Posted on 11/09/2003 4:16:32 PM PST by george wythe
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.
"Charles is a man of utter integrity and honesty. I trust him implicitly."
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."
Excerpt
According to the Peat report, Sir Stephen Lamport, Prince Charles's deputy private secretary, wrote to Ms Shackleton [Prince Charles's main lawyer] asking if an agreement could be reached with Mr Smith in order to "avoid an investigation". Ms Shackleton, says the Peat report, believed Mr Smith had St James's Palace "over a barrel". Mr Smith eventually agreed to take a £38,000 payoff almost three times the sum he would have received if he had won a claim for unfair dismissal.
Ms Shackleton was so discomforted by her experience, the report said, that she told Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Princess Diana's sister: "I was asked to make it go away. It was one of the lowest points in my professional career." Mr Smith had also gone to the police over his rape allegations. But he decided not to continue with the complaint after the settlement with the Palace.
LOL! Too many puns for a family website.
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Bolland [Prince Charles's former deputy private secretary] says: "I remember a year ago Michael Peat called me on holiday and asked, ‘Do you think the Prince of Wales is bisexual?'"I told him that was emphatically NOT the case. It is astonishing that even he—a sensible and cautious man —had heard so much innuendo that he wanted to check the various allegations with as many people as possible."
In parliamentary democracies, the executive branch is divided between the Head of State and the Head of Government.
Usually, the Head of State is either a monarch or a president.
The Head of Government is the prime minister.
Red
This is the same man caught on tape fantasizing about being Camilla's tampon!
If Prince Charles tries to offer Fawcett as a sacrificial lamb, he might be for a surprise if Fawcett has some dirt on Prince Charles.
This scandal will probably last for a few months, since the prior restraint of the English-language media has created an unsatiable feeding frezy, extending the natural life of a royal scandal.
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