Butler says Queen worried about Dodi-Diana union

LONDON – Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell said yesterday Britain’s Queen Elizabeth told him she had been concerned about Diana having a long-term relationship with Dodi al-Fayed.

Giving his third day of testimony at an inquest into their 1997 deaths in a Paris car crash, Burrell explained how he had requested a meeting with the monarch after Diana’s death because he was concerned that Diana’s mother, Frances Shand Kydd, was shredding so many of Diana’s documents. When pressed in court about what Queen Elizabeth had told him at the meeting, a reluctant Burrell said the queen was concerned that the princess had become “rather over-excited.”Asked what she said about a long-term union with Dodi, Burrell replied “Her Majesty was concerned about the future.”Luxury storeowner Mohamed Al-Fayed alleges that his son and Diana were killed by British security services on the orders of the queen’s husband, Prince Philip.Fayed believes her killing was ordered because the royal family did not want the mother of the future king having a child with his son.He alleges that Diana’s body was embalmed to cover up evidence she was expecting a baby.Al-Fayed’s lawyer Michael Mansfield asked Burrell about suggestions that Prince Philip, notorious for making tactless gaffes in jest, had called Dodi “an oily bedhopper.”Burrell said of Prince Philip: “He has made a few mistakes in the past.I cannot possibly think he would say that.”The disappearance of confidential court papers prompted the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, to issue a stern warning yesterday to anyone caught removing evidence.A lawyer’s copy of documents, which included a witness statement and a confidential letter from Paul Burrell, disappeared and were later found on the first-floor landing in the Royal Courts of Justice where the inquest is being heard.”If anybody is found taking documents from counsel in this way, they can expect very serious consequences,” Scott Baker told the court.Nampa-ReutersWhen pressed in court about what Queen Elizabeth had told him at the meeting, a reluctant Burrell said the queen was concerned that the princess had become “rather over-excited.”Asked what she said about a long-term union with Dodi, Burrell replied “Her Majesty was concerned about the future.”Luxury storeowner Mohamed Al-Fayed alleges that his son and Diana were killed by British security services on the orders of the queen’s husband, Prince Philip.Fayed believes her killing was ordered because the royal family did not want the mother of the future king having a child with his son.He alleges that Diana’s body was embalmed to cover up evidence she was expecting a baby.Al-Fayed’s lawyer Michael Mansfield asked Burrell about suggestions that Prince Philip, notorious for making tactless gaffes in jest, had called Dodi “an oily bedhopper.”Burrell said of Prince Philip: “He has made a few mistakes in the past.I cannot possibly think he would say that.”The disappearance of confidential court papers prompted the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, to issue a stern warning yesterday to anyone caught removing evidence.A lawyer’s copy of documents, which included a witness statement and a confidential letter from Paul Burrell, disappeared and were later found on the first-floor landing in the Royal Courts of Justice where the inquest is being heard.”If anybody is found taking documents from counsel in this way, they can expect very serious consequences,” Scott Baker told the court.Nampa-Reuters