- LONDON (Reuters) - Princess
Diana's former butler, acquitted last week of stealing the princess's property,
said in a newspaper account published on Wednesday that Queen Elizabeth
had warned him to be careful for his safety.
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- The sudden collapse of the criminal case against Paul
Burrell has titillated Britain, prompting a bidding war for the butler's
story, won by the Daily Mirror tabloid for about $400,000.
-
- Queen Elizabeth brought an abrupt end to the butler's
trial last week by revealing that he had told her in 1997 that he was planning
to keep some of the princess's things for safekeeping. The prosecution
had assumed he had told nobody.
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- Diana, divorced wife of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles,
died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
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- But the unexpected collapse of the case -- just before
Burrell himself was due to testify -- fueled a media frenzy of speculation
about just what secrets the butler might reveal.
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- Even Prime Minister Tony Blair web sites)'s monthly news
conference this week was dominated by questions over the affair, drowning
out issues like Iraq and the euro.
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- In the much hyped first installment of the Mirror's account,
Burrell said the Queen told him during his three-hour audience to watch
out for his safety.
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- "There are powers at work in this country which
we have no knowledge about," he quoted the Queen as saying.
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- "She did not quantify it but she told me to be careful,"
he said. "I had no idea who she was talking about. There were many
she could have been referring to. But she was clearly warning me to be
vigilant."
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- It is almost unheard of for private conversations between
the Queen and individuals to be reported in the press.
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- Rival newspapers -- no doubt smarting from having lost
the bidding war for his tale -- sharply criticized the butler for what
they described as his indiscretion and betrayal of Diana.
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- The Mirror printed a statement of Burrell's to police,
in which he recounted details of Diana's private life -- including how
he used to bring men to her apartment for rendez-vous after her marriage
with Prince Charles broke down.
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- Burrell, whose defense in the criminal case depended
on showing that he had a close relationship with the princess, told the
police that Diana had asked him at one point to arrange a secret marriage,
the Mirror reported.
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- Burrell, 44, who now runs a florist shop, said that despite
the Queen's usually cool demeanor, Elizabeth had "seemed distressed"
about Diana's death during his three hour royal audience.
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- "I knew she was hurting inside," he told the
newspaper.
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