Britain’s future king, Prince Charles, on Monday ruled out making a special television appearance to deny allegations made by a former servant that his aides have derided as absurd. The British media are prohibited from disclosing the details due to a court injunction.
InsertArt(2065695)HOWEVER, SPECULATION ABOUT an address to the nation had grown as newspapers in Scotland and Ireland published details of the rumor over the weekend, bringing to Britain’s doorstep an allegation that has already been aired in continental newspapers.
So far, English newspapers have obeyed a legal injunction not to reveal the rumor.
The prince, who returned from a two-week overseas trip on Sunday, is spending two days at his country estate in the west of England, conferring with his advisers about how to counter an allegation.
On Monday, his office said he was not planning either to take legal action or to go on television to add to a stern rebuttal of the rumor issued in his absence last week.
“The Prince has no plans to make a television appearance. The statement we made on Thursday still very much stands,” said a spokeswoman. “There are no plans to take any legal action.”
FIRST ENGAGEMENT WEDNESDAY
Charles was spending Monday and Tuesday privately at his Highgrove estate, with his first public engagement due on Wednesday at a Remembrance service at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, she added.
The latest scandal to rock the House of Windsor began 10 days ago when Charles’ former personal aide Michael Fawcett was granted a legal injunction preventing the Mail on Sunday publishing the charges by former palace servant George Smith.
Initial speculation involved very vaguely a palace aide and a senior royal in an unspecified incident, but in a bizarre twist last Thursday Charles identified himself as the royal.
“I just want to make it entirely clear, even though I can’t refer to the specifics of the allegation, that it’s totally untrue and without a shred of substance,” his private secretary Sir Michael Peat said.
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