A former head of MI6 is to give evidence at the inquests of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed.

Sir Richard Dearlove, who was director of operations at the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) at the time of their deaths in Paris, will appear on February 20 and is expected to be questioned about the presence of MI6 officers in the French capital on the day of their car crash.

Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed and owner of Harrods, claims his son and Princess Diana were the victims of a conspiracy and MI6 had been involved in their demise.

Both MI6 and MI5 cooperated in the investigation carried out by Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, who concluded that Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed died as a result of the car accident, and dismissed the conspiracy allegations.

Sir Richard Dearlove was director of operations at MI6 between 1994 and 1999. In 1997 when the Princess died, he would have been responsible for all covert activities carried out by his service overseas.

Sir Richard was promoted to Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service in 1999. He retired in 2004 and was selected as Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge.

He has given public lectures on intelligence issues. However, this will be the first opportunity he has been given to comment on the allegations about his former service in relation to the death of Princess Diana.

At the inquest yesterday, it was claimed that the sole survivor of the crash in which Princess Diana was fatally wounded feared that he would be murdered if he ever regained his memory. Karen McKenzie, Mohamed Al Fayed’s housekeeper, said that Trevor Rees, who was acting as a bodyguard to the Princess and her lover, Dodi Fayed, confided in her when he was recovering from his injuries at Mr Al Fayed’s residence in Park Lane.

Ms McKenzie, wept in court as she recounted a conversation she said she had with Mr Rees weeks after the crash in the Alma Tunnel in Paris.

She said that Mr Rees had spoken to her as he was waiting for a lift, and said: “If I remember, they’ll kill me.”

Mr Rees has previously told the inquest that he did not make any such remark. Ms McKenzie told the court that she did not have a chance to ask him what he meant as the doors of the lift closed and he disappeared. Although she said she could not remember the context of the remarks, she insisted she was certain of what he had said.

“I can see Trevor in front of me, telling me. It is not something I am ever going to forget,” she said.

Lord Jay, who was Britain’s ambassador to France when the car crash took place in August 1997, denied at the hearings ordering that the Princess’s body be embalmed to “conceal the fact she was pregnant” with Dodi Fayed’s child.

He also denied an allegation that Lord Fellowes, then the Queen’s private secretary, was in Paris on the night of the crash.

The allegations have come from Mr Al Fayed, who believes that his son’s death was the result of a conspiracy between the Duke of Edinburgh and British security services to kill the couple. He alleges that the Princess was pregnant and that she and Dodi were planning to announce their engagement.

Mr Al Fayed also believes that spies based at the British embassy were operating under the Duke of Edinburgh’s command.

Lord Jay confirmed that agents from MI6, were operating at the embassy at the time, as was a representative of the Security Service, MI5. He said he has no reason to believe it had anything to do with the crash.

Their purpose was “to liaise with the French authorities on issues such as counter-terrorism, antidrugs work, security issues and to share intelligence on matters of foreign policy”.

The jury also heard from Stuart Benson, Mr Fayed’s legal adviser, who said that he interpreted a telephone call from his client to mean that the couple had got engaged.

Mr Benson spoke to Mr Fayed two days before the crash, he said. “It was singularly short and pretty much the exact words [were], ‘Can’t really talk over the phone but m ‘My friend and I have very exciting news. Are you around on Monday to have lunch as it will mean lots of issues to talk about and discuss?’”

No other details were given during the call. Mr Benson said that the “tone of voice” led him to believe that his client was speaking about engagement.

The hearings continue.

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