Overseas Features
Britain's Prince Philip denies calling Diana a 'harlot'
H. M. Queen
Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
By Ben Perry
LONDON, (AFP) - Prince Philip, husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, belatedly denied reports that he called Princess Diana "a trollop and a harlot" in letters sent to her before her death.
His last weekend denial -- the royal family's latest response to a string of damaging allegations made against it -- came two days after the queen's daughter, Princess Anne, became the first modern British royal with a criminal record.
Anne, 52, confessed in court that one of her pet dogs had bitten two children in a park. She was fined 500 pounds (750 dollars/euros), ordered to pay 250 pounds compensation to the boys, aged seven and 12, and 148 pounds in court costs.
Responding to the Diana allegations, Buckingham Palace -- the queen's London residence -- said in a statement: "Prince Philip wishes to make it clear that at no point did he ever use the insulting terms described in media reports, nor that he was curt or unfeeling in what he wrote."
The allegations, made in a British newspaper two weeks ago, followed other reports of royal scandal published in the aftermath of the dramatic collapse earlier this month of the trial of Diana's former butler Paul Burrell.
Burrell -- charged with stealing items belonging to Diana following her death in a 1997 Paris car crash -- walked out of court a free man on November 1 after the queen informed prosecutors he had told her that he had taken some of the princess' items for safekeeping.
In allegations made to The Mail on Sunday, faith healer Simone Simmons -- who claims to have been a close friend of Diana -- said the princess had shown her letters from Philip in which he branded her a trollop and a harlot.
Simmons told the tabloid that she had been prepared to reveal the contents of the letters in her role as a defence witness at Burrell's trial had the case not collapsed.
According to Buckingham Palace's statement, Prince Philip -- otherwise known as the Duke of Edinburgh -- has no intention of making copies of the letters available, insisting his correspondence with his family, including Diana, is a private matter.
The statement added that the original letters were lost but that the prince kept copies as well as Diana's replies. It also said that Philip began corresponding with Diana in June 1992 "in a friendly attempt to resolve a number of family issues".
Diana and then-husband Prince Charles announced
their official separation in December of that year.
The most serious allegation made against the royal family since
the collapse of the Burrell trial was made by former royal valet
George Smith, who said he was raped by a senior male courtier
of Prince Charles.
The heir to the British throne, who turned 54 last week, responded by ordering an internal inquiry headed by his own private secretary and set to report by Christmas.
The inquiry will try to determine whether Charles' household did anything improper with respect to the termination of the Burrell trial.
It will also look into the matter of the alleged sale of official gifts by courtiers, and whether any members of the prince's household have taken improper benefits or payments.
On Tuesday, Dotty -- Princess Anne's two-year-old English bull terrier -- was spared a death sentence that East Berkshire Magistrates Court could have imposed under Britain's draconian Dangerous Dog Act.
The princess was ordered to keep Dotty on a leash at all times and to give her remedial training in the wake of the incident at Great Windsor Park, west of London, on April 1, two days after the death of the Queen Mother.