The butler says he didn't do it

In a tale that has all the elements of a mystery that only Agatha Christie's Miss Marple could solve the former royal butler Paul Burrell has rejected claims that he boasted about having sex with Princess Diana.

The Australian newspaper reports Mr Burrell said he was "sad and hurt" by claims made by his brother-in-law Ron Cosgrove, who told a British newspaper that the former butler confided to him 15 years ago about his intimate relationship with the princess.

The former butler also denied Mr Cosgrove's claims that Mr Burrell had told him he had seen the Queen naked at Buckingham Palace.

Mr Burrell said there was "not one shred of truth" to what Mr Cosgrove had told the News of the World tabloid and that his brother-in-law could have decided to "invent" the claims because he had refused to lend him money.

"Myself and my wife Maria feel tremendously sad and hurt that he has resorted to such vengeance by way of response," Mr Burrell said.

"Anyone who knows me, who knew the princess, and who understands the boundaries and decencies of royal service, as well as the integrity and trust which existed within our working relationship at Kensington Palace, will know just how fanciful, distasteful and malicious these claims truly are."

In a lengthy interview published yesterday, Mr Cosgrove said Mr Burrell had told him during a conversation in a pub in 1993 about he and Diana "did it in the bedroom, the bath, everywhere".

Mr Cosgrove said Mr Burrell had also claimed to have seen the Queen naked after chasing a royal corgi into her bedroom at Buckingham Palace.