Diana 'saw her lover's dying moments' before she lost consciousness

Lieutenant Sebastien Dorzee fought to reach the Princess through a mob of 'vicious and repellent' photographers after being flagged down by pedestrians, he said.

In the front of the mangled Mercedes, he saw the face of the driver, Henri Paul embedded in the steering wheel.

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Diana's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was looking at the officer and struggling to talk, but his jaw was broken in two, the jury was told.

In the back lay the crushed body of the woman he instantly recognised as Princess Diana.

"Blood was coming out of her mouth and nose,' he said in a statement made shortly after the crash.

"You could see a deep wound to her forehead.

"The Princess had half turned round in relation to her initial position and her head was between the two front seats, facing sideways and she could see her boyfriend just in front of her.

"She moved, her eyes were open, speaking to me in a foreign language. I think that she said 'My God' on seeing her boyfriend dying.

"At the same time she was rubbing her stomach. She must have been in pain.

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"She turned her head towards the front of the car, saw the driver and then I think she had an even better realisation of what was happening.

"She became agitated. A few seconds later she looked at me. Then she put her head down again and closed her eyes."

In an attempt to get Diana to regain consciousness, the officer leant into the car to tap her on the cheek and take her pulse.

Later the ambulance arrived to take her to Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, where she died after emergency surgery.

Lieutenant Dorzee's recollections of the night of August 31, 1997, were read from a series of statements to the inquest yesterday at the High Court in London.

He said that as he tried to reach the Princess, who was trapped in between the front and the rear seats of the Mercedes, a pack of 10-12 "extremely aggressive" photographers circled around the rear door taking pictures.

He said they were arguing among each other and insulting him.

"They were vicious and repellent," he said. "At no time did a photographer call the emergency services or come to lend a hand."

When police reinforcements arrived to arrest the photographers-some of them fled the scene, the jury was told. Lieutenant Dorzee said he later stood watch over the body of Dodi Fayed.

Earlier, another witness, Mark Butt told the hearing that a mysterious man appeared to "guard" a car and a motorcycle parked at the exit to the Alma tunnel.

The hearing continues.

While his partner Lino Gagliardone attended to Mr Rees, he said he tried to take Diana's pulse below her chin and speak to her as well as he could in English to reassure her.

"I maintained this position, all the while trying to get the photographers, who were going at one another and insulting me, out of the way," he said.