Princess Diana 'almost reckless' on safety, says author

Princess Diana's former secretary, Patrick Jephson, said in an interview Diana "had become almost reckless in her disregard for herself" by the time of her fatal car accident

LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain's Princess Diana was "almost reckless" about her safety, which may have contributed to her death in 1997, the author of a new book about her said in an interview for U.S. television.

Her former private secretary Patrick Jephson, promoting "Shadows of a Princess," told presenter Barbara Walters the car crash in Paris probably would not have happened if Diana had kept the Scotland Yard bodyguards she shed three years earlier.

"By that stage she had become almost reckless in her disregard for herself," Britain's Daily Mail newspaper on Wednesday quoted Jephson as saying in the program to be aired in the United States on Friday.

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The Death of Princess Diana

"There was a desire for victimhood sometimes, or at least a desire for sympathy."

In the interview with Walters in London last month, Jephson said Diana's police bodyguards would never have let her get into the car driven by Henri Paul.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles issued a rare public statement deploring the planned publication of Jephson's book.

Charles and Diana's eldest son, Prince William, said he and his brother Harry felt "quite upset" by the insider's account that portrays their mother as a scheming liar.

Jepshon, who worked for Diana for more than seven years, also accused the royal family of turning her into a "rebel" by treating her with indifference instead of reaching out to her.

Diana was killed on August 31, 1997. Her failed marriage to heir-to-the-throne Charles ended in divorce in 1996.

Jephson has defended the book as a "truthful and balanced account" of his time with the princess.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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