Diana, Princess of Wales, believed that her phone calls were being monitored in the months before her death, her former private secretary said today.

Michael Gibbins also said that he detected disapproval from within the royal household about Diana’s lovers, and said he warned her about the likely ramifications of going on holiday with the al Fayed family, before her relationship with Dodi began.

At the inquest into the deaths of the Princess and her companion, Mr Gibbins was asked whether Diana had ever said she feared her calls were being monitored. He replied: “She never expressed that concern but her actions were such, in terms of changing her telephone number, that it was clear that that was a concern to her, yes.”

Under questioning by Michael Mansfield QC, representing Dodi’s father, Mohamed al Fayed, Mr Gibbins agreed that there was disapproval in “some quarters” about Diana’s relationships with men, whom Mr Mansfield listed as including Major James Hewitt, rugby player Will Carling, James Gilbey - associated with the infamous “Squidgygate” tapes - and Barry Mannakee.

He added that some of her causes such as the landmine campaign were raising eyebrows in some areas.

Mr Mansfield asked whether disapproval was coming not just from the tabloid press but the royal household itself.

He answered: “I’m not sure that I was directly aware of that but by inference certainly.”

Mr Gibbins told the hearing at the High Court in London how he spoke to the Princess less than two days before her death when she had appeared “her normal bubbly self” - but said she had not told him of any engagement to Dodi Fayed.

Asked about his time with Diana, he also revealed that the Princess, who was not wearing a seatbelt when her Mercedes crashed, had always insisted on wearing one on journeys and made him do likewise.

Mr Gibbins said he had a good working relationship with Diana and kept in regular contact with her even when she was abroad.

Asked whether the ramifications of her tell-all Panorama interview in November 1995 were still be felt when he went to work for her the next year, he replied: “Oh, yes.”

He told how he raised concerns about the media reaction when she first revealed that she was to take Princes William and Harry on holiday with Mohamed al Fayed earlier in the summer of 1997.

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