In 1993, Princess Diana put something deeply disturbing in writing.Ten months after her separation from Prince Charles was announced, Diana wrote a handwritten note to her then-butler, Paul Burrell, in which she claimed that her estranged husband was planning an “accident” involving her car.The letter later became part of the evidence examined during the inquest into Diana’s death.
What did Diana write?
In the note, dated October 1993, Diana described that period of her life as the “most dangerous” and said she was longing for someone to comfort her.She then made the startling claim that her husband was planning an accident involving brake failure and a serious head injury, allegedly to clear the way for him to marry Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who had been nanny to Princes William and Harry.Diana also referred to Camilla, writing that she was merely a “decoy” and suggesting that others were being used as part of the situation.The contents of the letter were later shown at the inquest into Diana’s death at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Diana’s fears were disputed
The letter became particularly significant because people close to Diana had given different accounts of whether she had ever expressed fears about her safety.During the inquest, Lucia Flecha da Lima, the wife of the former Brazilian ambassador to London and one of Diana’s close confidantes, was shown the letter.She rejected the suggestion that Diana had genuinely feared for her life.
What happened after the letter?
The note was written years before Diana’s death in Paris in August 1997.During the inquest, her fears and the circumstances surrounding her death became the subject of intense scrutiny. Mohamed Fayed, the father of Diana’s partner Dodi Fayed, alleged that Diana and Dodi had been killed as part of a conspiracy involving British intelligence.Those claims were strongly disputed.The 1993 letter nevertheless remained one of the most striking pieces of evidence discussed during the proceedings because it offered a glimpse into Diana’s state of mind several years before the fatal Paris crash.And it wasn’t the only time Diana was said to have voiced concerns. The inquest also heard that in October 1995, she told her solicitor Lord Mishcon that “reliable sources” had allegedly warned her about plans to remove her and Camilla from the picture.The handwritten note therefore continues to attract attention not simply because of what Diana wrote, but because of the much bigger question surrounding it: what did she actually fear, and why?
