Prince Philip wrote 'cruel and derogatory' letter to Di

London, Jan 11 : Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, sent "cruel" and "derogatory" letters to Princess Diana which left her "red in the face," the inquest into her death has heard.

Simone Simmons, a complementary therapist and confidante of Diana, told the London hearing that Prince Philip sent two "nasty" notes to Diana, in which he slated her conduct.

The inquest has already seen affectionate letters written by the Duke to Diana in 1992 as he tried to help save her marriage to Prince Charles.

However, the therapist claims that the two letters she saw, one written in 1994 and the other in 1995, showed a completely different side to the relationship.

Simmons, who became close to Diana when the royal began attending her regular energy healing sessions in 1993, also revealed that Diana had a book on graphology, the study of handwriting, which she used to examine the writing styles of other royals.

"She showed me a couple of nasty letters as we were going though analysing things according to this book. Diana drew my attention only to two letters that really upset her," The Sun quoted her, as saying.

"Diana read one out to me, she was furious and she was imitating the voice of the Duke of Edinburgh," she added.

When questioned by Michael Mansfield QC, representing Diana's lover Dodi Al Fayed's father Mohamed al Fayed, Simmons said that one of the notes was typed while the other was hand-written, and both were signed by the Duke.

Mansfield asked if the notes were derogatory and Simmons replied: "Yes and very cruel as well," adding that they left Diana "red in the face".

ANI