I can't pretend to have been following the story in great detail, but I initially heard that it was about 'a senior royal' and a royal servant, the latter being down on his knees in an act of homage to the Crown Jewels. I assumed it was Edward and thought 'so what'; I read somewhere in the blogosphere that it was Andrew and was surprised, thinking - Randy Andy chases fillies, surely. But talking to a friend on Thursday, and he had heard at dinner on Wednesday it was Andrew, and in response to my expression of surprise, suggested that Andrew has experience. I was really really quite surprised that it is now being said it is being said that it is Charlie. Jimmy reckons that the Charlie denials are a smokescreen - distracting from the actual real rumour.
I'm a great believer that whatever consenting adults do in private is of no public concern. I also know what sells newspapers. I'm tempted to castigate the Royal Family for hypocrisy, but I reckon - without having really studied the matter- they are generally reasonably tolerant of homosexuality.
However, if there is any truth in the rumours, which is doubtful, it would be very awkward when Charlie becomes head of the publicly homophobic Church of England.
Shameless steal from The Drudge Report which doesn't seem to like deep linking.
NYT NEWSROOM TURMOIL OVER PRINCE CHARLES GAY RUMOR
Fri Nov 07 2003 16:45:11 ET
**Exclusive**
Top editors at the NEW YORK TIMES panicked and ordered a story killed after London-based reporter Sarah Lyall filed a dispatch alleging rumors of Prince Charles and a sexual affair with one of his closest advisers!
The story appeared on the TIMES's internet website for 20 minutes -- before top editors ordered it immediately removed, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
"This should never have been published!" a top newsroom source explained Friday evening.
Lyall reported: "No one would say what the rumor was. Not the British newspapers, which were writing long, innuendo-laced articles about it. Not the television commentators, who were discussing it with acrobatic opacity. Especially not Prince Charles, who seemed to be hoping it would just go away...
"The allegation (although no one has said so publicly) has to do with purported sexual contact between Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, and Michael Fawcett, one of his closest advisers."
