3 million which is a lot of money.

KING: What did you get from the "Mirror"?

BURRELL: I got 300,000 pounds.

KING: Why didn't you take the 2 million.

BURRELL: Because I'd have to sell my soul.

KING: Meaning they wanted what.

BURRELL: They wanted everything. They wanted a lot.

KING: Paul Burrell is our guest, former butler to Princess Diana. We'll be take your calls as well. This is LARRY KING LIVE don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES: It was a symptom of what was going on in my marriage. I was crying out for help, but giving the wrong signals. And people were using my bulimia as a coat on a hanger. They decided that was the problem. Diana was unstable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Instead of looking behind the symptom at the cause? What was the cause?

DIANA: The cause was a situation where my husband and I had to keep everything together because we didn't want to disappoint the public, and yet obviously there was a lot of anxiety going on within our four walls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Why did she give that interview to the BBC?

BURRELL: Because she didn't have a voice. She was trapped inside a palace and she tried to shout out and no one would listen.

KING: Did you know about her bulimia?

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: How did she manage to stay healthy? Was she throwing up her food?

BURRELL: Yes. That's what happens.

KING: She thought she was fat?

BURRELL: Yes. I aided and abetted. I provided bowls of custard, rice pudding, yogurt. You name it. It was there. KING: To do what with?

BURRELL: Well, because what happens is people eat large amounts of food and then get rid of it. And you know what's going to happen. I knew the symptoms, raiding the fridge. And then I'd follow her into the bathroom and set the towels into the right place.

KING: Were you close enough to tell her maybe you shouldn't do this?

BURRELL: Of course I was. But I wasn't the professional. I wasn't able to help in the professional way.

KING: Did she ever seek professional help?

BURRELL: No.

KING: Never at all, with any of her problems?

BURRELL: It was very difficult for a princess to ask professional advice of anyone. Because, as you know, turns into a story overnight.

KING: You claim that after her death the queen warned you of powers that be in the palace.

BURRELL: That's right.

KING: Lurking and -- what? What?

BURRELL: Not dark forces.

KING: A lot of intrigue. What's going on?

BURRELL: Someone said dark forces it sounds like "Star Wars," doesn't it? It wasn't.

She said that there are forces out there of which we have no knowledge. I think she meant there were people working in the country that -- listening to telephone conversations and watching people all the time. I'm sure they are. I'm sure they're watching this right now, just to make sure that I'm not saying anything I shouldn't be saying, because the world's a very dangerous place, isn't it? You don't think?

KING: I guess, yes. But I mean, what are they worried about?

BURRELL: Well, I suppose they're worried about me saying too much. Because I worked for the royal family.

KING: You know too much?

BURRELL: Well perhaps I do. I don't know that I do because I always...

KING: Did you hold back things from "The Mirror?" BURRELL: Of course I did. Yes. I didn't tell everything. It would take far too long to do that. We would still be running the story now until Christmas probably.

KING: But you knew about her dalliances, right? You knew that she saw other men?

BURRELL: Of course I did. I knew every aspect of her life. And I was there to make sure things happened in the right way. A controlled environment is a much better than one that flies off the handle.

KING: You had to cover for her?

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: Now, what happened to your shop?

BURRELL: My shop was burned down.

KING: Arson?

BURRELL: Yes, it was arson. The police haven't yet released the report about it, but it was premeditated. Someone actually did go with an intent to burn it down.

KING: Who's mad at you?

BURRELL: Someone is.

KING: The tabloids are jealous because you gave it to one another and not the other.

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: But who's mad at you? I mean, who...

BURRELL: I think people misunderstand me. People have thought that I have told too many secrets. Actually, I haven't. I told my story. It was my right to tell my story.

The other tabloids, of course, mixed up the mixture. They got a hold of a document which was confidential between me and my legal team and they leaked that to the media. The media used that as a story. It was information which was very private, very personal and only to be used as background.

Remember, my life was on the line. I was going to prison. I could have gone to prison for a very long time.

KING: Why do you have security?

BURRELL: Because...

KING: You travel with security, right?

BURRELL: I do, absolutely.

Mike, my security man, comes with me everywhere I go. Because -- you never know quite who's around the next corner. And he's there to help me through that problem.

KING: You knew that in selling the story, though, you'd be criticized?

BURRELL: Yes, I did.

KING: He's out to take advantage...

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: ... of a situation that he had privy to?

BURRELL: Yes, I did. But I never expected such a vicious, vindictive attack on me as a person, which would -- I was acquitted of a huge crime: stealing from my princess.

KING: Another guy was just acquitted, right?

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: Someone -- what was that about?

BURRELL: That was about a similar thing, but nothing to do with my case. He had served the princess previously to me and had allegedly stolen items from her, too. But there was nothing to do with me in that trial. But the problem was, you see, the public linked the two because we're both butlers.

KING: Yes. How do you get along with Charles?

BURRELL: I got along with him very well. He's a very kind generous man. And he looked after us during our time at Highgrove (ph). Every luxury was afforded to us. He rebuilt my little cottage. He built the boys a playroom. He looked after us. He's a very kind man.

KING: What were the boys like?

BURRELL: William and Harry? When I grew up with them and my boys grew up with them in the nursery.

KING: Are they the same age? Your boys?

BURRELL: Similar ages. Mine are 17 and 14. William and Harry are sort of in between.

My boys now have fond memories of living a royal lifestyle. See, we've always lived in that environment. They went everywhere with William and Harry to theme parks, to theaters, to premieres. And so they're sort of used to the media spotlight.

KING: Like them? BURRELL: Do I like them? They're wonderful boys. They're their mother's...

KING: She was a good mother.

BURRELL: Yes. Their mother's true legacy.

KING: Why weren't you with her when she died?

BURRELL: Because every year we took down and we discussed the diary. And I take two weeks off a year.

KING: A diary? You mean her diary?

BURRELL: Her engagement diary.

KING: Her schedule?

BURRELL: Yes. And so, these two weeks in August were my family time to go away with my family. And she would go away to Mediterranean on the boat. Well, she did this year. In '97. And I spoke to her every day on her mobile phone.

KING: Was she in love with Dodi Fayed?

BURRELL: In love? That's a very -- that's a loaded question. She was very fond of him. She was very fond of him. He provided -- wasn't it strange? He provide something which she desperately needed: security.

And that was the one thing that let her down. She had a fun time. She was having a good time. She was with someone that cared for her. And she needed that.

KING: But you're not sure that they would have married?

BURRELL: No, I don't think they would have married.

KING: How did you learn of her death?

BURRELL: I was sat with her PA, Jacqueline Allen (ph). And...

KING: PA is?

BURRELL: Her personal assistant. And we heard from Balmorale (ph) at 3:00 in the morning. In fact...

KING: Somebody called?

BURRELL: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). The Brazilian ambassador's wife in Washington at the time, she rang me and said, Paul, there's been an accident. CNN has just reported the fact that princess had an accident in Paris and did I know about it? And I said, No, I didn't know anything. She said, Ring her on her mobile phone. Ring her. You'll find her.

