Royal rumours keeps British on tenterhooks

BRITAIN’S public was agog and its newshounds salivating yesterday over perhaps the most bizarre royal scandal yet — the case of what Prince Charles says he didn’t do.

After days of feverish speculation that a bombshell was about to detonate in the press, the heir to the throne sent his private secretary to deny he had done something apparently so outrageous that nobody is allowed to say what it was, or what it wasn't.

But with scandal-mad newspapers feasting on the non-tale, the endless torment of the House of Windsor looked set to go on.

"We're considering all options with our lawyers," said John Wellington, managing editor of the Mail on Sunday, which was poised to break the story this week before being silenced by a lawsuit from one of Charles's former servants.

"We think there is a strong public interest in the story and we will be doing our best to take it forward," he said.

A source at another London tabloid said editors were bunkered down with lawyers to see what they could print and scrambling to translate titbits that appeared in foreign languages abroad.

"It's such a movable feast. We're taking it hour by hour," the source said.

The scandal has divided a country always thrilled by royal sensation into those who think they know what the 54-year-old prince says he didn't do and those who wish they did.

For weeks, newspapers have declared they know a dark rumour about the royal family that could bring the monarchy down but they could not print it because of Britain's tight libel laws.

The bomb finally looked set to go off this week when the Mail said it was ready to print a 3,000-word scoop but was blocked at the last minute when another former servant sued.