What the butler knew – and the spies, lawyers and bodyguards

Published on Monday 7 April 2008 23:02

HERE are some unlikely facts observers have learned during the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales:

&#149 Spies shop at Harrods – or at least buy hampers there. (From the evidence of MI6 employee "Miss X" who said that a search of the organisation's records for references to the department store found several instances of hampers being bought.)

&#149 The Duke of Edinburgh used an old-fashioned typewriter in which the letter "e" was filled in with ink for personal correspondence. (According to Diana's lawyer Maggie Rae, who temporarily kept her letters.)

&#149 Undertakers Leverton & Sons keep a special, hermetically sealed coffin at the ready in case a member of the Royal Family dies suddenly abroad. (From evidence of Clive Leverton.)

&#149 The MI6 cell operating in Paris in 1997 had a grey Renault Laguna as its official car. (From the statement of MI6 witness "1" in answer to speculation about a white Fiat Uno.)

&#149 Mohamed al-Fayed spends time in a special tent pitched on the lawn of Balnagown Castle, his Scottish home. (From bodyguard Kes Wingfield's evidence.)

&#149 Diana once made a cup of tea for Tony Blair's press chief Alistair Campbell while he filled a dishwasher. (Said Ms Rae.)

&#149 The princess cooked her own microwave meals. (Also according to Ms Rae.)

&#149 Diana's telephone calls to energy healer Simone Simmons could last up to ten hours. (From Ms Simmons.)

&#149 Mr Fayed delivered gifts to Kensington Palace using a Harrods coach and horses. (According to Paul Burrell.)

&#149 Security staff at the Ritz Hotel in Paris have contact with France's equivalent of MI5, the DST (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire) when foreign dignitaries are staying. (Said the hotel's former assistant president, Claude Roulet, in December.)

&#149 An MI6 officer drew up detailed secret plans to assassinate a top Balkan leader to prevent ethnic cleansing in the early 1990s. The plans were never carried out. (Confirmed by the organisation's former head, Sir Richard Dearlove, in February.)