Tidbits from letters between Diana, Philip read at inquest

Small partsofaffectionateletters between Princess Diana and her father-in-law, Prince Philip, were released Thursday to jurors at a British inquest into the deaths of the princess and her companion, Dodi Fayed.

Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Diana's boyfriend, has claimed that Philip directed a murderous conspiracy against the couple, who died in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.

But the inquest's coroner,Lord Justice Scott Baker, said the letters between the twoincluded nothing to support suggestions they contained "unpleasant, nasty or insulting" material.

Hedecided it would be inappropriate to fully release the documents because of their private content.

The correspondence between Philip and his daughter-in-law was produced by the prince's private secretary, Sir Miles Hunt-Davis. He provided the coroner with copies of Philip's typewritten letters to Diana and her handwritten replies between June and September, 1992.

The edited copies given to the jury showed the first and final few paragraphs of each letter, written at a time of growing strain in Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, Philip's oldest son.

In one of the letters read to the jury, Diana wrote: "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."

In anexchange about Diana's marriage to his son, Prince Philip wrote: "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 counselor!!!"

Dianaresponded that "you are very modest about your marriage guidance skills and I disagree with you.

"This latest letter of yours showed great understanding and tact and I hope to be able to draw on your advice in the months ahead," she wrote.

Philip's private secretary told the inquest that the prince wanted to make it known that his correspondence with Diana was a genuine and friendly attempt to resolve family issues.

Askedwhether Hunt-Davis,who read the letters,agreed with the prince's statement, he said, "There is not a single derogatory term in the correspondence. The general feeling throughout was of a father-in-law doing his very best to help his daughter-in-law resolve the problems that she and the Prince of Wales were having with their marriage."

Diana'scopies of the correspondence have not been found.

Her butler, Paul Burrell, has told British police that the tone of some of Philip's letters to Diana was "cutting and cruel," though others were warm and supportive. However, Burrell said Philip had never threatened the princess.

The lawyer representing Al Fayed, Michael Mansfield, suggested that one of Philip's letters described Dodi Fayed as "an oily bed-hopper."

Hunt-Davis replied that the allegation "sounds extremely unlikely."

When asked whether the letters expressed fears that Prince Philip wanted to see Diana dead, Hunt-Davis said: I did not ever hear that."

Mansfield also suggested Diana's behaviour and romance with Fayed worried the royal family. "I want to suggest to you that it was of extreme concern to the royal family that the Princess of Wales was cavorting on a yacht in the Mediterranean with the son of somebody who was regarded as undesirable," he said.

"The divorce was in August 1996. The lady concerned ceased to be a member of the royal family. That is all I am going to say," Hunt-Davis said.

Meanwhile, a friend of the princess, Rosa Monckton, denied Al Fayed's charge that she spied on Diana for British intelligence.

Monckton called it "absolute fantasy on his part" and said she believed somebody close to her is connected to the security services, but didn't identify the person.