Royal butler denies theft charges

Diana died in a car crash in 1997

LONDON, England -- A former butler to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, has denied charges that he stole valuables from her estate.

Harold Brown, 48, faces four counts of theft involving jewellery, gifts and cash that vanished between January 1, 1997, and November 15, 2000.

The case at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court was adjourned until the beginning of August.

Brown is accused of taking a gem-encrusted model of an Arab sailing ship valued at $700,000 -- a wedding gift to Diana and Prince Charles from the Emir of Bahrain in 1981.

He is also suspected of stealing a jewelled daffodil motif valued at $7,000, jewellery worth $14,000 and $1,600 in cash, said the Associated Press.

Brown, who is now an employee of the Queen's sister Princess Margaret and works as a butler at Kensington Palace, was released on bail.

Princess Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul, died on August 31, 1997, when their Mercedes slammed into a pillar in a traffic tunnel in Paris.