IT had promised to be a gloriously memorable year for the Queen. The Golden Jubilee celebrations had inspired a public response that must have gladdened, reassured and surprised her.

The warmth of that nationwide reaction underlined the fact that the monarchy had finally emerged from the dark and damaging days that followed the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Now, 2002 will be remembered as much for the questions and suspicion left hanging in the air by the collapse of the Paul Burrell trial.

Whatever the real reasons behind the timing of the Queen's decision to produce crucial new evidence in the middle of a trial that had cost taxpayers £1.5m, the general view is that something stinks.

People simply do not believe that the significance of the Queen's conversation with Diana's butler, which led to Mr Burrell being acquitted, could not have been spotted earlier by the combined brains of the Royal Family, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Was it rank incompetence or a case of the Establishment closing ranks in a desperate damage limitation exercise hours before Mr Burrell took the witness stand?

Either way, it is unacceptable. The trial should not have taken place, public money should not have been wasted, and justice should have been paid more respect by all those who failed to see the giant mess ahead of them.

It highlights the out-dated anomaly of having the monarch, as head of the judicial system, above the reach of the law. No citizen, no matter what their position in society might be, should have that privilege if public confidence is to be protected.

Mr Burrell now has his pick of lucrative offers to tell his story for up to £1m. Tempting though that will be, if he is as good as his word, he will realise that his freedom and his reputation as a loyal friend to Diana, are worth much, much more.

As for the Royal Family, we hope serious consideration will be given to the suggestion by Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes that a contribution be made to the public costs of a case that reduced British justice to a laughing stock.

That might just prevent a golden year from being very badly tarnished.