Duke’s letters to Di were ‘nasty, cruel’

The Duke of Edinburgh wrote "nasty, cruel and disparaging" letters to his daughter-in-law, a close friend of Diana's has told the inquest into her death. Alternative therapist Simone Simmons said the princess had shown her two letters from Prince Philip dating from 1994 or 1995 which left her "absolutely shocked". The letters' exact content was not discussed at the inquest but five years ago Simmons, who practises "energy healing", publicly claimed to have seen letters in which the Duke called the princess a "harlot and a trollop". She said the duke had made observations about the propriety of the princess's behaviour. "Diana read out one of them because she was absolutely furious and she was actually imitating the voice of the Duke of Edinburgh at the time. After that she said to me 'What a cheek'.”

Last month, the Duke’s private secretary, Brigadier Sir Miles Hunt-Davis, showed the jury extracts of other letters between Princess Diana and Prince Philip suggesting a fond relationship between the two. A handwritten letter from Diana in 1992 referred to the Duke as "Dearest Pa" and praised his "great understanding and tact".

Simmons also told the jury that she believed it was "highly possible" the princess was murdered because of her high-profile campaign against landmines. At one point the princess sent her a note which said: "If something happens, MI5 or MI6 will have done it."