Former royal butler Paul Burrell and his wife Maria pose for the media in New York‘s Times Square after giving a news conference Monday, Nov. 11, 2002. Burrell was in New York _ his „favorite city‘‘ _ on Monday to tell what he said was his side of the story in a case that should never have gone to court. PHOTO - TASR/AP

LONDON - Britain‘s Prince Charles moved to limit the embarrassing fallout from the aborted trial of his ex-wife Princess Diana‘s former butler with a probe into claims of a homosexual rape and other impropriety by his staff. The announcement of an internal inquiry by his private secretary Sir Michael Peat fell well short, however, of calls from some quarters for a full-scale independent public investigation into alleged shenanigans in the royal household.

Since Paul Burrell was acquitted, the royals have been reeling from a week of intimate „downstairs“ tales by him of life with Diana, who died in a 1997 Paris car crash. The Burrell saga has emboldened other palace sources to come forward with a plethora of seedy stories via Britain‘s scandal-hungry media. The most serious allegation came from George Smith, a former royal servant, who said he was raped by one of Charles‘s servants in 1989 and that the man tried to assault him again in 1995. In a weekend newspaper interview, Smith accused Charles of trying to cover up the incident by thwarting a previous internal inquiry.

As well as the rape claim, the inquiry will also look at how the theft case against Burrell collapsed so suddenly with Queen Elizabeth‘s 11th-hour recollection that the butler had told her privately he was safe-keeping some of Diana‘s possessions. It will also investigate claims that Charles‘s personal assistant, Michael Fawcett, had been disposing of unwanted gifts to his boss for financial gain, and if others had been in receipt of any improper payments of benefits.

The inquiry is due to report before Christmas and Peat said Charles‘s staff would be „delighted“ to collaborate with a later independent investigation should one be set up. But it failed to impress anti-monarchists. The 10 days since his acquittal have been a disaster for the queen in the year of her Golden Jubilee celebrations marking 50 years on the throne.

Reuters