16th August 2001 Former Butler to Princess Diana charged with stealing
The former royal butler had been charged with theft of around just over 300 items that had a value of around £5m that had belonged to the Princess of Wales, Prince William, and the Prince of Wales. The trial continued and took an interesting turn of events. The items that the butler was alleged to have stolen ranged from photographs, vinyl records, clothing, ornaments, letters, tapes handbags, jewelry, nightwear, hats, crockery, commemorative coins, cards, items that had sentimental value or had belonged to Prince William. Burrell denied the charges.
It was not till November 2002, that Burrell’s name was cleared. He was found not guilty as the queen had forwarded the message that she had remembered that Burrell had told her that he was keeping some of Diana’s possessions, for safekeeping. Details of the case would not have been made until the trial had started. The Trial could not go ahead once the message from the Queen had been submitted because up until that point, it was believed Burrell had never told anyone he had these items. The Whole fiasco was costly and a complicated scandal.
