DIANA PRINCESS OF WALES - SECRET BOND BETWEEN DIANA + PRINCE PHILIP REVEALED

SECRET BOND BETWEEN DIANA + PRINCE PHILIP REVEALED

Letters between late royal DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES and her stepfather PRINCE PHILIP have uncovered a surprising - and until now unknown - intimacy between the pair. The missives, written between June and September 1992, have sent ripples of intrigue in the British press since they were read in London's High Court on Thursday (13Dec07). They reveal Philip, the husband of British monarch Queen Elizabeth, as a close confidant and marriage counsellor to the Princess during the collapse of her marriage to his son, Prince Charles. In her first letter to the 86-year-old, Diana wrote, "Dearest Pa. I was so pleased to receive your letter, particularly to read that you are desperately anxious to help...." It ended, "I am very grateful to you for sending me such an honest and heartfelt letter. I hope you will read mine in the same spirit. With fondest love, Diana." Philip replied in his next letter, "If invited I will always do my utmost to help you and Charles to the best of my ability, but I am quite ready to concede that I have no talents as a marriage counsellor!!!" The letters were read out to the jury in the ongoing inquest into Diana's death, which aims to establish whether the princess and friend Dodi Al Fayed were simply the victims of a tragic accident, or if they were the targets of an assassination plot headed by the British royal family - as claimed by Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed.