Posted on 11/10/2003 2:46:12 PM PST by Happy2BMe
| Ex-servant dismisses Charles incident allegation |
A former royal valet has stated allegations that the Prince of Wales was seen in a compromising incident with one of his servants cannot be true.
Simon Solari, who worked closely with both Prince Charles and Princess Diana for 15 years, said the ex-servant who made the claims would not have had the opportunity to witness the alleged events.
"The incident at the centre of these allegations about the Prince of Wales simply could not have happened," he has told London's Evening Standard newspaper. "I have never spoken publicly about my service before but I feel compelled to speak out now as I feel the Prince of Wales is being unfairly maligned."
Mr Solari, 46, who now runs his own chauffeur company, continued: "The Royal Household operates a very strict system on military lines, with specific servants having specific roles."
Meanwhile there are reports that Prince Charles is holding talks with close family and key aides over the crisis. According to the Daily Mail, he was joined for dinner at Highgrove last night by Prince William and Camilla Parker Bowles to discuss how to put an end to the rumours surrounding him.
Reports said Prince Charles, who has no immediate public engagements at the start of the week, may be contemplating a personal TV appearance to quash the allegations. A Clarence House spokeswoman said although no firm plans had been made, a TV appearance by the Prince had not been ruled out.
Charles flew home from his 13-day foreign tour after a week which began with former servant Michael Fawcett taking out an injunction against the Mail on Sunday gagging it from publishing a story based on claims by another former servant.
Asked whether Clarence House was relieved that the allegations were not published in full in the newspaper yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Prince said: "We're not bothered one way or the other. It's not us who's monitoring it. We're not the ones who brought the injunction. We didn't take any legal action."
Meanwhile, it was also reported yesterday that the man who last week put the Prince publicly at the centre of the crisis once questioned his sexuality. Sir Michael Peat, his private secretary, issued a statement to deny allegations of the "incident".
But the Prince's former key aide, Mark Bolland, claimed yesterday that Sir Michael asked him a year ago: "Do you think Charles is bisexual?" Bolland told the News of the World: "I was astonished at Sir Michael's question. I told him that the Prince was emphatically not gay or bisexual."
Story filed: 11:18 Monday 10th November 2003
(If nothing else, private counselling from Jessie Jackson?)
U so gay!
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