So I did ring her. And it rang and rang and rang. No answer, which was very odd because she always carried that phone with her.

And, in the end we found, that the accident had been fatal. So I flew to Paris immediately to attend to her person.

KING: Were you rocked?

BURRELL: I was. I was severely traumatized by what I saw.

But, you know, I think there should be someone there for everyone at that time. Because there's no dignity in death. And you can't actually take care of yourself. So isn't it a comforting feeling to know there's someone there that can do that for you?

KING: So what role did you play? What did you do?

BURRELL: I looked after her. I took care of her.

KING: Took care of her in death.

BURRELL: As I had in life.

KING: Saw the body?

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: Attended to the funeral?

BURRELL: Yes. Watched over her. Stayed with her. Kept her safe.

KING: Did you love her?

BURRELL: Course I did. I defy any man to say that they didn't meet her and fall in love with her. She was such an lovely person. She was an egmatic (ph), vibrant, lively person. She was a lovely person.

KING: We'll be back with more of Paul Burrell. We'll be including your phone calls. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCESS DIANA: She'd rung me up ten days before it arrived in the book shops to tell me there was nothing to worry about. And I believed him, stupidly. Then when it did arrive, the first thing I did was rush down to talk to my children and William produced a box of chocolates and said, Mummy, I think you've been hurt. These are to make you smile again. So..

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did your relationship go beyond a close friendship?

PRINCESS DIANA: Yes, it did. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you unfaithful?

PRINCESS DIANA: Yes. I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him. But I was very let down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That book rocked her, huh?

BURRELL: It did.

KING: Did she speak to him again?

BURRELL: No. I always liked James Hewitt. I always thought he was a very nice man. Never expected him to do that. And I remember when that book -- he sent a copy of that book to the princess and I said there's no way you're going to read this.

I took it upstairs and I stood in front of her and tore it. Tore the spine in half and tore each page out of it and shredded it in front of her. I said, You're not going to read this trash. Because people always let her down.

KING: And she never did?

BURRELL: No. No.

KING: Didn't she play part -- don't you play part in your own disappointments?

BURRELL: Yes, but how disgusting for another human being to actually do that to another. What's between two people is personal and private and love is the most precious thing.

KING: She allegedly taped a conversation with a former Royal servant who claimed to be the victim of a homosexual rape by a close aide to Prince Charles. Whereabouts of that tape is a mystery. Do you know anything about it?

BURRELL: I saw the tape. I knew of the tape's existence. It was mentioned in my trial. I knew that the tape was what it was purported to be because the princess told me.

KING: "Vanity Fair" has a picture. I don't know if you've seen it, we'll put it up. That's the current issue of "Vanity Fair." That's not the picture. That's Carmen Diaz.

There's the picture of Paul and Diana and George Smith. That's George Smith.

BURRELL: That's me. That's a younger me.

KING: What was the George Smith story?

BURRELL: George was a Welsh guardsman.

KING: That's him. BURRELL: Yes that's George. He was a Welsh guardsman (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to the Prince of Wales household.

Apparently that happened by another member of staff while George was with the princess at Kensington Palace. The princess wanted to help George. She was a great one for reaching out and helping people. This was part of the process, the healing process of talking about it.

KING: Didn't that concern her, gay rape?

BURRELL: Of course it concerned her. But it was about two other people. She respected that privacy. George did not want to speak about it at that moment in time. He didn't want anybody to know. He was a married man with children. He was ashamed of it. It was his decision and the princess adhered to that and quite rightly.

KING: Is the palace kind of a crazy place?

BURRELL: It's unusual place. It's a world by itself. It has its own rules and regulations and upstairs-downstairs relations. Life below stairs is just as complicated as life above.

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

BURRELL: Yes. There are five separate dining rooms for different levels of staff to eat in. It depends on the hierarchy.

KING: How well were you paid?

BURRELL: My first wage was 900 pounds a year. Which is, what, $1500 a year which isn't very much, is it?

KING: What was it at the end?

BURRELL: At the end it was a great deal more because the princess had become a very wealthy lady. The first thing she said when she came into her settlement which some was like 14 million pounds, $20 million, she said -- came through the door and said, First thing I'm going to do is give you a pay raise.

And she did. So I was earning something around about 30,000 pounds, which is $50,000. Which is very good. I was very happy with that.

KING: We'll be back more with more Paul Burrell and we'll be including your phone calls on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE.

Naomi Campbell tomorrow night. Another British. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around 1986, again, according to the biography written about by Jonathan Dingleby (ph), he says that your husband renewed his relationship with Mrs. Camilla Parker-Bowles. Were you aware of that?

PRINCESS DIANA: Yes, I was. But I wasn't in a position to do anything about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What evidence did you have that their relationship was continuing even though you were married?

PRINCESS DIANA: A woman's instinct is a very good one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that all?

Well, I had -- I -- obviously I had knowledge of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From staff?

PRINCESS DIANA: Well, from people who minded and cared about our marriage, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And the obvious is, were you one of those people?

BURRELL: I was one of those people.

KING: That told her.

BURRELL: Well, yes.

KING: How do you tell that to someone?

BURRELL: Well, I found myself in a very difficult position, Larry. I was standing in two camps, a foot in each. Looking after the prince during the week at Highgrove (ph) and the princess at the weekend when she came with the boys. And life wasn't easy.

KING: So you knew he was having a relationship with Camilla?

BURRELL: Yes, I did. Yes.

KING: Why did you tell her?

BURRELL: Well, she already knew. There were other people telling her, too. And, quite frankly, I used to say her, Don't ask me difficult questions. It's so difficult for me. Please don't put me in that position. And she used to say, I know you know everything. I know you know what's going on and you should tell me.

But of course, I couldn't at that stage because I was looking after both the prince and the princess.

KING: But then you did.

BURRELL: Well, because eventually I was only looking after the princess. So I could be honest and true.

KING: Did you know camilla? BURRELL: Yes.

KING: Like her?

BURRELL: Actually, she's a very nice lady. She's a very nice lady.

KING: The main players here are all very nice.

BURRELL: Yes. Well, it's true. It's true. It's human nature. It's life. And the prince made a decision. It's his decision. He decides exactly who he wants to be with. And he will probably decide to get married one day. Why shouldn't he?

KING: They were cheating on each other though, weren't they?

BURRELL: Well -- complicated lifestyles.

KING: I would say.

BURRELL: Very complex and complicated.

KING: By the way, Paul's on the front cover of "Hello" magazine. Did you know that?

BURRELL: Well, I have not seen it. Are you going to show it?

KING: I think we're going to show it. Are we going to show the front cover of "Hello" magazine? There it is. Hello!

BURRELL: Oh, wow.

KING: Now what is -- is "Hello" the "People" magazine of Great Britain?

BURRELL: "Hello" is the widespread magazine in the Britain...

KING: Is it a fair -- is it a good...

BURRELL: It's a good representation of people's lives.

