Diana hasn't changed her leopard-skin spots

If it is true, one wonders why she does not pack her Louis Vuitton suitcases and go

If it is true, one wonders why she does not pack her Louis Vuitton suitcases and go. Diana, Princess of Wales, has not had much to occupy her time since her divorce. True, she has taken on the role of roving crusader in her work with the Red Cross. She has at one time been the Queen of Hearts. But, of course, hardly a week goes by without questions being raised over her future. Whatever she does she just cannot avoid criticism.

There are few issues that vex the British newspapers more than "What's Diana up to now?" Now, it seems that has changed and Diana has at last indicated that she no longer wishes to play the paparazzi game. In Britain at least. Speaking to journalists from the Daily Mail, the Sun and the Mirror, during her holiday on the Cote d'Azur this week, Diana apparently warned them to expect "a big surprise". Her sons, William and Harry, she says, are urging her to live abroad "and maybe that's what I should do - go and live abroad".

That was Monday. By Wednesday, having overshadowed Queen Elizabeth's golden wedding anniversary party at Buckingham Palace and her former husband's "alliance" with New Labour, the retraction was swift. If it was supposed to be a quiet holiday with her sons, and the owner of Harrods, Mr Mohamed al-Fayed, Diana couldn't have been more mistaken. A sevenline statement from the princess denying the reports in the British newspapers was greeted with wry smiles in the British press.

"Her purpose in talking to the press," she says now, "was merely to inquire how long they intended to remain in the south of France as the oppressive media presence was causing great distress to all the children. There was no discussion of the possibility of any statement being issued in the future."

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It raises the question why Diana bothers to issue statements of this kind at all. According to the Guardian, she is a victim of her own manipulation. Chatting to journalists for 10 minutes, frolicking on the quayside at St Tropez marina and insisting on sitting on a villa roof with a mobile phone in her hand, what more can she expect than a bevy of the tabloids' finest hanging on her every word?

One wonders why she does it. After 17 years in the spotlight one can almost understand why she might want to take a holiday - with a man whom the Tories would rather forget - and not have to answer to anyone. After all, she may say, she did inform her former husband and her former mother-in-law of her plans and they did not object. But once again, it appears that Diana is not content with appearances in New York and Pakistan. She knows that a photograph of her in a leopard print swimsuit is guaranteed to knock any other royal off the front page.

It is somewhat remarkable then that Diana might take the advice of her two sons and run. Informed sources are not convinced she will do anything of the sort. It is more likely, they say, that aiming squarely at her former royal in-laws, Diana was reminding them she is no longer under their control.

The "big surprise" could be a second marriage - some reports have suggested that she is having a relationship with a high-profile heart surgeon based at a London hospital. Or she may have been referring to a high-profile trip to promote her campaign against landmines.

What is clear is that her haphazard dealings with the media have not helped to clarify her future role any more than, say, expressing a wish to roam the world as a glamorous British ambassador.

So the question remains. What next for the princess? This week, at least, she has succeeded in bemusing the editors of the British press. One is quoted as saying: "She says she wanted it to be a private holiday and there she is doing her Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonations in St Tropez at the same time as millions of tourists are on holiday there."

However, there is another Diana, one for whom turning to the press in times of crisis is a regular act.