Loose lips: the Sophie tapes

Beware of men in London in sheikh's clothing. How the newest member of the royal family fell into a tabloid trap.

The air at the Windsor Castle meeting was icy. After years rebuilding the Windsors' image from the nadir of Princess Diana's death, the "firm" was in trouble again.

Publication of the "Sophie tapes" had exposed the royal name being used to boost profits, associated it with a world of gay dinner parties and hard drugs, and shown the latest troublesome Windsor spouse criticising public figures.

According to the Buckingham Palace record of the conversations between the Queen, the Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward, they merely discussed "issues arising from the week's media coverage."

However, the force of the Queen's fury was made clear in the unprecedented language of the palace statement's condemnation of the media, in which she "deplores the entrapment, subterfuge, innuendo and untruths" to which the young royals were subjected and says the former Sophie Rhys-Jones had "suggested" she leave her public relations company R-JH and the Queen had "agreed."

The resignation follows the publication in the News of the World of taped records of the conversations that took place. Two other British Sunday newspapers also printed versions.

The countess and her public relations partner Murray Harkin failed to spot that an Arab sheikh and his assistant were two of the paper's undercover reporters. One reporter, posing as the sheikh's assistant, was investigations editor Mazher Mahmood, and together they had offered a deal to promote a new leisure centre in Dubai.

The newspaper says its investigations began after tips from two separate sources that R-JH Public Relations, the company owned 60-40 by the countess and Harkin, was using questionable business practices.

To test the claims, it approached R-JH claiming to represent a fictitious company headed by a Sheikh Mohammed. They gave only vague details of a Dubai leisure complex they said they wanted the PR company to promote, and the only contact was a mobile phone number.

The first meetings were with Harkin on March 7 in the Park Lane Hilton. The countess was not present.

Harkin, aged 37, talked about cannabis, cocaine and gay clubs.

On drugs and the countess, he told the reporters:

HARKIN: I don't do lots of drugs, but you know, the odd line of coke I quite like, and trying, you know, trying to find it, it's just a nightmare ... America, apparently its dead easy.

MAHMOOD (referring to Ecstasy tablets): Have you had Es?

HARKIN: Not for a couple of years. It was really terrible stuff ... The problem with it is the after-effects, it's like three or four days later ... It's so funny, Sophie is just the most purest thing you've ever seen, but one night I had a crew out for a staff thing and I gave her something that was just pure caffeine.

She said: "Oh, I like that, I'll have another one of them."

Two of these bottles and she was up all night long. She hardly ever drinks, bless her, 'cos she can't, and the odd occasion she goes out with a star for Christmas she used to let her hair down and drink. She'd get hammered on about three glasses of champagne. (Laughs). So if you gave her drugs she'd die, I think."

The conversation moves on to London nightlife and Harkin recommends gay bars and clubs.

HARKIN: Heaven, under the arches in Charing Cross. That was the first club I ever went to. It's student night tonight! I'll give you a list.

MAHMOOD: There were a lot of rumours about Prince Edward weren't there?

HARKIN: There have been rumours for years about Edward. I'm a great believer that there's no smoke without fire. He's not what you expect!

The next time Harkin discussed sex was at a second meeting at the Dorchester. Discussion shifts to the hospitality Harkin and his guests might expect if they flew to Dubai to inspect the leisure complex.

HARKIN (referring to a list of guests): Maybe we won't invite the last one then.

MAHMOOD: Who's the last one?

HARKIN: The last one is my partner, so we might not invite him. Ditch him then ... And I was going to say we could have a dinner or party for Mohammed over here. I can invite some very interesting people.

MAHMOOD: Really?

HARKIN: "A" list people that he would like ... Discreet nice gentlemen that he would like.

MAHMOOD: Young boys?

HARKIN: Not young, but, kind of, like, nice boys. All good jobs!

Returning to the subject of a British dinner party ...

HARKIN: How young does he like? Does he like Asian boys? And how young? Are we talking about 20, 21, 25, 28?

OK, We can do a dinner for him of you know 20, kind of, 30-year-olds. That's probably too old for him, but it would be quite stimulating for him because they're kind of, really like all English boys.

MAHMOOD: They're all gay?

HARKIN: Yeah, they're all gay ... We could put a splash of young people, funky young people in there.

The meeting at which the countess was present was on March 14 in The Terrace suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Harkin was there, and Brett Perkins, her account director. The two journalists were in lounge suits for this meeting.

Early talk was of the countess' resemblance to Princess Diana.

COUNTESS: When we got engaged, they were very very keen to put me on to the empty pedestal that had been left by Princess Diana.

MAHMOOD: Make you the new Diana?

COUNTESS: And I don't think I could have coped with that level of pressure or expectation. Everyone said: Gosh, doesn't she look like Diana?

Then they thought: This isn't going to be much good because she's not going to be turning up every day in different outfits, opening children's homes, you know. I do some of that, but not as much as they'd like.

The conversation then moved on to shooting and bloodsports.

COUNTESS: Fox hunting is just vermin control, but people think its the aristocracy running round doing what the hell they like.

MAHMOOD: So there's a lot of ignorance in the "anti" lobby.

COUNTESS: That's why we've got problems with our Prime Minister because he doesn't understand the countryside ... He's ignorant of the countryside. His wife is even worse, she hates the countryside. She hates it!

The conversation turned to Prince Charles.

MAHMOOD: He's too formal isn't he?

COUNTESS: Actually, he's always been, he likes formalities in life. But he's great fun, he really is. For instance, with William and Harry he's so laid back. I mean what you don't see is when the Prince of Wales is messing around and being funny and silly ... He plays around with the boys all the time, they mess around with each other. He'll always have a go at putting a wig on or doing something silly.

He's a man who's always been ahead of his years all the way along. He was damned a complete quack. People laughed at him for his views on architecture, but now they're starting to take notice.

MAHMOOD: The Diana thing probably gave him a bad image.

COUNTESS: It did, but he's had people working for him. The Prince of Wales and Camilla were possibly number one on people's unpopular people list.

MAHMOOD: He's now more likeable?

COUNTESS: Oh yes, the thing is a lot of things came out after Diana's death about the way that she behaved. I think everybody realised that it takes two.

You'll get the fanatical Diana diehards who'll always blame the Prince of Wales for everything - we can't do much about that.

MOHAMMED: Have people accepted Camilla now?

COUNTESS: It's a very difficult situation. On the one hand, there's no reason why she shouldn't be accepted because he's divorced and she's divorced, but then again you've got issues of the monarch being the head of the Church.

I think it's hard, especially while Queen Elizabeth is alive, the Queen Mother. It's very hard for anybody to publicly recognise Camilla. And it's not really fair any more to describe her as Prince Charles' mistress, because I deem somebody a mistress if the man is already married. They are not married.

The Independent commented yesterday that, crucially, the countess' remarks on the uneasy relationship between her PR work and her royal status did not quash allegations of a conflict of interest.

While stating that she will not endorse just any product, she goes on to say that clients do benefit from "my situation." Although it is not promised, it "just occurs."

COUNTESS: Most of our clients do end up having extra mentions in the press or, you know, additional profile.

Harkin's indiscretions have now led to his resignation from R-JH, leaving the company set up in 1997 in the then Sophie Rhys-Jones' flat without its original managing director and chairman.

The damage to the company is clear. The damage to the royal family, a rather more longstanding institution, will take longer to assess.