Viscount David Linley Sex Tape

Who? British royal, son of Princess Margaret.

Real? No.

In late October 2007, a blackmail plot against a member of the British royal family riveted the British press. The law prevented British news outlets from identifying the royal by name, but foreign media and blogs had no such restriction. It was Viscount David Linley, son of Princess Margaret, currently 13th in line for succession to the throne.

Excerpts from The Times account of the royal blackmail case:

The royal – who cannot be named for legal reasons – called in the police after being approached by two alleged blackmailers in August.

The men demanded £50,000 not to publicise a video, which they suggested showed the royal engaged in a sex act. The case is understood to be the first time in more than 100 years that a member of the royal family has been the victim of blackmail.

During telephone calls to the royal’s office, the suspected blackmailers also claimed to have evidence suggesting that the royal had supplied an aide with an envelope containing cocaine. They claimed that they had a video tape showing the aide snorting the drug. [...]

The alleged extortion attempt began on August 2 when a man telephoned the royal’s office. The caller identified himself only by his first name. He said he was aware that another man who worked on the royal’s staff had in his possession an envelope containing cocaine. The caller suggested the envelope was embossed with the royal’s personal insignia.

The caller then claimed he had a video tape that showed the royal aide giving someone oral sex. He indicated that the person was the royal. The caller asked for the royal to call him and left a mobile phone number.

During subsequent calls, one of the men claimed that the tapes showed a royal aide snorting cocaine. But the caller guaranteed that nobody would ever see them because they were safe in his flat. A Whitehall security official said: “He then said he wanted £50,000 from the royal for the tape.” The source said a senior legal adviser to the royal agreed with one of the men that he would see the tape before handing over the cash.

By this time a detective had been attached to the royal’s staff. He contacted the gang posing as a member of staff and the meeting was arranged at the Hilton. Parts of the video were shown and the meeting was secretly videoed by Scotland Yard detectives in an adjacent room. The two suspects were then arrested.

The two blackmailers were later identified as Ian Strachan and Sean McQuigan.

The initial Times account had a blackmailer claiming to have a sex tape showing a royal aide performing fellatio on Viscount David Linley. This claim was apparently bogus. The actual video shown to the Scotland Yard detective at the Hilton reportedly showed the royal aide snorting cocaine and bragging about having sex with Linley.

Does a videotape of someone talking about a sexual encounter with a famous person count as a “celebrity sex tape”? ICSTDB votes no.

So there was no Viscount David Linley sex tape, just a videotape of some coked-up underling claiming to have had sex with David Linley.