British royal servant breaks silence over rape claim

A former royal servant has broken his silence to speak publicly for the first time about how a key aide to Britain's Prince of Wales allegedly raped him.

George Smith, 42, waived his anonymity to accuse the man, who remains one of Prince Charles's staff.

The accused man is not named in the Mail on Sunday report.

Mr Smith also claimed he had witnessed an incident involving a member of the Royal Family and a Palace servant, but the Mail on Sunday said it was prevented from repeating the allegations for legal reasons.

The ex-valet, who served in the Welsh Guards in the Falklands and had been aboard the bombed Sir Galahad, alleged to the Mail on Sunday that the man he says raped him later tried to assault him again while they were both accompanying the Prince of Wales on a foreign tour to Cairo.

Police investigated but Scotland Yard said the alleged victim chose not to pursue the claim and it was subsequently dropped. St James's Palace says no new evidence has been produced since the police inquiry.

The scandal has come back into the spotlight following the breakdown of the trial of the Princess of Wales' former butler Paul Burrell.

Mr Smith, who was married at the time of the incident, claimed that in 1996 he told Diana, Princess of Wales, about the alleged rape and that she recorded his accusation on tape.

The Mail on Sunday claimed she deposited the cassettes, one labelled "The Confessions of George Smith" in a locked mahogany box - the one police were searching for when they raided Mr Burrell's house during their theft inquiry in January 2001.

A spokeswoman for the Prince of Wales said: "There has been a full police investigation and they have found no evidence of any kind. If Mr Smith has some new evidence relating to the case, he should provide it immediately."