Britons Abuzz Over the Princess and the Non-Pauper : Celebrity: The British press wants to know if he’s a beau. But wealthy Sylmar printer Michael Flannery isn’t talking about his ties--if any--to Diana.

Let’s say your name is Michael Flannery, you own a big printing plant in Sylmar, and the British newspapers report that you’re a new chum and vacation host of Princess Diana.

Now let’s say you’re Michael Flannery’s family, and you claim not to have the slightest idea what the British press is talking about.

That’s the strange situation unfolding this week in a twisted fairy tale that might be called “The Princess and the Printer.”

British newspapers reported six months ago that the estranged wife of the Prince of Wales had stayed at the luxurious Vail, Colo., home of multimillionaire Sylmar printer Michael Flannery, 56, during her New Year’s skiing holiday.

The Sunday Times of London, in a Jan. 1 story expressing its amusement over Americans’ fascination with whether Diana had an American boyfriend, included Flannery in what the newspaper described as a short list of suspected beaus that included New York financier Theodore Forstmann. Flannery was described as “millionaire No. 2,” (to Forstmann’s No. 1) and “the perfect mystery man.”

The newspaper reported that a maid had confirmed that Princess Diana stayed at Flannery’s $4.1-million home on chic Forest Road in Vail, and her personal ski instructor was reported to have been seen driving into his estate.

Then British press interest in Flannery and his house flared anew over the past week when the princess returned to Colorado for a summer vacation with her two sons, Princes Harry and William.

By Friday, Fleet Street reporters were camped out at the house, which is close to homes owned by billionaire Ross Perot and leveraged-buyout king Henry Kravitz.

Flannery isn’t talking. He would not return a reporter’s calls. Flannery’s son denied that his father even owns a home in Vail. Flannery’s father declined to answer questions.

But a lawyer who represented Flannery in a lawsuit against a Vail real estate agent confirmed that the Sylmar printer owns the home in which Princess Diana is thought to be staying. And two friends of Flannery, who asked not to be identified, confirm that it is well known in his circle that he has hosted the princess at his home.

“Sure, sure, everyone knows that,” said one. “But it’s not boyfriend stuff. She’s basically just borrowing the house.”

He noted that Flannery, divorced about two years ago, has a girlfriend.

So who is this elusive hotelier to royalty? Three friends and business associates described Michael Flannery with the same words: “Very smart and very charming.”

He owns Valley Business Printers, an elegantly landscaped, 48,000-square-foot plant a few doors down from the Sylmar juvenile hall. The firm prints small newspapers as well as commercial advertising inserts.

Friends say he started the business from scratch a couple of years after serving in the Army even though his father, also named Michael Flannery, was once publisher of a string of weeklies.

According to another associate who declined to be named, a friend of Princess Diana saw a photograph of Flannery’s home in the Vail paper with a story about the real estate lawsuit. The friend is said to have received Diana’s permission to ask Flannery for the keys to the castle for the New Year’s weekend, and he is said to have given the nod.