Dodi's Dad Demands New Diana Death Probe

10/21/2003 at 07:55 AM EDT

Harrod's department store owner Mohamed al Fayed, whose son Dodi was killed in the same 1997 car crash that took the life of Princess Diana, urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday to launch a full inquiry into their deaths, reports Reuters.

Al Fayed was said to be reacting to this week's news about a secret letter revealed by Diana's butler, which showed that she had predicted her own death.

Al Fayed said Diana's words echoed in the letter what the former wife of Prince Charles had told him about fears for her life.

"The publication by Paul Burrell of a letter written to him by Diana ... confirms the suspicions I have so often voiced ... and which have thus far been ignored," Al Fayed said in a statement.

Buckingham Palace has long declined comments on Al Fayed's longstanding accusations that Diana and his son were murdered by British secret services because their relationship was embarrassing to the royal household.

Diana's letter came to light because Burrell's upcoming book, "A Royal Duty," which is excerpted in the next PEOPLE magazine, is currently being previewed in London's Mirror newspaper.

Burrell claims that before sealing the letter in an envelope marked "Paul," Diana told him: "I am going to date this and I want you to keep it ... just in case."

A British government spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday: "There are no plans for a public inquiry in this case."

Meanwhile, in the Mirror's latest excerpt from Burrell's book, it's revealed that Charles's father, the Duke of Edinburgh, purportedly wrote to Diana in the summer of 1992 to say that he and Queen Elizabeth "disapproved" of Charles's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Conventional wisdom had long been that the queen and Prince Philip had disapproved of Diana.

But according to the excerpt, the prince wrote, "I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla." He also reportedly goes on to say: "We do not approve of either of you having lovers.

"Charles was silly to risk everything with Camilla for a man in his position," wrote the prince. "We never dreamed he might feel like leaving you for her. Such a prospect never even entered our heads."

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