Burrell dismisses Diana death plot

12 April 2012

It is "impossible" that Diana, Princess of Wales was murdered on the orders of members of the Royal Family, former butler Paul Burrell said.

Mr Burrell dismissed Mohamed al Fayed's claims that the crash in which Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed died was staged by MI6 on the orders of Prince Philip. He also ruled out the possibility that her ex-husband, the Prince of Wales, played a part in the tragedy.

Mr al Fayed is convinced MI6 staged the crash in Paris in 1997 on the orders of Prince Philip to prevent the couple marrying.

Asked by Ian Burnett QC, counsel to the inquest, if he knew of anything to support the suggestion that the couple were murdered, Mr Burrell said: "No, I can't begin to believe that. Knowing the members of the Royal Family as I do, and knowing them so well, I think that's impossible."

Dismissing suggestions that the Duke had written "nasty" letters to Diana during her divorce, he added: "The Princess was mother of his grandchildren, why would he want to harm her? It's not possible."

The court has seen a letter written by Diana in which she expressed fears that her husband was planning "an accident" in her car. The jury was also told that psychic Rita Rogers claimed that the brakes on Diana's car had been interfered with.

Mr Burnett asked Mr Burrell: "Did you take seriously the suggestion that Prince Charles was going to kill her?"

He replied: "No, I could not possibly see the father of her children murdering her. It was not possible. The Princess always had a great fondness for Prince Charles even after her divorce." He went on: "Prince Charles was not capable of murdering the Princess - they were cordial towards the end of her life."

Mr Burrell also told the court that Diana had considered marrying heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, who is a Muslim.

He added that the Princess broke off her relationship with her mother Frances Shand Kydd after a series of heated telephone conversations about her choice of partners.

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