Camilla: My Charles would never do that!

Furious Royal mistress Camilla Parker Bowles last night slammed the "Charles-and-a-servant" scandal and insisted: "My prince would never do that."

Fighting back tears of rage, she dismissed the sleazy gossip as a "pack of vicious, evil lies" and added: "He would never stoop so low.

Camilla bitterly blamed Princess Diana's supporters for dragging up the claims made by a discredited former servant.

She told one confidante: "It's all so cruel and unfair. I know Charles better than anyone and there is not one iota of truth in this. How could there be?"

But stunned Camilla knows the public love royal gossip and fears people will think: "There's no smoke without fire."

The revelations broke while the 54-year-old prince was thousands of miles away on an official trip to India and the Gulf.And loyal Camilla, who has been phoning him several times a day, admitted he now sounds "miserable and adrift".

She revealed: "Charles told me all about this nonsense long, long ago. I dismissed it as the bitter ramblings of a disturbed alcoholic.

"But now it has come back to haunt us and his reputation is going to be dragged through the mire."

Camilla backed Charles's private secretary Sir Michael Peat for going on TV to denounce the prince's involvement in the "compromising" incident allegedly witnessed by former valet George Smith.

One of her friends told The People: "She thinks they couldn't just sit back and let the rumours build around the globe like a raging inferno. She knows the incident never happened.

"William and Harry know their father could never have done what is claimed. They say it is all complete fantasy.

"It is even more galling because Diana was behind the tape that started all this.

"When she recorded George Smith's claims, she knew she had a little bit of dynamite and could set it off in her husband's face whenever she needed too.

"Camilla realises Diana's most devoted supporters would love her to have the last laugh from beyond the grave. It's like a curse on her and Charles - andd she is horrified to think the public might actually believe these lies."

Charles himself gave permission for Sir Michael to make his official denial statement. He confided to courtiers at Clarence House that he felt "stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea".

And he told them: "I have nothing to fear about the rumour apart from the rumour itself."

One source said: "He thought it was pointless to pursue the tactic of burying your head in the sand in the hope it would go away.

"He felt going on the offensive was the only thing that could minimise the damage to his reputation.

"For all that has been claimed, Charles is still very keen to be King one day. A rumour like this could have completely destroyed his chances and he was not going to let that happen."

Senior royal staff at Clarence House agree that it is the biggest crisis the prince has had to face since Diana's death.

The British media has been banned by the High Court from disclosing details of the allegations.

Charles's ex-valet Michael Fawcett also originally gagged the Press from naming him.

But that injunction was lifted on Thursday after a newspaper said it had no intention of repeating claims about him.

Royal watchers and public relations advisers were split last night about whether the prince's tactic would be effective.

Royal author Ingrid Seward said: "It's quite unprecedented for his private secretary to come out and make a statement about something which we probably know about - but the great world at large don't really know what he's talking about.

"I don't think the allegation is something people would particularly want to hear."

Italian newspaper La Repubblica:

Carlo: "Adesso basta
non sono gay"

Cheap translation
Charles: "Stop it, I am not gay"
London - Whatever it is, Prince C. says he didn't do it. It will go down in the history of Buckingham Palace as the most bizarre denial of all time. "I want to make this very clear", said the heir to the throne through his secretary "that the recent gossip which has been circulating lately is about me, but it is completely false".
What this gossip is about, C. doesn't feel like saying. Until now, the British media have been unable to talk about it freely because of the UK's strict law against defamation. But it has circulated all the same on internet and in the allusions of the British media to the reports of foreign newspapers, as well as in the recent warnings that, were this story to come to light, it might "bring down the monarchy".
Well, it is now coming to light, if in a rather oblique way. They know the (alleged) sinner, but not the sin, but it is enough to understand the whole (or almost). Here is a summary, in three acts.
First Act: in 1995 George Smith, Princess Diana's valet, reveals to her how he was twice raped by a former court employee, and claims to have seen the "sodomist" in bed with a member of the royal house.
Diana records the eyewitness account on a videotape, which is later kept by her butler, Paul Burrell, then it either disappears or is taken away by the police. This is what, according to some indiscretions, happened: Smith opens the door to a private room and insides he sees one of the Windsors in the arms of his [Smith's] rapist, under the bedsheets.
But who is prince? (The elder Prince Philip? Charles? One of his younger brothers, Andrew or Edward?) and which servant is sharing his bed with him? No one is telling.
Second Act: The other day an authoritative British daily, the Guardian, prepares to reveail the name of the royal palace servant at the centre of a new embarrassing revelation by George Smith. A British court, at the request of the anonymous servant (who has employed the most expensive lawyers in the Kingdom) forbids the publication.
The Guardian appeals, wins, and the name is out. It is Michael Fawcett, for many years Charles' butler [sic]. According to Diana, there was a (perhaps too) intimate relationship between the two. In yet another videotape she apparently stated that Fawcett even put the toothpaste on Charles' toothbrush, that the two had an "unhealthy" and "excessively intimate" relationship. So the princess suspected that her husband and his servant had a homosexual relationship.
Third Act: From India, where he is on an official visit, after a month of wild tabloid revelations on Diana, Charles loses his patience, revealing himself to be at the centre of all the gossip. "Let's admit it, it's me they are talking about", he is trying to say, "but it's all nonsense", even though Poirot or Sherlock Holmes would find enough clues to the contrary. Anyway, the main characters of the presumed "triangle" are now known, and the tabloid happily reveal "My valets and I, all nonsense, Charles say", which looks more like a confirmation than a denial, and in any case is referring to accusations hitherto unknown to the public.
It may well be that the whole story is false, and that the warnings according to which it might "bring down the monarchy" is one of those typical exaggerations the tabloids are fond of. However, it must be remembered that yesterday even respectable newspapers dealt with it, and on their first pages. It may well not be enough that the monarchy is about to be brought down. But, with the heir to the throne forced to deny an accusation of sleeping with his favourite servant, it does not seem to be in the best of health.

CNN in Italian reports some of the sexual allegations, but CNN in English avoids completely the words "sex" or "sexual relations.

Look at the English version of the "incident" story by CNN. Also here.

Compare to the Italian version of the "incident" story also in CNN.

[Cheap translation]
The Guardian has gained the legal battle to publish the name of the man who, according to a royal servant, had sexual relations with Prince Charles.
His name is Michael Fawcett, former private secretary to the Prince of Wales. Fawcett has also been accused in the past of raping another servant, George Smith.

original italian text
Il "Guardian" - dopo aver vinto una battaglia legale - è riuscito addirittura a pubblicare il nome dell'uomo che, secondo quanto rivelato da un valletto, avrebbe avuto rapporti sessuali con il principe Carlo.
Si tratta di Michael Fawcett, ex segretario particolare del principe di Galles, che in passato è stato anche accusato dal servitore di corte George Smith di averlo violentato.

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