I'm in it this issue with my family because this happened to my family, not just me. My boys, Alex and Nick, said, Dad we want to be there -- we want stand beside you. We want to support you. And my wife stood there with me. And, yes, we are a family. A very loving, caring family.

KING: Are you going to do a book?

BURRELL: Am I going to do a book?

KING: About all this.

BURRELL: Well, about all this?

KING: Yes. BURRELL: I might. I might. Do you think it would sell?

KING: You did a book before but I was -- do I think it would sell? Yes, I'd think it would sell. But you'd have to write -- you'd have to write a book that included what they wanted to give you $2 million for that you didn't want to tell. It would have to be more than you've told.

BURRELL: Yes, and we've already signed that deal about my autobiography before we came in the studio, Larry, didn't we?

KING: You did. Are you going to do an autobiography? Really? Tell us. Break it here tonight.

BURRELL: Never say never.

KING: You'd be interested?

BURRELL: How could you say never? I have had such an incredible life. I've lived two lives in one already. What's in store for me? Goodness knows what's ahead.

KING: Your previous book was in the cookbook area, right?

BURRELL: Yes, it was. It was an entertaining, lighthearted book about recipes and...

KING: Valdosta, Georgia, as we go to calls for Paul Burrell. Hello.

CALLER: What is your happiest memory of Diana?

BURRELL: My happiest memory of the princess. How many? How many? We haven't got all night to talk about it.

KING: Give us one.

BURRELL: One thing.

Do you know the day she was married I was looking after the queen at Buckingham Palace. And she ran down the red carpeted corridor with her train rolled up in a ball like that. She had rolled it up like that. And she was running down the corridor and I could see the diamond tiara flashing. And she was running towards me. And I thought, That is a picture that will always be with me, that picture of pure happiness. That was the happiest day of her life.

KING: She was very much in love with him, wasn't she?

BURRELL: She was. She adored him. She was -- she fell in love with a prince and she became a princess.

KING: Dallas, Texas, hello.

CALLER: Yes. I'm calling because at times, Diana has seemed to be a little bit careless with her life and I wanted to ask Paul where was her family? Why did they not help support her during these times, during her divorce? Why did they not offer their advice?

KING: The Spencers.

BURRELL: Well, unfortunately, the princess' family were like many other families, never around when they were needed. The princess chose her family. She chose the people she wanted to be her family, the people around her. So she chose Rosa Munkton (ph), Lucia Fletcher Delima (ph), myself and people Lord Attenborough (ph), and people like that whom she trusted. They were the people she ran to. They were the people she cared about. And they were the people who gave her advice.

Don't forget that her brother neglected her and would not offer her sanctuary on the family estate at Orthrop (ph). That came out during my trial. He did not want to give her a little cottage on the estate, which is very sad. Most families pull together and live together. It's just a very sad thing.

KING: So his speech, you weren't taken by it?

BURRELL: I wasn't taken by it at all. I just -- I wasn't the only person in Westminster that felt that he was a hypocrite because he hadn't been there. When she needed him most, he turned his back.

KING: There were allegations denied by the palace, that Prince Phillip had sent harsh letters to Diana, calling her a harlot and worse even. True?

BURRELL: Prince Phillip did send letters to the princess. I saw them. They were in the box of secrets. I don't know where they are now.

KING: The box of secrets.

BURRELL: The box of secrets. So, those letters...

KING: He was ticked?

BURRELL: I never saw those words, Larry. I never saw harlot and strumpet and whore or whatever was supposed to be said.

KING: What did you see?

BURRELL: Well, I saw letters from a man who actually wanted to keep the family firm on the road, who wanted to keep things together, who cared. And that's strange because Prince Phillip gets a very bad press.

KING: So they weren't critical?

BURRELL: Well, they were very pointed. And they were letters which were very constructive.

KING: Like a father to a daughter?

BURRELL: Like a father to daughter. And the contents should remain private because they were between two people.

KING: Payson, Arizona, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Larry, Paul.

KING: Hi.

BURRELL: Hi.

CALLER: I was curious, why didn't you get a job other than your floral shop to supplement your income instead of selling your story to "The Mirror"? Wasn't there a confidentiality agreement signed between you and the princess at all?

BURRELL: Do you know I never signed an agreement with the princess? And the day she died, someone came into my office with a piece of paper and said, I think you better sign this. And I said, Do you think, honestly, that I should sign that now? What a cheek. What a source to ask me to sign it now. I've never betrayed the princess. I've only defended myself.

I have never told secrets. I have never told you anything which wasn't already in the public domain. So I defend myself by saying that. My income from the flower shop was small. What could I do? I was standing on trial for stealing princess' possessions in the highest court in the land. So I had to do something which wasn't hugely national. I had to do something which was local. And flowers was something which I knew something about from my previous life. I did all the flowers for princess at Kensington Palace.

So, it seemed to be to be a natural way to earn a living.

KING: Just figured out who you look like.

BURRELL: Who?

KING: A young Tony Randall.

BURRELL: Tony Randall.

KING: One of my favorite people.

BURRELL: All right.

KING: We'll be back with more calls for Paul Burrell right after this. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: First I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being, in good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness. I admired and respected her for her energy and commitment to others. And especially for her devotion to her two boys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Did she mean that?

BURRELL: Yes, she did. She's a good, kind Christian lady.

KING: Reno, Nevada, for Paul Burrell.

CALLER: Hi, good evening.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: My question is, have either of Diana's boys contacted you to talk to you about all of these stories about their mother? And did they get to see her after she passed away?

BURRELL: I haven't spoke ton the boys direct. But messages have come to me since my trial. And messages of support from both William and Harry, the prince of Wales, the queen and the royal family. So I look forward to actually seeing them in the near future and taking back some belongings which their mother gave me for safe keeping. I want to shake them by the hand and say, I'm the person you've always known. I'm the person you grew up with. I'm still the same. And the boys really are their mother true legacy to the country. Can't you see it in William's face.

KING: Sevierville, Tennessee. Hello.

CALLER: Mr. Burrell, do you feel that there was a conspiracy to have the princess murdered as Dodi Fayed's father feels?

BURRELL: I don't share the same views as Mr. Al-Fayed. But I do share the view that once the nation was busy grieving the princess, they forgot the fact that Mr. Al-Fayed had lost his son. To lose a child is the most awful thing that could ever happen to you in your lifetime. I don't think there was a conspiracy. I think it was just a tragic accident. And one which we all remember, because we all remember where we were when it happened. Sign of a great person.

KING: London, Ontario, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Paul. It's a pleasure to speak with you. I was just wondering in your opinion who was Princess Diana's soul mate?

BURRELL: That's a very -- that's a very tricky question, who was her soul mate. I think -- I can't tell you that because that person is very close to me, too. And I would not wish to discuss that any further. But you don't have to guess. Wouldn't take 1 million guesses to guess who that was.

KING: Male, right?

BURRELL: Yes. Other than Mother Teresa.

KING: Someone she deeply loved? BURRELL: Yes,.

KING: Loved when she died?

BURRELL: Yes.

KING: You say we should know this? Because I don't know who you're talking about. Vancouver, British Columbia.

