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LONDON - The dramatic letter in which Princess Diana outlined her fears that she would be killed in a staged car crash has been shown in full for the first time.
The first page, written in Diana's distinctive large, rounded hand, was made public after it was discussed at the inquest into the deaths of the Princess and her lover Dodi Fayed, London's Daily Express newspaper reported.
It shows that at the time the letter was written, apparently in October 1996, 10 months before her death, Diana feared she was to be killed to clear the way for Prince Charles to marry their children's nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke.
"I am sitting here at my desk today in October, longing for someone to hug me and encourage me to keep strong and hold my head high," she wrote.
"This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous.
"My husband is planning an accident in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy. Camilla is nothing but a decoy."
The first sheet of the four-page letter was published after Diana's friend, Brazilian diplomat's wife Lucia Flecha de Lima, insisted it could be a forgery, the Express said.
She claimed that Diana's butler Paul Burrell, who produced the letter in 2003 but with the names blanked out, was capable of imitating the princess' handwriting.
"I still don't believe in it. I still don't believe she was fearing for her life, especially from Prince Charles, the future king of your country," she said.
But the note, which the butler said was given him for safekeeping in case anything happened to Diana, reflected concerns that she shared with some of her closest advisers.
Diana confided her fears that she would be put aside to clear the way for Charles to marry Legge-Bourke and assume the throne to another confidant, her lawyer Lord Mishcon, two years before her death.
- AAP
