THE Princess of Wales was at the centre of a video spy riddle last night after the emergence of film said to show her with cavalry officer Capt James Hewitt. The footage, showing the princess in her underwear, is thought to have been shot secretly through a window at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales's country home, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire.
It appears to confirm Diana's fears that she was spied on, perhaps by rogue MI5 agents or an SAS unit, during her failing marriage to the prince.
The video, shown on ITN's News at Ten last night and featured in the Sun today, is thought to be at least five years old. It was probably shot using a telephoto tens from a concealment outside Highgrove House when the prince was not at home and the princess was entertaining Capt Hewitt, with whom she had an affair.
The princess's spokeswoman declined to make an immediate comment.
The 80 second video tape appears to show the princess stripping down to her sports pants and bra, kissing Capt Hewitt, riding on his back and playfully fighting with pillows.
The video - believed to have been stored in a bank vault in America - was offered to the Sun during a clandestine meeting last Friday in west London.
Buckingham Palace last night rejected suggestions that the film could have been used to blackmail Diana. Diana has claimed that her phone calls were tapped, listening devices installed in her private apartments and her mail intercepted. During her 1995 Panorama interview, she feared the so called Squidgygate tape was an official attempt to discredit her.
MI5 and the British government have formally denied all knowledge of that tape and the tape of a conversation between the Prince of Wales and Ms Camilla Parker Bowles, but a disillusioned or rogue agent was suspected of running an unofficial spying operation.
Capt Hewitt told the Sun that he and Diana were "undoubtedly" spied on when they were together.