Buckingham Palace said yesterday that a member of its staff had been dismissed for asserting that she could poison Queen Elizabeth with cyanide and get away with it.
Ms Monica Traub (46), who was employed as a trainee kitchen porter at the palace, is reported to have boasted to colleagues that she could easily poison the queen's food and go undetected. Her comments were initially dismissed as offhand remarks, but she was reported to the royal household when she later allegedly asked how the lethal poison, cyanide, could be obtained.
In an interview with the News of the World, the trainee said that the events were "a nightmare". "I was sacked because they said I wanted to poison the queen. I don't know what cyanide is or what it looks like.
"I do remember having a conversation with a cook about how easy it would be to interfere with food for the royal table. I can't believe I have been sacked for that. It's a nightmare for me as it was a dream job. Now I don't know what I'm going to do . . ."
"I think people have been deliberately nasty so I have lost my job," she added. "I've hardly slept since this thing happened . . . I wanted this job to last and last. It was the best job I've ever had and now I am left with nothing."
Ms Traub was dismissed a month ago, in the presence of a police officer, for gross misconduct and was escorted from Sandringham Castle grounds. She had been working for Buckingham Palace for just two months. She was later told by the Assistant to the Master of the Household, Mr Andrew Farquharson, that she could retrieve her suitcase at Savile Row police station.
Scotland Yard has said that there are no plans to take any police action against Ms Traub.