BURRELL: I have to be very discreet.

CALLER: Hello, Paul. I think you're a very honorable man.

BURRELL: Thank you.

CALLER: I was wondering how you feel now about her brother Charles, the grandstanding at the funeral and what's come out now, how he did treat her.

BURRELL: Well, I always knew how he -- the family respected the princess' life. I always knew what happened behind closed doors so it was no surprise to me. I personally have no wish to ever visit Althorp. Although, you know, that's the resting place of the princess. And it's sad, isn't it, to think one has to pay 10 pound 50, almost $20, to pay your respects to the princess at her family home. When in America you don't have to that with your president. It's there for everyone and everyone can go. Every walk of life can go free. That's as it should be.

KING: Los Angeles, hello.

CALLER: Hello. There have always been rumors that James Hewitt is the father of Prince Harry. Is this true?

BURRELL: That is not true. The princess didn't even know James Hewitt at that time.

KING: So. Lot of rumors.

BURRELL: Just because he's got red hair? Is it? All the Spencer family have red hair. It's one of those things.

KING: I have no idea why -- why is there such incredible interest in the doings of people who by just being born, were suddenly...

BURRELL: We're fascinated.

KING: Would you want to be royalty?

BURRELL: No. Actually not. I want to be anonymous. I don't want to be known. To lose your anonymity is a very precious thing to have, to be able to go anywhere and do anything and see anybody or say anything. You can't when you've lost that. You're trapped.

KING: And our fascination with them must have to do with that? BURRELL: Yes. We are fascinated by them.

KING: No one wants to live there, do they?

BURRELL: No.

KING: You don't want to live there?

BURRELL: No. It's part of what made Britain great. It's part of our fabric, British culture. It is what made Britain great.

KING: Ashville, North Carolina, hello.

CALLER: Good evening, Larry and Paul. I have a question for you. Is there -- was there no one in Princess Diana's life that she could confide in and trust outside of her family?

BURRELL: Well, she had me. She had Luhcia and she had Rosa Monkton. She had those people she chose. Those people were very dear to her because they told her the truth. And although sometimes we tell her the truth and she didn't like it, she always knew it was the truth.

KING: How about her friends in America?

BURRELL: Her friends in America, too. She had many friends throughout America.

KING: What was her biggest fault?

BURRELL: Her biggest fault? Being too generous.

KING: Generous to a fault.

BURRELL: Yes, she gave everything away.

KING: An easy touch.

BURRELL: Yes. What she always said that it's much easier to give than receive because there are no strings attached to giving. And there are too many attached to receiving, which is true, if you think about it.

KING: So easy for a hard luck story?

BURRELL: Yes. And she was betrayed so many times because she was such a famous person. Everyone wanted to know about her. Everybody told their story. Everybody wrote the intimate details and secrets and washed all that down in public.

I've been accused of that. Of course, if you read my story in the "Daily Mirror" in England, you'd know I haven't told anything but the truth. And that wasn't half what I would have said if I had got into the box. Can you imagine being cross-examined by the prosecution about every aspect of 21 years life in a royal palace? I didn't want to go there. I really didn't. KING: But if you do write a book, if you do, you are going to have to go there. That's what the publisher's going to say, that's our interest.

BURRELL: Yes, but money is not the most important thing in life, Larry. It really isn't. I have seen tremendous wealth and fame and all of that royalty behind closed doors. It doesn't bring happiness. People around you that love you bring happiness.

KING: Was it easy for her to have a lover come to see her?

BURRELL: When I was around, yes.

KING: You would be the cover?

BURRELL: I would. I facilitate any meeting which she required.

KING: Would they come through back doors, sneaking around?

BURRELL: In car boots, under blankets, any way I could.

KING: You got a good story. We'll be back with our remaining moments with Paul Burrell and more phone calls. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep moving back, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Did you like being part of a mob scene?

BURRELL: It's interesting. For once the police were protecting me, not against me.

KING: Meridian, Connecticut, hello.

CALLER: Yes, Larry, question for Paul. Couldn't Prince Charles have taken charge of where Diana was buried rather than her brother?

BURRELL: Not really, because the Prince of Wales was divorced from the princess so he was no longer part of the family, technically. So by law it had to be the next of kin, which were the spencer family. We all had our views. I thought she should have been buried in London in Westminster Abbey or in a public place where people could come and pay their respects. I think that would have been appropriate, don't you?

KING: I know how good you were in your job, but handling the funeral, seeing the body, must have been...

BURRELL: It was -- I was in duty mode.

KING: No kidding? BURRELL: I did it because I did it for the person whom I cared for for so many years. I did it because it was my duty.

KING: When did you grieve?

BURRELL: I don't think I have. I don't think I ever have.

KING: You're still on duty?

BURRELL: I think I'll always be on duty. If I was Marilyn Monroe's butler I would still be on duty.

KING: Would you want to be a butler again?

BURRELL: I don't think I can because I have lost my anonymity. To do what I did, I had to be unknown.

KING: St. John, New Brunswick, hello.

CALLER: Hello, Larry, hello, Paul. I'd like to just ask you if you know whatever happened to Diana's engagement ring? She thought an awful lot of that.

BURRELL: I know exactly what happened to her engagement ring. It isn't a secret to tell you this. When the boys were asked what they would like of their mother's possessions, William chose her watch, which she wore every day of her life, and Harry chose her engagement ring because he knew it was so special to his mother.

KING: So he has it?

BURRELL: He has it, yes.

KING: Paramus, New Jersey, hello.

CALLER: Hello, Paul.

KING: Go ahead.

CALLER: I just want to tell Paul that I think he's a very honorable man. I wonder, every once in awhile, do you think maybe she's smiling down on you and saying, thank you very much?

BURRELL: I'd like to think she's right here right now. Because I think when you go off to wherever you go to, you can be wherever you want.

During my court trial I felt that maybe she just sat behind me giving me the courage to carry on.

KING: What's your most prized possession of hers, something you've kept?

BURRELL: I have got so many things. My -- I suppose a signed photograph with my love. I chose the photograph from a photo shoot and she wrote on it "To Paul with my love. And... KING: How did you wife handle this? The attention you got. The obvious affection you have for Princess Di?

BURRELL: She grew up in the system with me. She was the duke's maid. We married in Royal service, we lived our lives in royal service. She loved the princess, too. She was a princess' dresser for some time. Princess gave her clothes. And, you know, she understood it. Lot of women wouldn't understand it.

KING: You bet. I would bet they'd get ticked.

BURRELL: You see, it was an awful consuming relationship. It was a vocation. Not a life. It was a vacation. A vocation, not a working life. It was so unusual. The queen said to me, No one has been as close to a member of my family as you have, Paul.

KING: What are you going to do with your life, Paul?

BURRELL: I'm going to try to do something which has dignity, style and integrity all rolled into one.

KING: Rebuild the store?

BURRELL: I wouldn't mind bringing the Royal Butler Range to America or the Butler's Pantry or having that little slice of Martha Stewart's pie. I believe she doesn't have a big a pie as she used to have.

