Royals hit back after butlers fiasco

Prince Charles's private secretary today denied that police had been misled over the practice in the royal households of giving unwanted presents to servants.

Launching an unprecedented defence of the royal family amid the fallout over the Harold Brown and Paul Burrell trials, Sir Michael Peat said the royals had "fallen over backwards" to help the police and never attempted to hide the culture of "gifting" in the palaces.

"It was totally clear to everybody that the Prince and Princess of Wales gave gifts, and valuable gifts, to staff," he said.

He said that the police had known all along that it was part of the culture of the palace.

An Old Bailey trial against Mr Brown collapsed yesterday after the prosecutor, William Boyce QC, said he could not effectively refute the defence claim that the former butler had been authorised, or believed he was authorised, to sell a gold model of a dhow, an Arab sailing boat.

The model boat had been given by the Emir of Bahrain to Charles and Diana for their wedding.

Mr Boyce said Mr Brown had told police that Mr Burrell had asked him to sell the piece, a contention prosecutors initially dismissed as unlikely.

But a separate theft case against Mr Burrell dramatically collapsed last month when the Queen said he had told her he was holding some of Diana's belongings for safekeeping, a development Mr Boyce said had strengthened Mr Brown's defence.

Charles's most senior aide said earlier today he spoke to Sir John Stevens, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, and Sir David Calvert-Smith, the director of public prosecutions.

Sir Michael said: "I've spoken to the director of public prosecutions and he said categorically that there is no question of the CPS having been misled."

It emerged at the Old Bailey that the palace had informed Sir David that the prince was in the habit of giving gifts to staff such as bottles of champagne and polo prizes.

Mr Brown's defence team would have relied on evidence that the prince once passed a note around his office saying: "There's a very good, gold wedding ring here which someone in the office might find useful."

A key prosecution theme in the trial of Paul Burrell was the recurring question of why Diana's former butler was in possession of so many potentially valuable items that once belonged to her.

Sir Michael said the palace was "never consulted" about the nature of the prosecution's case against Mr Burrell. He said police were always aware that the former butler had been given gifts by his masters.

"What actually happened was they knew he had been given vast treasures. They had a list of valuables which they accepted had been given to Mr Burrell. It was entirely obvious that the police knew all about it," Sir Michael said.

Police held the now famous meeting with Charles and Prince William at Highgrove on August 3 2001, at which Detective Chief Inspector Maxine de Brunner admitted misleading the royals that Mr Burrell had been selling Diana's possessions.

Sir Michael said: "The essence of that meeting, as Miss de Brunner said in court, was that the Prince of Wales was told that the police had intelligence that he had been selling items."

Sir Michael revealed that police had maintained this impression until just before the start of Mr Burrell's trial.

In response to Sir Michael's comments, Scotland Yard issued a brief statement which said: "We have no intention of pre-judging the review being undertaken by William Taylor."

The issue of "gifting" has generated unease at the palace and is one of the matters being examined by Sir Michael in his internal inquiry being conducted with the help of Edmund Lawson QC. The inquiry, set up in the wake of Mr Burrell's collapsed trial, is expected to report back by the end of February.

Meanwhile in the Commons today, when asked about the affair in prime minister's questions, Tony Blair said: "The crown prosecution service are learning the lessons of both cases and I hope they will learn them quickly."