DIANA, Princess of Wales, was a “tempestuous” woman who refused to talk to her mother for the last four months of her life.

Frances Shand Kydd told the Old Bailey yesterday of the “loving but frustrating” relationship that she had with her daughter.

Mrs Shand Kydd, 66, said that the Princess returned her letters unopened but denied this was because of a final quarrel about the Princess’s private life and the company she was keeping.

She was giving evidence for the prosecution at the trial of the Princess’s former butler Paul Burrell, who is accused of stealing more than 300 items from Kensington Palace after the death of Diana in 1997.

Mr Burrell, who denies three counts of theft, has claimed that the Princess regarded him as her “rock”. Mrs Shand Kydd ridiculed the suggestion during her one hour 55 minutes in the witness box. She told Lord Carlile, QC, for the defence: “This is a term she used regularly to many people. She called me her rock and star.” But she regarded Mr Burrell specially as her rock, didn’t she? Lord Carlile suggested. “Not only him, not in the sense you are indicating.”

She accepted that her daughter trusted Mr Burrell implicitly, that he served her most closely, and was genuinely distressed by her untimely death in Paris. Mrs Shand Kydd agreed that the Princess could be tempestuous and accepted that she (Mrs Shand Kydd) had had rifts with other members of the family which led to lengthy periods of silence. She said that her daughter liked her own household around her, was nervous about leaks of personal matters, and would not tolerate interference.

Mrs Shand Kydd agreed that when she began disposing of some of her daughter’s effects, she had shredded correspondence. She denied, however, that she shredded “a very large amount” of documents and said that only between 50 and 100 cards and letters — mainly thank-you notes to Diana for gifts and acts of kindness — had been destroyed. She also firmly denied shredding thank-you notes to the Princess from Maria Burrell, Mr Burrell’s wife, for gifts such as dresses allegedly passed on.

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