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made by George Smith (he gave an interview & signed an affadavit to the Mail on Sunday -- the Mail on Sunday wanted to print the story last week, but Matthew Fawcett took out an injunction against the paper on the grounds of libel.)
The Guardian - on Monday -- wanted to run a story saying that Matthew Fawcett had took out a libel injunction against the Mail and that this was of dubious legitimacy because usually in this country you publish something and then get sued for libel if you haven't got anything to substantiate your claims. Royal pressure was blamed. Anyway, the Guardian were also banned by a(nother) judge from naming Michael Fawcett (who was Charles' Chief of Staff until reasonably recently).
By this time, the rumour -- that George Smith claims to have seen Prince Charles and Michael Fawcett in bed together -- was doing the rounds on several republican sites over here (ThroneOut & Republic spring to mind). By Thursday it had gained a lot of traction, especially after the decision against the Guardian -- which allowed them to name Michael Fawcett -- was reversed.
Thursday night, Prince Charles issued a statement denying the allegations (which are still illegal to print in the UK, pending an appeal by the Mail on Sunday), which thoroughly confused most of the population. But Charles' actions meant that he could be named as the "senior royal" named in the allegation -- and that George Smith could be named as the guy making the allegation.
To confuse matters, following the collapse of the Burrell trial last year, it emerged that George Smith had previously made accusations of being raped by Mr Fawcett, which were investigated by the police and found no charges were brought. (there was some controversy over this, after it emerged that George Smith had been paid some £30,000).
The additional evidence for George Smith's claims is alleged to be on tapes made by Princess Diana.
That's the whole story in a nutshell. Given that the Italian press has reported this story yesturday, it is getting increasingly likely that the injunction will be dropped shortly, just to get things straight. Increasingly we see commentators over here trying to talk about the allegation, without mentioning it -- & basically just digging bigger holes (ie "well if I was accused of being, say, a paedophile...").
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