Priest backs marriage inquiry claim

In a statement read to the jury at the High Court in London, Father Anthony Parsons recalled a conversation in which the topic was raised.

The priest, who then served at the Carmelite Church in Kensington, said he understood the question referred to Diana but added that he never knew who the man involved was.

Mr Burrell told the inquest last week that he sounded the priest out on the subject of a marriage involving a Muslim while Diana was in a relationship with Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan. The couple split in the summer of 1997 just before Diana began a relationship with Dodi Fayed, Mr Burrell said.

Fr Parsons said he first met Mr Burrell's wife Maria (whom he referred to as Marie) in 1996 and had come to consider the couple as friends, occasionally visiting their home in Kensington where they discussed spiritual matters.

"It was on an evening in 1997 that I was again invited round to their home, this was nothing out of the ordinary," he recalled.

"At some point during the course of the evening Paul Burrell asked me: 'Is it possible for a Muslim to marry a non-Catholic in a Catholic church?'"

He said that he answered that he was not sure, adding that he would find out from the "powers that be" if he wanted, to which Mr Burrell said he did.

He added that Mr Burrell had intimated that the Princess was connected with the inquiry in some way.

"He said something along the lines of 'obviously I would appreciate your discretion'." The priest continued that he had raised the matter with fellow clerics but had not taken it any further.