Butler: I kept quiet over Dodi ring

The former butler wrote in 2003 that all he knew of one was from a conversation in the summer of 1997 in which he advised her to wear any ring on her right hand to avoid giving the impression she was engaged.

He wrote in his book A Royal Duty: "We never had another conversation about a ring or whether one was actually produced."

But he admitted at her inquest on Wednesday that he had in fact picked up a ring with Diana's possessions shortly after her death.

Accused of "lying" in his book by Michael Mansfield QC, for Dodi's father Mohamed al Fayed, he replied that was a "strong" term. "The reason I didn't include it in A Royal Duty was that I didn't feel I had to at the time," he told the court.

The inquest later heard from Britain's top policeman at the time that Diana died, who denied that she was murdered or that there was a police cover-up. Lord Condon, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner, said it would have been a "an absolute betrayal of everything I stood for".

Nicholas Hilliard, for the coroner, asked: "Is there any truth whatsoever in the suggestion that you as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police took part in a cover-up of a murder?"

Lord Condon told the jury: "That is absolutely wrong. I understand why it is being put forward by the legal representation for Mr al Fayed, and I respect their right to do so, but it would be absolutely contrary to everything I have stood for in my life."

The Attorney General later chose not to step in to curtail a BBC discussion on whether the Diana inquest is a waste of time.

Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker referred the planned Newsnight debate to Baroness Scotland after lawyers in the case warned it could prejudice proceedings. But the BBC vowed to press ahead and after the coroner's representations were considered, a spokesman for the Attorney General said no action was to be taken.