A sex offender who posed as a doctor to prey on women was a guest of the Queen on the Royal Barge.
Harbinder Singh Rana, 52, was jailed in the 1980s for a series of attacks on women, who believed he was a doctor, in which he performed internal examinations and administered injections.
Rana served four years for his crimes, but has since reinvented himself as a pillar of the community.
And in an astonishing error of judgment the Sikh charity director, who now lives in Walsall in the West Midlands, was allowed to mingle with VIPs on the Royal Barge during Sunday's River Pageant.
During the afternoon sail, Rana came into close contact with every senior royal including Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
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| Harbinder Singh Rana on board the Spirit of Chartwell during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames with members of the Royal family |
The convicted sex attacker was at times during the 1,000 boat extravaganza just feet away from the Queen herself.
The former management consultant was invited to join the exclusive celebrations by Prince Charles in his capacity as community leader.
He is understood to have met the prince through his charity work for the Anglo-Sikh heritage trail, a group that promotes Sikh culture in Britain.
But palace sources last night said the prince was completely unaware of the charity director's shameful past-and would never have invited him had he known.
Approached yesterday Rana said that he did not know if he had been vetted and had not been asked about his sex crimes before the event.
He told the Mirror: 'I was given the invitation and I attended.
'The fact that the Prince of Wales invited me clearly shows what I have done for the community since then.'
He added: 'I have a relationship with some of Charles's staff, not him - although I have met him at events, yes.
'I have made it clear I wasn't representing the Sikh community, I was there because I was very happy to be invited.'
He said that, although the Queen was at times just 'a few feet' from him, he never spoke to her or any senior member of the Royal Family while on the boat.
The massive error brings into sharp focus the vetting procedures in place to protect the Royal Family.
Questions will now be raised about why apparently no checks were carried out on his background before he was allowed to be photographed within inches of senior royals.
And an investigation into how such an unsuitable guest sailed through the vetting process will likely soon be under way.
A spokesman for Clarence House confirmed that the prince had not known about Rana's convictions. She said: 'Harbinder Singh was asked to take part in the pageant as he is a leading member of the Sikh community and someone who has done a lot of charitable work.
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| Mr Rana was the guide for Prince Charles at his tour of the Punjab in 2006 |
Last night the Metropolitan Police confirmed that those travelling on the royal barge would have been security vetted.
But it is thought security chiefs did not deem him a threat to the Royals.
At his trial Rana protested his innocence and yesterday continued to say it was a case of 'mistaken identity'.
Speaking of his conviction he told the Mirror: 'It was very circumstantial It is an area I have switched off from my life and got on with it.'
Rana's previous convictions have caused controversy in the past. In 2002, the Sikh Secretariat, a campaigning group, said it was 'appalled' at Rana's role as a Government adviser.
Mr Singh Rana was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault, 11 counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and one count of attempted assault in August 1986.
© Daily Mail, London
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