KING: Would you like a media career?

BURRELL: I wouldn't mind being a correspondent for CNN in London.

KING: You would like to be our Royal correspondent?

BURRELL: I would. How about that.

KING: I'll have to speak to management. I'd hire you.

BURRELL: I have heard so much rubbish being said about the Royal family and people pontificate about what they're doing. They have no idea.

KING: You'd be fantastic.

BURRELL: And I wouldn't give anything away.

KING: From inside. Thank you, Paul.

BURRELL: Good to speak to you.

KING: Paul Burrell, butler to Princess Di. This will be the first of, we hope, many visits.

I want to just take a moment here before we leave you and let you know in a minute about tomorrow night. To mark in passing the death of Roone Arledge. He was great man in American television. He changed the nature of American television with the way he ran ABC News and the way he presented and gave us Monday Night Football.

Roone Arledge changed the face of American news and forced challenges to everybody in the business who does work. I was honored to have known him, almost went to work for him, considered it a great honor just to be in his presence. He will be sorely missed.

We'll be right back and tell you about tomorrow night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Tomorrow night another British will join us, the famed model Naomi Campbell, who sued the tabloids, won and then lost and is trying to win again. Naomi Campbell, tomorrow night.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0212/05/lkl.00.html

 

[Jacqueline]

Sunday, 15 December, 2002, 16:47 GMT
Prince Harry 'honey trap' allegations

Newspaper allegations about a plot to take DNA samples from Prince Harry's hair, have drawn a 'no comment' response from St James' Palace on Sunday.
The allegations in the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times claim a girl was to have been used to pluck a sample of the Prince's hair for a DNA testing.

The newspapers reported that Prince Charles's private secretary Sir Michael Peat had been tipped off about the elaborate 'honey trap' and contacted police.

Scotland Yard has also refused to comment, but no complaint is believed to have been made, nor any investigation under way.

The Sunday Times claimed Sir Michael was tipped off about the alleged plot last week, after receiving a letter outlining the details.

The letter was handed to police and Prince Charles and Prince Harry were alerted, the paper claimed.

Both Sunday newspapers said Sir Michael - the man conducting an inquiry following the recent butler allegations involving St James' Palace - may have thought the News of the World was connected to the alleged plot.

But Stuart Kuttner, managing editor of the paper gave an angry denial on Sunday saying: "The allegation that we would attempt to obtain a sample of Prince Harry's hair is utterly preposterous.

'Bonkers'

"We did not do this, never attempted to do this and it has never crossed our minds to do so."

He added: "If this is the approach Sir Michael Peat is adopting in his investigation into sleaze at the Palace, we can only assume he'll find everyone guilty - regardless of any evidence."

He said any notion the paper was involved was "bonkers".

"It's a pity Sir Michael chooses to think otherwise."

Major James Hewitt, who had an affair with the late Diana, Princess of Wales, spoke out recently to deny rumours that he is the father of Prince Harry.

He told the Sunday Mirror in September this year: "There really is no possibility whatsoever that I am Harry's father."

The former cavalry officer said people compared Harry's looks with his own, but he stated categorically: "I can absolutely assure you that I am not."

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2577539.stm

 

[Mary Anne]

From Hello:

Following the royal household's traditional Christmas party in London - which takes place in the week before December 25 and is when the royals thank staff for their hard work during the year - the Queen and members of her family travel to Sandringham, where they traditionally spend the festive period.
Once at the Norfolk residence, the Queen settles in to her role as matriarch of the Windsors. One of her tasks is to complete the dressing of the main Christmas tree in the Drawing Room, a tradition dating back to 1841, when Queen Victoria's German husband, Albert, first brought a tree for the family. Royal gift-giving takes place at teatime on Christmas Eve, unlike in most British families, who have to wait until the big day itself. Presents are of the small, practical variety, such as a book or penknife, rather than grandiose. After dinner, most of the family attends midnight Mass at a local church.

Christmas Day itself starts with communion at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, for those royals who have been confirmed, followed by the Christmas Day service, which the whole family attends. After lunch - which is served at 1pm sharp - those present at Sandringham gather round the television to watch the Queen's Christmas speech.
Boxing Day is altogether more active, when the royals, led by the Duke of Edinburgh, enjoy a game shoot on the estate.

 

[Mary Anne]

From CNN.com:

Royals, Part 1: Rise to power

By CNN's Richard Quest

LONDON, England (CNN) --Elizabeth took to the throne in 1952 with an ancient oath and solemn promise. It was the culmination of events that had their roots 15 years before.

As daughter of the then-Duke and Duchess of York, Princess Elizabeth was never meant to be queen. To be sure, hers was destined to be royal life, but without the responsibility of the top job.

That changed when the young Princess was just 10 and the crisis that had gripped the British royal family -- whether King Edward VIII could marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson -- came to a head.

When Edward abdicated the throne for his love, Elizabeth's parents became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth -- and the young Elizabeth became a child apart. Her life would be dominated by duty -- and the knowledge that one day it would all be hers.

"I think it's always been an ominous responsibility to be thinking as a child that you'll one day be sovereign of Great Britain," says royal watcher Robert Jobson.

"Her parents both were very conscious that they wanted her to have as easy a time of it as possible, because they knew what was going to happen in her adulthood."

Her nickname was Lillibet, after early unsuccessful attempts to say her own name. And Lillibet she remains today, even using it on the card accompanying the flowers on her mother's coffin.

In those early years at Buckingham Palace, it's said, she prayed that her parents would have a son -- someone who would take the future burden from her shoulders.

During World War II, when the children were sent to live at Windsor, Elizabeth was expected to play her part. There, she made her first broadcast to the Commonwealth, about life as a child in London.

Princess Elizabeth ended the war as part of the Civil Defense services, driving an auxiliary vehicle and wearing a uniform.

Marriage and children
After the war, it was back to life in the gilded cage -- and marriage to Prince Philip of Greece. If not exactly arranged, it was a marriage deemed suitable for the future queen of England.

For Prince Philip, the marriage set the seal for a lifetime spent walking behind his wife -- for 50 years always referred to as "my husband and I." At their golden wedding celebration, the queen paid tribute to the man who has been her rock.

Within a year of the marriage, Princess Elizabeth gave birth to a son and heir: Charles Philip Arthur George. A daughter, Anne, and two more sons were to follow.

But for the sake of the throne, Charles was the most important. The lineage of the Windsors -- itself a manufactured name to escape the family's Germanic background -- was established.

In 1952, a year after her father's death, the queen's coronation took place in Westminster Abbey -- where British monarchs have been crowned for more than a thousand years, since William the Conqueror in 1066.

Elizabeth's enthronement was a long, solemn ceremony in which she pledged her life to the service of her country: "God help me to make good on my vow. ... And God help all who are willing to share in it."

"There's no question that it's a difficult job to do," says Jobson. "But I think that from the moment she made that decision that she was going to serve the country and the people, that is all that she really wanted to do for the rest of her entire life."

