Butler didn’t do it

London

The case against Paul Burrell, the butler accused of stealing from the estate of the late Princess Diana, collapsed this week after Queen Elizabeth unexpectedly spoke up in his defense. Burrell was charged with plundering Diana’s estate of personal photos, letters, and other possessions. But in the middle of the trial, after an investigation that cost taxpayers more than $2 million, the queen suddenly remembered that the butler had told her he had put aside some of Diana’s things. Prosecutors immediately dropped the charges. Many newspapers suggested that the queen stopped the trial to keep Burrell from testifying and spilling a host of embarrassing royal secrets. He may do so anyway: The Daily Mirror is paying the man Diana called her “rock” more than half a million dollars to tell all.