Embalming of Princess Diana ‘regretted’

THE man who embalmed Diana, Princess of Wales, yesterday said he regretted not waiting to get the official written go-ahead.

Jean Monceau said that although he is certain that he did nothing wrong or illegal, it could have saved a lot of questions now.

He suggested to officials, both British and French, that the princess had to be embalmed to make her “presentable” for guests, including Prince Charles, Diana’s sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale and French President Jacques Chirac, who were on their way to Paris to view the body.

But Mohamed al-Fayed, whose son Dodi also died in the crash, is convinced the procedure was ordered by MI6 to conceal chemical traces of a pregnancy.

The Harrods owner believes Diana was carrying Dodi’s baby, but was murdered as part of a plot emanating from the Duke of Edinburgh to prevent the mother of the future king having a Muslim child.

Meanwhile, two High Court judges overturned a key decision by inquest coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker on handling evidence from the paparazzi who pursued Diana and Dodi on the night. He had proposed to read photographers’ statements to the jury because they are refusing to attend. But he was told he must call a “witness”.