"I think as she gets older ... she will hand more and more responsibility towards Prince Charles and her other children. But she will continue to reign as monarch until she dies."

She has been a devoted monarch, to be sure -- but with duties that some say limited her role as a mother.

"I think Prince Charles made it quite clear that he felt that he was brought up in an unemotional dysfunction state," says Jobson.

"Princess Anne was quite categoric. She said that she had a normal upbringing, and the queen was a good mother. So I think they are somewhere in between."

Heir in waiting
As a somewhat awkward adolescent, Prince Charles excelled at solitary pursuits, learning to fly airplanes as a teenager.

"I think that Charles was a shy man when he was growing up, and he did struggle in college, and he was very private and ... always seemed to be a little less comfortable in his own skin," says People magazine senior editor Anne-Marie O'Neill.

Determined that he should have a more normal upbringing, Elizabeth and Philip sent Charles to university, where, although still shy, he acted in student plays.

He was anointed Prince of Wales in a 1969 ceremony that was threatened to be disrupted by Welsh nationalists who detonated bombs around the province.

Controversy and the royals have never been far apart.

Like his Uncle Dickie Mountbatten, whom he loved dearly, Charles chose a career in the navy, eventually commanding his own ship.

In the decades since he left naval service, he has devoted his life to his favourite subjects -- agriculture, architecture and his charitable trusts. Still, with the queen showing no signs of slowing down, he waits to take over.

Seen as the world's most eligible bachelor, Charles would find attractive women waiting to say hello wherever he went.

 

[Mary Anne]

"My husband and I:" Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh

 

[Mary Anne]

Mother and son: Charles pledges his loyalty to the queen as he is named Prince of Wales

 

[Mary Anne]

From CNN.com:


Royals, Part 2: Fairytale and nightmare


By CNN's Richard Quest

LONDON, England (CNN) --Diana Frances Spencer, the future princess, came into the world on July 1, 1961.

She was born to Frances Roche, daughter of a baron, and Lord Althorp, who would become the 8th Earl of Spencer.

She had older sisters, Sarah and Jane, and a little brother, Charles. The Spencers lived a life of luxury, spending their early years at Park House, a 10-room mansion on the queen's country estate in Sandringham, Norfolk.

The boy next door was her future husband. Charles was 12 years older than Diana, so she played with royal children more her own age -- Charles' younger brothers, Princes Andrew and Edward.

Diana's privileged upbringing did not guarantee a happy childhood. In 1969, her parents dragged the Spencer children through a bitter divorce.

"She was being pulled back and forth between both parents, who were using her and (her brother) Charles in a war of attrition," says Diana biographer Lady Colin Campbell. "She was a hostage in this war."

Her father, by then Earl Spencer, won custody of the children. So when Diana was 13, she and her siblings moved to the Spencer family home at Althorp, a 14,000-acre country estate 75 miles north of London.

"I remember one of her great fads for a couple of years was tap dancing," says Charles Spencer. "The main hall is called Wooten Hall, and that's got this wonderful marble floor, and it was perfect for that."

At age 16, Diana's path once again crossed that of the Prince of Wales, who was then 28.

"It was 1977," Diana once told an interviewer. "Charles came to stay at my sister's house for a shoot. ... We met in a field." Diana said she found Charles "pretty amazing."

Two years later, at 18, Diana was bored with life at Althorp. She moved to London and found work, first as a nanny, then as a kindergarten teacher.

Call from Charles
In the summer of 1980, a phone call changed the course of her life -- it was Prince Charles asking her for a date.


She watched the prince play polo and spent time with him on the royal yacht. Soon Diana was seeing the prince -- and that meant dealing with the press.

"Can you imagine coming out of a door and seeing 16 flashes in your face and not having seen this before?" says royal genealogist Marlene Eilers. "No matter what she did, the press wanted to be there."

Just six months after their polo outing, Charles proposed to Diana after a candlelit dinner for two at Buckingham Palace.

"I'm amazed that she's been brave enough to take me on," Charles told a reporter then. When asked if she was in love, Diana replied, "Of course!"

Buckingham Palace announced the engagement. Diana was the first English woman in 300 years asked to become the Princess of Wales.

The world got more than a glimpse of Diana. Crowds packed London streets, and millions watched worldwide on television as Charles and Diana exchanged vows at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981.

"Everybody had gone completely Diana mad. It was amazing the sort of mania about her," says royal photographer Jayne Fincher.

The Diana madness didn't end with the wedding.

"I don't think she understood the worldwide demand. I don't think she realized how famous she was," says London photographer Mark Saunders.

Less than a year after the royal wedding, Diana gave birth to an heir to the throne -- William Arthur Philip Louis -- on June 21, 1982.

Two years later, his brother, Prince Harry -- Henry Charles Albert David -- came into the world.

'She looked miserable'
These appeared to be happy times for the royal couple. But soon there were indications of strains in the marriage.

"There were signs from about '86 onwards," says Fincher. "You would see them and they would look really miserable at times. She looked really miserable."

Adds Campbell: "She felt that she was in a prison, behind bars. She couldn't stand being caged any longer."

Compounding the princess' frustration, tabloids buzzed with news of an affair between Prince Charles and his old flame, Camilla Parker Bowles.

Meanwhile, the princess struggled with an eating disorder and depression.

"She started to collapse and crack," says Campbell. But instead of completely collapsing, Diana decided to use her fame -- and the media -- to her advantage.

There were magazines, fashion shows, celebrities and public appearances. Diana became an activist for dozens of causes. She raised money for cancer, the homeless, leprosy, and the English National Ballet.

But she was most passionate about children and AIDS charities.

"The image of her holding hands with (someone with) HIV/AIDS ... shattered the stigma, prejudice and fear that surrounded HIV/AIDS in the early days," says Andrew Parkis of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

Princess Diana was a driving force in philanthropy. She had the adoration of the masses and two loving sons. Still, she was unhappy. As her marriage continued to crumble, dark clouds formed over the Windsors.

 

[Mary Anne]

"In Diana, (Charles) found a young, beautiful woman who indeed was embraced by the English people. In that sense, she was the perfect choice. In the sense of marriage, she was the wrong choice."
-- People magazine senior editor Anne-Marie O'Neill

 

[Mary Anne]

"She brought some sort of freshness into the royal family."
-- Royal genealogist Marlene Eilers

Picture caption:

Royal kiss: Charles and Diana on their wedding day in 1981

 

[Mary Anne]

Royals, Part 3: Troubled times


By CNN's Richard Quest

LONDON, England (CNN) --It should have been a time for joy -- 40 years of dedicated service to her country.

The queen had much to celebrate. Instead, 1992 turned into the worst year of her reign. And for the most part, there was no one else to blame but the royals themselves.

"I think it was a very important year in the queen's life," says royal watcher Robert Jobson. "I think it was the year that she realized and the people realized that the royal family was not really a family that one should look up to in moral terms."

By 1992, all the queen's children except Edward were married. Most ceremonies, such as the marriage of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson, had been major national occasions. The public still had an appetite for these larger-than-life events.

