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Royal member, victim of blackmail

LONDON: The police were on Sunday investigating allegations that a member of the royal family was the victim of a sex-and-drugs blackmail plot.

Details of the alleged plot were revealed by The Sunday Times which claimed that, last month, two men tried to extort £50,000 from an unnamed “royal” in return for not publicising a video showing him taking drugs and engaging in sex. They threatened to go public if they were not given the ransom.

“The case is understood to be the first time in more than 100 years that a member of the royal family has been the victim of blackmail,” the newspaper said.

Police confirmed that two men — one 30-year-old, another 40 — had been arrested and charged with “one count of blackmail” but their names were not revealed. They were arrested in a sting operation at a London hotel where they were lured by a member of the royal staff who agreed to meet them to see the video before considering their demand. The police swooped on them while they were reportedly playing the video.

There was much speculation about the identity of the victim but neither the police nor the Buckingham Palace was willing to comment. The BBC quoted a former Palace spokesman Dickie Arbiter as saying that the name of the royal might never be revealed.

“It’s a vast family, there are nearly 40 members. Is it somewhere near the top? Is it in the middle, or is it down at the bottom? So they would have to determine that. We don’t know, we won’t know, until the case comes to trial at the Old Bailey in December, and we might not even know then, which member of the Royal Family [it is],” he said.

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