London - Staff looking after the needs of Britain's royals smuggled male prostitutes into the palaces to indulge in sex orgies, the tabloid Daily Express reported on Monday.
Former royal servant Liam Brooks, 30, himself a homosexual, told the sensationalist daily that prostitutes of both sexes had roamed the palaces unchallenged, despite the obvious security concerns.
Brooks said that according to palace gossip, the Queen Mother had preferred gay members of staff in order to forestall any sexual advances on her daughters, Elizabeth, the current queen and Margaret her sister, who died in 2001.
Brooks said if all the gay royal flunkies were to come forward with their tales, "we would bring the house of Windsor to its knees".
Brooks, who started service at the age of 19 in Clarence House, the London home of the late Queen Mother, described infighting and backstabbing among staff.
Another footman, aged 27, who did not want to be named, told the Express: "Security is a complete joke. Footmen, under-butlers, chefs and even housemaids would often pick up people from a club and bring them back to Buckingham Palace for sex."
An American girl had once offered sex to a group of under-butlers, if they showed her the palace. "She got her wish," the footman said.
Geoffrey Todd, 41, a gay former palace aide, said members of the royal family used to attend some of the parties at which male members of staff were dressed in women's clothes.
"Princess Diana, Prince Charles, Andrew and Edward used to come, casually dressed in jeans and T-shirts. The Queen encouraged the wildest parties," he said.
And former royal household maid Sylvia McPhee said: "Drugs are routinely available. At least a quarter of the staff were on something." - Sapa-DPA