Diana's Butler Gives More Evidence At Inquest

Paul Burrell, former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, has given more evidence at the inquest into her death.

Mr Burrell submitted personal journals to the coroner, after being instructed to return to his home in Cheshire to retrieve relevant material for the inquest on Monday. However, the journals were today deemed to be irrelevant.

On Monday, the 49-year-old, who worked for the princess for more than ten years until her death in 1997, told the inquest how Diana had considered marrying heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.

Mr Burrell revealed how he approached his wife's parish priest to inquire about a private marriage between a Christian woman and a Muslim man, after the princess asked him whether it would be possible to arrange such a thing.

He also revealed that the relationship had caused friction between the princess and her mother, Frances Shand Kydd.

Referring to her relationship with Dodi Al Fayed, Mr Burrell told the inquest that it had appeared to be a rebound relationship, after Diana's two-year relationship with Mr Khan ended in July 1997.

He also said that a ring bought for the princess by Mr Al Fayed was a "friendship band", not an engagement ring, and that she had told him that she needed marriage "like a rash".

On Tuesday, two of the princesses' former solicitors told the inquest that Diana had expressed her fears that she would be killed.

The lawyers, who were part of Diana's divorce legal time, said that the princess had first expressed her fears during a meeting in October 1995, which was also attended by her leading lawyer, the late Lord Mishcon. Lord Mishcon later went on to inform police of the princess' claims in 1997. Ms Rae described her as "deadly serious" about her concerns.

Ms Rae also told the inquest that Diana had claimed that the Queen would abdicate in April 1996 and said that she felt that her husband, the Prince of Wales, should not become king and that the crown should go directly to their eldest son William.

Ms Rae also said that she believe that Diana was living a "very lonely" existence at Kensington Palace at the time, and talked of speaking to her one weekend, which she had spent all alone in silent apartments in the Palace, microwaving her own meals.

Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris in August 1997, along with Dodi Al Fayed and the couple's driver, Henri Paul.

(KMcA)