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Diana was bugged by secret service in US
Last updated at 12:28pm on 11.12.06
American intelligence agencies were bugging Princess Diana's telephone over her relationship with a US billionaire, the Evening Standard has learned.
She was even forced to abandon a planned holiday with her sons in the US with tycoon Teddy Forstmann on advice from secret services, who passed on their concerns to their British counterparts.
Both US and British intelligence then forced Diana to change her plans to stay with Mr Forstmann in the summer of 1997, saying it was too "dangerous" to take her sons there.
Instead the princess took the fateful decision to take a summer break with Harrods owner Mohamed Fayed. This ultimately led to her going to Paris with his son Dodi, where they died in a car crash.
The revelation from independent inquiries by the Evening Standard comes as it emerged that Princess Diana's phone was bugged by US intelligence agencies on the night she died without the permission of the British secret intelligence services.
Authoritative leaks say the extraordinary revelations will be published this week by Lord Stevens and is bound to raise fresh questions about conspiracy theories.
The US secret service was monitoring Diana's friendship with the controversial financier Mr Forstmann for some weeks.
Mohamed Fayed has always insisted the princess and Dodi Fayed were murdered in a plot involving MI6 agents and US intelligence.
The Standard has learned that Diana had agreed to a week's holiday with princes William and Harry in the US.
She had accepted an invitation from her one-time American boyfriend Mr Forstmann to stay with him at his house in the Hamptons.
But as she was travelling with the princes, she needed the trip to be cleared by the British security services. They surprisingly vetoed Diana's plans because of concerns about the security surrounding the billionaire's homes or perhaps a possible threat from elsewhere.
The decision by the security services ultimately led to Diana striking up her friendship with Dodi and returning to the south of France to holiday with him.
This led to her being in Paris on 31 August, the day of the crash.
The Evening Standard also understands that US secret services have a number of secret files on Diana and her closest associates that are held by the national security agency. The files, which include reports from foreign intelligence - thought to include MI5 and MI6 - come under both top secret and secret categories.The reports cannot be released because of "exceptionally grave damage to the national security". The documents on the princess seem to have arisen because of the company she kept rather than through any attempt to target her.
Diana enjoyed an intimate friendship with Mr Forstmann after her relationship with Prince Charles had broken down.
Lord Stevens is expected to conclude on Thursday that Diana, Dodi Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul died in an accident caused by him driving too fast through the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris while under the influence of drink.
Reader views (18)
Sounds like the Clinton Admin. has some explaining to do...
- George, Charlotte, NC
The U.S. is full of Mr. McClendons - and many of them are living in Portland.
- Rob Jacob, Greenville, Sout Carolina
Good for the US Secret Service. Glad some people still have the gall in this world to do what is necessary for national security.
- David, Atlanta, GA
Dennis asks why Clinton was spying on Princess Diana. Probably voyeurism. It was certainly more interesting than spying on Paula Jones.
- Pam, Fredericksburg, VA
No big deal. Just horndog Clinton listening to Diana and her lovers' hot chat.
- Noodles Noodlemann, St. Louis MO USA
Had Diana been wearing a seat belt I believe she would have survived the crash. Who's fault is that?
- Nancy Calvert, Houston, United States
Do not underestimate the cold-blooded lawlessness of the Clinton mob.
- George, Burke, VA USA
The US Government better have a pretty good reason for this. I'd like to hear it.
- Silvio, Ringwood, NJ
I was prepared to accept the drunk driving finding and have done with it. Now it seems the woman who supposedly only knew of designer clothing & charities was secretly bugged by US Intelligence, had a driver in the pay of French Intelligence and failed to notice him as being 3x the legal limit in alcohol? Maybe the conspiracy "crazies" were not so wrong after all.
- Janet, El Paso, Texas
Why was Bill Clinton spying on Pricess Diana?
- Dennis, NJ,USA
Sounds like Princess Diana will have the same stigma and fanfare as our JFK and Marilyn Monroe. No one will really know the true story.
Sad.
- Lisa, Baltimore
Remember those reports saying the Princess thought her phone was tapped and that she was being followed? Everyone let her think she was a loon. Everyone let the world think she was a loon. Now it seems there was merit to her paranoia. The poor woman...
- Stasmi, Mayville, MI USA
Conspiracy theories aside, I find it appalling and criminal that the Democratic Clinton administration would be part of illegal spying on a foreign citizen without the permission of that sovereign government. Shame on them.
- Tom G, Illinois, USA
Damn that President Bush and his secret wiretaps!
What? Clinton was President in 1997?
Nevermind.
- Frank Rizzo, NC, USA
Top level UK politicians must review the Diana phone tap case. Here in America, Bush is tapping any phone he wants, building dossiers on political antagonists. J. Edgar Hoover of our FBI did the same thing, 50 years ago, but he didn't have the massive computer systems that Bush commands. Your nation's self-interests are at stake, and you better damn well investigate this.
- Ed Mcclendon, Portland, oregon, USA
So let's get this straight: we now know that the US secret services was bugging her at the time of her death (and the tapes not handed over to the UK to date) and that Henri Paul was working for the French secret services and yet somehow, according to the media, this report demolishes the conspiracies? I rather think it gives them more credibility now!
- Athena Murphy, Hampstead, London
I agree with Michael. Though doubtless those with axes to grind will continue to grind them day-and-night.
- Martin, Telford England
Drunk driver + speeding = End of story. Can we not now put closure on this. Its not fair on her chiildren to rake over this again and again. The only people to gain now are the legal profession and the media.
- Michael, London
