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Queen's rooms 'swept for bugging' Queen's offices 'swept for bugs'
(41 minutes later)
The Queen's rooms were regularly checked for bugging devices, the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed has heard.The Queen's rooms were regularly checked for bugging devices, the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed has heard.
Lord Fellowes - who was the Queen's private secretary in the 1990s - confirmed that the checks were made. But Lord Fellowes - who was the Queen's private secretary during the 1990s - insisted that the checks were only made to provide "reassurance".
But he added that they were intended to provide reassurance, and that eavesdropping was not a preoccupation. And he denied he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill the princess.
Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Dodi Al Fayed, believes MI6 was behind a plot to kill the princess. Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Dodi Al Fayed, has claimed Lord Fellowes was involved in the alleged MI6 plot.
But the peer - who is Diana's brother-in-law - told the inquest that he could not have been part of any attempt to murder her because at a crucial time he was listening to a talk by Rumpole of the Bailey creator, John Mortimer.
'Constant preoccupation'
It was being suggested that you were intimately concerned in the murder of your sister-in-law Ian Burnett QC
Diana, Dodi Al Fayed and driver Henri Paul died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
Lord Fellowes had explained how recordings of telephone calls made by Diana and the Prince of Wales - the so-called "Squidgy-gate" and "Camilla-gate" tapes - had led to meetings and correspondence between the heads of MI5 and GCHQ in 1993.
But he added that the then-home secretary had prevented a full Security Service investigation of the incident because of concerns the press would misrepresent such a move.
The peer - who was at the Queen's side for 22 years - was asked by Ian Burnett QC, counsel to the inquest, whether the threat of eavesdropping was a concern at the palace.
He replied: "I wouldn't say it was a constant preoccupation but yes, we needed reassurance at regular intervals that there was no bugging going on."
Lord Fellowes added that sweeps of the Queen's rooms had been carried out by the security services.
Mr Al Fayed - the owner of Harrods - has alleged Lord Fellowes helped to co-ordinate a murder plot by ordering a section of the British embassy in Paris to send messages to GCHQ shortly before the crash.
He has said Diana "feared" Lord Fellowes, who is married to her sister, Lady Jane Fellowes.
Mr Burnett told the peer: "It had been suggested, particularly in a letter from Mr Al Fayed, that it was said that you had been present in the British Embassy at 11 o'clock on the evening of 30 August 1997, commandeering the communications centre to send messages to GCHQ.
"In other words it was being suggested that you were intimately concerned in the murder of your sister-in-law."
Asked if he had been in Paris that night, Lord Fellowes answered: "No."
He added: "We were in Norfolk that evening, we had people to stay, we went to an entertainment by Mr John Mortimer in Burnham Market church."
The court has already heard that Diana had feared she had been under surveillance and had had her apartments at Kensington Palace swept for bugs by specialists.