A TIP-OFF to Scotland Yard about the mysterious sale of a royal gift at an auction house led to two butlers being accused of theft and the lid being lifted on Buckingham Palace’s odd secrets.

The investigation into Harold Brown led police to a much bigger quarry, Paul Burrell, the now famous “rock” depended upon by Diana, Princess of Wales. Maxine de Brunner, the senior officer, has been ridiculed for her zealous pursuit of Mr Burrell, for allegedly misleading the Royal Family and, most memorably, for her vertigo.

It all began with a telephone call from a private investigator to a detective constable in Scotland Yard’s arts and antiques unit. The caller indicated that a dhow, a wedding gift owned by Diana was being offered for sale by a well-known London company. An art expert had been overheard in a pub saying that the dhow came from Kensington Palace.

Detective Inspector de Brunner and Detective Sergeant Roger Milburn accompanied the constable to Spink and Son to recover the model. They discovered that Mr Brown had sold it and some jewellery to the auctioneers and that Jan Havlik handled the sales. Mr Brown explained that Mr Burrell had authorised the sale of the dhow.

The officers, from Scotland Yard’s special inquiry team, which investigates sensitive cases involving high-profile names, followed him on the QE2 to see if he was selling items abroad. Eventually, they turned up at Mr Burrell’s home in Cheshire in a futile search for documents relating to the dhow. They discovered 342 items belonging to Diana, the Prince of Wales and Prince William. Detective Chief Inspector de Brunner, it emerged, refrained from climbing into Mr Burrell’s loft in the search because she did not like heights. Mr Burrell recalls that the police said: “Bingo, we’ve got him.”

At Mr Burrell’s trial, the defence accused the police of “grossly misleading” the Royal Family. Ms de Brunner and Commander John Yates met Prince Charles and Prince William at Highgrove. According to her notes, the Princes were told that members of staff at Kensington Palace had been photographed dressing up in Diana’s clothes at a party.

Many items had been sold abroad to dealers and Mr Burrell had become “wealthy” since Diana’s death, moving large amounts of money between bank accounts, the Princes were told. At the time, the police believed that was true, but when they found it was false, they omitted to tell the Royal Family.

Ms de Brunner is said to have concluded too quickly that money going into Mr Burrell’s bank account came from selling items from Kensington Palace. In fact it came from his career as an author and public speaker.

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