'Affectionate' Letters Counter Diana 'Death Plot' Allegations

The Princess Diana Inquest has heard details of apparently affectionate letters written by the late Princess to her then father-in-law, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The details were released to counter continuing allegations that the Queen's husband, Prince Philip, was at the centre of a plot to kill the Princess.

Harrods owner Mohamed al Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Diana in a Paris car crash 10 years ago, has claimed Prince Philip plotted the car accident to prevent the couple from marrying.

One extract showed Diana address Prince Philip as 'Dearest Pa' and go on to thank him for his marriage guidance skills.

The details have been shown to the jury at the continuing inquest into her death.

Prince Philip wrote in one letter: "If invited, I will always do my utmost to help you and Charles to the best of my ability, but I am quite ready to concede that I have no talents as a marriage counsellor!!!"

Diana replied: "Dearest Pa, I was particularly touched by your most recent letter which proved to me, if I didn't already know it, that you really do care."

The correspondence was produced by Brigadier Sir Miles Hunt-Davis, the Duke's private secretary, who said the correspondence was held entirely by Philip, who had agreed to provide copies of the letters which were written between June and September 1992.

He said media speculation about the letters' content had meant the Duke of Edinburgh "rather reluctantly, eventually authorised a statement to be issued saying that in no circumstances had he written anything to the Princess which was in the least way as described in the press reports".

(BMcC)