Diana's Last Words Denied

LONDON: Nearly 10 months after her death, and Princess Diana still isn't getting any peace. Now her brother, Earl Spencer, is lashing out at Mohammed Al-Fayed, her lover's father. Al-Fayed claims that Diana asked a witness to her crash to pass along her last words to him. Nonsense, says the Ninth Earl. "There were no last words," Spencer insisted in a BBC interview Wednesday. "Her injuries were such that it was impossible to say anything... It's very upsetting that some people have tried to suggest otherwise. It's monstrous, really, isn't it?"

Monstrous is a word some might apply to the Earl himself, considering the revelations that emerged during his divorce trial: his serial adultery; his bullying of his wife. But Spencer is undaunted, and he's prepared to tackle all Diana conspiracy theories head-on. "I have seen no evidence that it was anything other than a tragic accident," he said. If that wasn't calculated to get up Al-Fayed's nose, Spencer adamantly denied reports that his sister and Dodi planned to wed: "It is completely ridiculous in my view." And as those who witnessed his Westminster Abbey oratory remember, the Earl is not afraid to impose his view on others.