The inquest into Princess Diana's death is likely to be delayed after the royal coroner quit, blaming the work load of his main job as the coroner for the county of Surrey in southern England.
LONDON: The inquest into Princess Diana's death is likely to be delayed after the royal coroner quit, blaming the work load of his main job as the coroner for the county of Surrey in southern England, newspapers said on Saturday.
The inquest conducted by Michael Burgess into Diana, who was killed along with her companion Dodi al Fayed and their driver in a Paris car crash nine years ago, has been under way since 2004.
Burgess has asked for a senior judicial figure to take on the case, the newspapers said. An inquiry headed by John Stevens, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, into the circumstances surrounding Diana's death was expected to deliver a report to Burgess next month.
Burgess had asked Stevens to examine allegations that Diana's death was not an accident. A French inquiry in 1999 ruled that the accident was caused by Paul being drunk and driving too fast did little to stem rumours of a conspiracy and that Diana and Dodi were killed.
Burgess previously said he wanted the inquest to put an end to the speculation. On the day the inquest began in January 2004, reports said that Diana had written a letter to her former butler Paul Burrell 10 months before her death in which she said she suspected Charles was trying to kill her. "This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous," the letter said, according to excerpts leaked to the British media.
"My husband is planning an accident in my car, brake failure and serious head injury." Royal commentators said the letter raised questions about Diana's state of mind and in fact reduced the credibility of any of the allegations aimed at Charles.
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