BRITAIN: The Prince of Wales took part yesterday in his first public engagement since being named in a letter in the possession of the former royal butler as the person who allegedly planned for Princess Diana to be involved in a car crash.
Charles was officially opening the Hereford Haven, a breast cancer support centre, as London's Metropolitan Police started an investigation into the death of the princess and Dodi Fayed in a car crash in Paris more than six years ago.
She was not pregnant when she died, a former royal coroner said yesterday, ruling out one of the rumours that has swirled around her death.
Dr John Burton, who was the royal coroner at the time, said he was present at a post-mortem examination after her body was returned to Britain from Paris.
"I was actually present when she was examined. She wasn't pregnant. I know she wasn't pregnant," he told the London Times.
Prince Charles was greeted by a crowd of about 100. One man shouted: "Well done, Charles, the country is behind you!" A woman added: "Keep your chin up, Charles." The prince did not talk about the letter or the opening of inquests into the deaths of Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi Fayed.
However, the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, the prince's biographer, said the claim in Diana's letter "beggars imagination".He said the prince's reaction to letter would have been to "raise his eyebrows" and say "I've just got to keep plugging on doing my job". He described Charles as strong but vulnerable."
- (PA)