In the end, though, it was the children and their spouses who proved to be too rich even for the British stomach.

Sarah Ferguson loved to live life to the full. Used to royalty but not aristocratic herself, initially she fit in well with the modern royal family. Yet soon the strains showed.

"I think the public was fascinated with Fergie because here was this good-time party girl who found herself in the royal family," says People magazine senior editor Anne-Marie O'Neill. "She didn't really exhibit the required stature of dignity whatsoever."

With her husband away on naval or royal duties, scandal soon beckoned.

A series of photos published in early 1992 left the British in no doubt that Sarah had been playing around -- from the pictures of her with Texan Steve Wyatt, to the famous "toe sucking" pictures that scandalised even a public used to naked women on Page 3 of their national papers.

"I mean, sucking toes. ... It's not like it was pornographic. It was just so undignified," says O'Neill. "And the tabloids had such a good time with it that it really was the first time that the royal family was opened up to such ridicule."

Andrew and Sarah agreed to separate -- and it was only January.

'Why are they there?'
Another royal marriage -- this time Princess Anne's -- was also finished off in 1992.

Although the Princess Royal, as she was known, and her husband, Capt. Mark Phillips, had lived apart for several years, the final decision to divorce was tainted by salacious tittle-tattle -- for her, love letters from a palace staff member; for him, claims of fathering an illegitimate child.

"I think that whole year, and all of those scandals, really opened the royal family up to criticism and made people wonder: 'Why are they there? They're not so different from us. They are not really this dignified symbol of our country. So why do we have them?' It made them much more vulnerable as an institution," says O'Neill.

If all this was good for gossip, the breakdown of Charles and Diana's marriage was far more serious stuff.

After all, this involved the future of monarchy. Any illusion that the palace had created of a couple still in love went right out the window with two foreign visits -- a trip to South Korea, where they were nicknamed The Glums; and a journey to the Taj Mahal, the temple to love, where Diana sat alone.

"The mess about Charles and Diana overtook all other perceptions of the royal family," says O'Neill. "You didn't really care that year what the queen had to say in her Christmas address.

"All you cared about was what other illness Di had developed because she was so depressed with her marriage to Charles. And really, it just became a soap opera about Charles and Di."

The publication of a semi-official book, "Diana, Her True Story," ended the illusion for good. The year continued with scandal after scandal, including more photos of Sarah and tapes of Diana's extramarital flirtations. Leaks and rumours filled the British papers.

"The private lives of the royal family dominated the news more than their public duties," says former Buckingham Palace aide Charles Anson.

"And the function of the monarchy is to perform public duties. It's not to have their private lives played out in public ... but inevitably that happened."

Windsor burning
Then the event that hit the queen really hard: Her favourite home went up in flames.

Windsor Castle is the queen's weekend retreat -- the oldest inhabited castle in the world. The queen and Andrew joined the firefighters and household staff to rescue treasures as flames consumed the historic building.

It wasn't enough that the castle had burned -– there was also a nasty row over who would pay for the renovations.

The public rebelled at the $100 million bill. A compromise was reached -- the queen would open up Buckingham Palace for the first time, and the paying visitors to the palace and the castle would foot the bill.

The queen also agreed she would pay income tax for the first time.

With her family and her castle in ruins, it was an ill and sorry-sounding queen who gave a speech that defined the year:

"1992 is not a year that I shall look back on with undiluted pleasure," she said. "It has truly been ... in the words of one of my more sympathetic chroniclers, my annus horriblis."

And then at the end of the year, just when it seemed it couldn't get much worse, came the announcement that everyone was expecting. It had just been a question of when.

"It is announced from Buckingham Palace that with regret, the Prince and Princess of Wales have decided to separate," then-Prime Minister John Major told Parliament.

1992 will go down in royal annals as a truly terrible year, where scandal and scrutiny pummeled the monarchy. This wasn't the country's No. 1 family; they had turned royalty into an international joke.

"It's rather like being on a very small boat on a heavy sea in a big storm," says Anson. "I mean, there comes a moment where you just have to fasten all the ropes down and wait for the storm to pass, and that's what 1992 felt like."




picture caption: For Queen Elizabeth, 1992 was "rather like being on ... a heavy sea in a big storm," a former palace aide said

 

[Mary Anne]

The fire at Windsor Castle became a metaphor for a royal family that appeared to be disintegrating

 

[Mary Anne]

Royals, Part 4: Shock and sorrow


By CNN's Richard Quest

LONDON, England (CNN) --As parts of Windsor Castle crumbled in flames, a royal marriage also headed for ruin.

By the end of 1992, Prince Charles and Diana were legally separated. Diana said the media spotlight was partly to blame.

"I realize their attention would focus on our private and public lives ... but I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become ... and how it would affect my public duties and my personal life," Diana said.

After the separation, Diana appeared more at ease with the press and herself and was acting more confident.

"The freedom she had, once out of her cage -- it empowered her," says Diana biographer Lady Colin Campbell.

And although Diana said she'd rather not divorce Prince Charles, she received a letter from the queen which suggested that for the sake of the children, Diana and Charles should be divorced sooner rather than later.

The divorce was final in August 1996. Diana won a settlement estimated at $27 million but lost the right to the title "Her Royal Highness."

After the divorce, Diana dug deeper into charity work, making appearances in support of a ban on anti-personnel land mines.

"I don't think people would have signed up ... (against) landmines if she hadn't focused on it," said Diana's brother, Charles Spencer.

Diana was linked romantically to Dodi Fayed, the 42-year-old son of wealthy businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed.

"He was very soft, sweet and he gave Diana all the attention she lusted after," Campbell said.

Dubbed "the princess and the playboy," the couple were pictured in Britain's tabloid newspapers.

'Diana is dead'
In August 1997, eight weeks after her 36th birthday, Diana joined Fayed for a vacation in Paris.

In the early morning hours of August 31, Diana and Fayed died in a car crash as their driver sped to elude paparazzi, including photographers on motorcycles.

"I called my middle sister, Jane, whose husband works for the queen," said Spencer. "I heard him say 'Oh no' and then Jane said, 'I'm afraid that is it ... She's dead.'

"I was sitting there, and my daughters came in, and I said, 'Aunt Diana is dead,' and then one of my little girls said, 'Not in real life, Daddy.'"

In the hours after Diana's death, the royal family remained stoic. But public outcry -- including newspaper headlines such as, "Where is our queen? Where is her flag?" and "Show us you care" -- eventually pushed the monarchy to acknowledge the pain.

On the day of her funeral, millions lined the streets of London to say goodbye as a gun carriage took Diana's body from her home at Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey.


Prince Charles, Princes William and Harry and Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, walked behind. Attached to a wreath on her coffin was a letter from Harry to his mother.

Diana's grace, her generosity, her kindness epitomized all that the people of Britain wanted from royalty. In their grief, many subjects hoped the Windsors might take a lesson from Diana's life.

"They should take a ... few leads from Diana's book," said one Briton. "She said it all. She'd done it all. She belonged to us. ... She was a normal person."

