Sex abuse charges filed against Prince Philip’s former aide

The former personal assistant of Britain's Prince Philip has been charged with sexually abusing a girl while he was working for the royal family in the 1970s, prosecutors said.

Benjamin Herman, 79, was equerry to the 93-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth from 1971 to 1974. He will appear in court on Monday.

"He is charged with three counts of indecent assault between 1972 and 1974 on a girl aged around 12," a spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Herman role was to attend to Philip's engagements and personal matters, and he later became the head of the household of Philip's daughter Princess Anne.

The Daily Mirror newspaper reported that police had examined Philip's official diaries from the time and had taken statements from former palace staff.

A police spokesman would not comment on whether former palace staff had been interviewed, and a spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment.