London: Princess Diana gave no indication that she intended to marry Dodi Fayed and made no arrangements to announce an engagement before she died, her butler testified on Monday at a coroner's inquest.
Paul Burrell, Diana's butler and confidant for a decade, said that if an announcement had been planned - as Dodi's father claims - he believes Diana would have put arrangements in place.
"I think she would have cleared the decks and made space, certainly in the week preceding the announcement," he told the court.
Recovering
Burrell described Diana's romance with Dodi as a "30-day relationship", saying she was still recovering from the end of a secret two-year relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.
In an interview published in British newspapers Sunday, Khan declined to discuss the reasons for the end of his relationship with Diana.
"The princess had just finished a long-term relationship with someone she cared deeply about," Burrell said. "I know that, because I was there. I saw it."
Burrell described Diana as being "on the rebound from that relationship when she met someone who was very kind and attentive and generous".
Burrell has previously disputed claims by Dodi's father, Mohammad Al Fayed, that Diana was pregnant with Dodi's child and that the couple were on the brink of announcing their engagement when they died in Paris on August 31, 1997.
"I want another marriage like I want a bad rash," Burrell has quoted Diana as saying in a telephone conversation when she was with Dodi in France.
Al Fayed has also claimed that his son and Diana were the targets of a conspiracy directed by Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2003, Burrell disclosed a note, believed to have been written by the princess in 1995 or 1996, expressing her fear of being killed.
"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. 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 Charles to marry..." the note said.
