Palace Investigation Ordered

After more than a week of silence, Prince Charles on Tuesday waded into the controversy created by the surprise collapse of former royal butler Paul Burrell's theft trial, ordering an investigation of his household's role in the affair.

As Burrell's tabloid story — the latest in a string of royal servants' tell-alls — continued to provide grist for gossip, Charles' private secretary announced he would conduct an internal review into questions raised by the trial's sudden end.

He also plans to examine whether the palace covered up allegations that a former member of the prince's staff raped a male colleague.

"The Prince of Wales has instructed me to undertake this inquiry without fear or favor," Sir Michael Peat said. "Concerns have been raised in the newspapers. Underlying it may be some matters that may well be of concern to people and therefore we are going to look into these matters."

"I, and more importantly the Prince of Wales, are totally committed to openness and accountability," Peat told Press Association, the national news agency.

Prosecutors dropped their case against Princess Diana's former servant on Nov. 1, after Queen Elizabeth II said he had told her he was holding some of Diana's belongings for safekeeping. Critics claimed she acted to stop embarrassing revelations from emerging if Burrell testified or to prevent her relatives from being called to the stand.

Burrell is just the latest loose-lipped servant to go public with gossip about the royals. Given the long hours, low pay and sometimes humiliating work conditions, it may be unsurprising that some palace workers eventually turn on their employers.

The first servant to give an intimate account of life behind the palace gates was Marion Crawford, who cared for the future queen and her sister, Princess Margaret, when they were children.

Her book "The Little Princesses," was an affectionate account of royal life but it infuriated the family, who shunned her thereafter.

Patrick Jephson, Diana's private secretary from 1987 to 1996, publicly psychoanalyzed his former boss in 2000 in "Shadows of a Princess," saying she had a "pathological craving for victimhood and self-justification."

This summer, Diana's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe wrote a book that included descriptions of tensions between Charles and Diana and the princess's affair with former army officer James Hewitt.

Burrell has insisted he is loyal to the queen and to Diana's memory, saying he wanted to get on the record with the truth.

Peat said he would investigate whether any members of Charles' household acted improperly in connection with the collapse of Burrell's trial. He also planned to look at whether palace officials covered up accusations of homosexual rape by one of Charles's aides and at charges that another staff member sold royal gifts for cash.

Peat said he would publish a report by Christmas.

He said an external investigation might be conducted eventually, but that the government, not the prince, would probably have to order it. Much of the criticism over the trial has been directed at prosecutors and the police. Peat said he was only authorized to investigate Charles' household.

Buckingham Palace said the queen would not participate in Peat's inquiry.

"All the information regarding the queen's involvement has been widely published by the media," a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity.

Peat said Charles had repeated to the queen incorrect allegations the police made to him that Burrell had sold some of Diana's possessions. That may have contributed to the monarch's failure to realize Burrell's earlier comment to her would prove him innocent, Peat said. He said she continued to believe the police had evidence against Burrell until they said at trial they did not.

On Sunday, George Smith, a 42-year-old former valet of Prince Charles, was quoted as telling The Mail on Sunday tabloid that he was raped by another man on the palace staff in 1989. The paper did not identify the alleged attacker.

Charles' office has said police and the palace investigated the charges, and that there was no basis for prosecution. The office also said the alleged victim did not raise the issue until 1996 and did not want to pursue the matter.

Smith was quoted as saying the man later tried to assault him again while they were both accompanying Prince Charles on a foreign tour to Cairo.

Law firm Kingsley Napley later released a statement from the unidentified alleged rapist, denying all Smith's allegations.

The allegation surfaced again in 2001 and police did investigate, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute.

The gift-selling aspect of Peat's investigation follows newspapers' claims that a personal assistant of the prince has been disposing of unwanted gifts Charles had received and keeping up to 20 percent of the profits. Peat said there was no evidence that had happened.