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Monarchy - HRH Prince Charles 3

A former royal valet has stated allegations that the Prince of Wales was seen in a compromising incident with one of his servants cannot be true. Simon Solari, who worked closely with both Prince Charles and Princess Diana for 15 years, said the ex-servant who made the claims would not have had the opportunity to witness the alleged events. "The incident at the centre of these allegations about the Prince of Wales simply could not have happened," he told London's Evening Standard newspaper. "I have never spoken publicly about my service before but I feel compelled to speak out now as I feel the Prince of Wales is being unfairly maligned."

Mr Solari, who now runs his own chauffeur company, continued, "The Royal Household operates a very strict system on military lines, with specific servants having specific roles." Meanwhile there are reports that Prince Charles is holding talks with close family and key aides over the crisis. According to the Daily Mail, he was joined for dinner at Highgrove by Prince William and Camilla Parker Bowles to discuss how to put an end to the rumours surrounding him. Charles flew home from his 13-day foreign tour after a week which began with former servant Michael Fawcett taking out an injunction against the Mail on Sunday gagging it from publishing a story based on claims by another former servant.

Asked whether Clarence House was relieved that the allegations were not published in full in the newspaper, a spokeswoman for the Prince said, "We're not bothered one way or the other. It's not us who's monitoring it. We're not the ones who brought the injunction. We didn't take any legal action." Meanwhile, it was also reported that the man who put the Prince publicly at the centre of the crisis once questioned his sexuality. Sir Michael Peat, his private secretary, issued a statement to deny allegations of the "incident". But the Prince's former key aide, Mark Bolland, claimed that Sir Michael asked him a year ago - "Do you think Charles is bisexual?" Bolland said, "I was astonished at Sir Michael's question. I told him that the Prince was emphatically not gay or bisexual."

Prince Charles urged a return to traditional teaching methods in history and English to halt falling standards. After all, you wouldn't want people getting into Cambridge with just a B grade history A-level and a C in French. Even if they are the heir to the throne.

The estates which provide millions of pounds for the Queen and Prince Charles are to be investigated by MPs. The Public Accounts Committee will quiz the secretary of the Duchy of Cornwall, Bertie Ross, to see the public is getting "value for money". The duchy provides Charles' annual income, although he does not own any of its £463m worth of property or shares. The committee will also investigate the Duchy of Lancaster, the Queen's estate worth around £8m a year. The Duchy of Lancaster's assets include landed estates, urban property and financial investments, with a total value of approximately £268m.

Prince Charles's travel bill soared by 100% in two years to more than £1million. His total spending in 2004 was £14million which included cash for his wife Camilla, and sons Princes William and Harry. According to his annual report Charles travelled a total of 65,700 miles, 44,600 overseas, on 500 official trips in the 12 months to April 2005. They included the UK, Australia and Fiji. He took £2.68million from the government purset at a cost of about 4p to every taxpayer. His private income, mainly from the Duchy of Cornwall, rose by 11% to £13million. This went towards the £14million on public duties and personal expenditure. His private costs, which do not include his wedding, rose by £800,000 to £5.2million. Camilla has taken on a third staff member to deal with her increasingly central role. A statement on Charles' official travel in the report said, "It is an important part of his role as heir to the throne. He works extremely hard on these exhausting trips."

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