Though the woman affectionately known as "The People's Princess" was gone, her legacy lived on.

Honouring her work
"It was easy to see the cover of People magazine -- she was on the cover 80-odd times -- and see the glamorous dresses or the marital difficulties," says Spencer.

"But to get to the substance of her work -- it's almost that she had to die before people realized what she had done."

To honour Diana's humanitarian efforts, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was set up five days after her death.

"We try to prioritise some of the most disadvantaged people of all who have to struggle with stigma and prejudice as well as physical suffering, because she did," says the foundation's Andrew Parkis.

The foundation, which has raised more than $67 million, distributes funds to dozens of causes Diana took up, including AIDS prevention, the hospice movement and land mine clearance.

"We do that in difficult areas on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan," says Parkis. "But we feel that is in the tradition shown to us by Diana, Princess of Wales."

But it is Diana's living legacy that gets most of the attention: Prince Harry and the man who will be king, Prince William.

 

[Mary Anne]

"She'll never grow old, just as the movie icons James Dean and Marilyn Monroe."
-- Diana's brother, Charles Spencer

 

[Mary Anne]

Diana and Dodi Fayed died on August 31 in Paris, when their car crashed while trying to elude photographers

 

[Mary Anne]

"I'm not so sure that there will ever be another Diana. ... I think in some ways she was like Jackie -- someone who is absolutely perfect for the time."
-- Diana biographer Lady Colin Campbell

 

[Mary Anne]

Royals, Part 5: Coming of age


By CNN's Richard Quest

LONDON, England (CNN) --"I will go on."

With those words from Queen Elizabeth II ringing in the British ears this spring, no one was left in any doubt: Fifty years on, and this Elizabethan era is not over yet.

The queen intends to stay on the throne; it is a job for life.

"I think the queen -- I worked for her for seven years -- enjoys her work. But even if she didn't enjoy it, she would gauze it as her duty to do what she vowed to do," says former Buckingham Palace aide Charles Anson.

Adds royal watcher Robert Jobson: "I think as she gets older ... she will hand more and more responsibility towards Prince Charles and her other children. But she will continue to reign as monarch until she dies."

Buckingham Palace has been the London headquarters for the British monarchy for more than a century, since Queen Victoria established it as her home.

As Queen Elizabeth II now looks forward to her final years on the throne -- however many they may be -- so the British public looks forward to the next monarch: Prince Charles.

And they consider what will come after him. What will Prince William bring to the British royal family?

Take away the name, and fiddle with the facts, and the very description of Prince William's life could be a sign of modern times.

Feuding parents, a broken home, and then being brought up by a single parent -- Prince William probably has more in common with his subjects than most would first see.

But there, of course, the similarity ends. He is being trained to lead.

"Since Diana's death, I think William has really become the media's focus, certainly the people's focus," says People magazine senior editor Anne-Marie O'Neill. "But in the Royal Family he must be considered with some import because he is an heir to the throne."

The princes' protector
Access to the prince has been carefully controlled. Since the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, "photo ops" are few and far between. The children are no longer an accessory to the war between the parents.

Now limited access is allowed only when there are major changes in his life, such as going abroad for a year between school and university. Even then, carefully staged answers are released to the world.

More recently, when he started university in Scotland, precious time with William was doled out to the media. The questions were banal, the answers good-humoured.

Afterwards, most cameras were turned off. But Charles' younger brother, Prince Edward, felt royal wrath when his production company, Ardent, didn't obey the rules and continued to film William in the following days.

"Prince Edward's role has just changed quite significantly," says O'Neill. "For years he was battling to be the 'working royal.' He wanted to be an actor, then he wanted to be a TV producer. And he did so with some success.

"And then he made the fatal mistake of allowing one of his crews to follow Prince William at college. And that was pretty much the death knell for his career."

Prince Charles has become the protector, often seen as the dotty father being run ragged by his sons -- who give him more than his fair share of grief.

"I think the two princes probably are quite different in temperament," says Anson. "But they're close to each other. They're very close to their father."

If Prince William has a role, it is Prince Harry where there's more work to be done. As sibling to the future monarch with no formal role, all he has to look forward to is a grand title and secondary royal duties.

As Prince Edward has recently discovered, you can't get involved in everyday business -- but you have no hope of ever getting the top job. It's a life at the side.

"Harry's like the spare," says O'Neill. "He's more rambunctious. He looks like he's got a little bit more mischief in him. He's having a good time. He's getting in a spot of trouble, and you know, he can get away with that."

'Baby steps'
Prince Harry's recent marijuana use sent a shudder through the royal ranks. There are many examples of royal siblings who have gone off the rails.

But Prince Charles took charge, dispatching Harry to a drug abuse centre to learn about how those less fortunate handle the scourge.

"I think it's just one of those things," says Anson. "One child always takes a slightly different route from the other. If they get into trouble from time to time, I think people are quite sympathetic.

"I think there's a feeling that there but for the grace of God, these sort of problems could easily happen to your own children."

For the children, nothing can have been more daunting than that dreadful day in 1997 when their mother died. The nation howled when they saw the boys being taken to church within hours of the death, then wept when days later the princes stoically had to walk behind their mother's coffin.

Billions of eyes watched as, composed, they made their way to Westminster Abbey. It was a walk they were to make again only a few weeks ago -- this time following the coffin of their great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Getting the balance right -- between the strictness and discipline needed to be a royal, and allowing the teenagers to have the life enjoyed by everyone else -- has been the goal.

Still, the public is fascinated with the royal sons. Of particular interest has been the princes' reaction to their father's continued relationship with his old flame, Camilla Parker Bowles.

"While not exactly embracing Camilla as their second mother, it's quite clear that they recognize that she is someone who makes their father happy," says O'Neill.

"She did meet the boys several years ago and has spent time with them. So, baby steps. You know, there have been baby steps towards her acceptance into the royal family."

'Sense of continuity'
It is easy to see the Windsors as nothing more than a soap opera played out for the world to see. But that ignores the very fact that this isn't about royalty, but about monarchy -- the constitutional head of a nation and government.

The queen has acted her part with perfection for more than 50 years, putting duty before family, country before person. It will be an extraordinary person who can do better.

"What has become clear from the huge crowds on the street for the queen ... is that they do appreciate the sense of continuity, of steadiness that the queen gives by having been in that role for a very long time," says Anson.

"And I think in the sort of modern society in Western Europe where everything's changing all the time, to have something that doesn't change quite so quickly is actually a useful glue in our society."

Through the centuries, Britain's royal family has survived by adapting -- by gauging the national mood and changing the way members of the family behave.

As the United Kingdom celebrates 50 years of Queen Elizabeth's rule, the Windsors again have to decide: What do the British people want? How will the monarchy deliver?

The answers to those questions will channel time-honored traditions and shape the future of the world's most famous royal family.


picture caption: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II "will continue to reign as monarch until she dies," says royal watcher Robert Jobson

 

[Emil]

What a lovely picture of Her Majesty a proper Queen, she is one of my favourite royal's and one of the last "real" too me.