The royal family reacted with fury and consternation to the prospect of a police probe into the car crash that claimed the lives of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed more than six years ago, sources close to Prince Charles said on Wednesday.
There was, however, no official comment from the palace other than to say they would co-operate fully.
The announcement by Royal Coroner Michael Burgess that the London police would investigate "speculation that these deaths were not the result of a sad, but relatively straightforward, road traffic accident in Paris" raised the prospect that Charles and the princes William and Harry would face police interviews.
Burgess acknowledged the probe would "give rise to considerable and possibly unnecessary intrusions into private grief", but made clear he had little choice in the face of relentless pressure from Mohamed Fayed, Dodi's father, and others who believe a conspiracy by the British establishment to be behind the deaths.
Wednesday's tabloids referred to a "murder inquiry", and the Times reported the mood in Charles' household was one of bewilderment and disbelief.
"We just never saw this coming," a friend of Charles told the paper.
'Absolute nonsense'
Charles' former press secretary Colleen Harris said that Diana's apparent belief that her former husband was plotting to have her killed in a faked accident was "absolute nonsense".
This detail was made public just hours before Burgess announced the police probe and was reported to have left the palace flabbergasted.
The Guardian newspaper described the police investigation as a waste of resources, characterising Tuesday's events as "absurd".
No evidence had been produced to cast doubt on the two-year investigation by French judge Herve Stephan, who concluded that the driver, Henri Paul, was under the influence of alcohol and anti- depressants and had been speeding at the time of the accident, it said.
There was, however, no official comment from the palace other than to say they would co-operate fully.
The announcement by Royal Coroner Michael Burgess that the London police would investigate "speculation that these deaths were not the result of a sad, but relatively straightforward, road traffic accident in Paris" raised the prospect that Charles and the princes William and Harry would face police interviews.
Burgess acknowledged the probe would "give rise to considerable and possibly unnecessary intrusions into private grief", but made clear he had little choice in the face of relentless pressure from Mohamed Fayed, Dodi's father, and others who believe a conspiracy by the British establishment to be behind the deaths.
Wednesday's tabloids referred to a "murder inquiry", and the Times reported the mood in Charles' household was one of bewilderment and disbelief.
"We just never saw this coming," a friend of Charles told the paper.
'Absolute nonsense'
Charles' former press secretary Colleen Harris said that Diana's apparent belief that her former husband was plotting to have her killed in a faked accident was "absolute nonsense".
This detail was made public just hours before Burgess announced the police probe and was reported to have left the palace flabbergasted.
The Guardian newspaper described the police investigation as a waste of resources, characterising Tuesday's events as "absurd".
No evidence had been produced to cast doubt on the two-year investigation by French judge Herve Stephan, who concluded that the driver, Henri Paul, was under the influence of alcohol and anti- depressants and had been speeding at the time of the accident, it said.
Charles? Oh no, 
