Tapes recording Diana's marriage 'confessions' may be shown on TV
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A legal battle over a series of videotapes in which Diana, Princess of Wales, is believed to have discussed her marital breakdown has ended, paving the way for their sale for millions of pounds.
The footage on up to 20 tapes was recorded by Diana's voice coach, Peter Settelen, and has now been returned to him after a long-running dispute with her family. It is thought that he could now agree a deal with a television company for their broadcast.
Mr Settelen - who made the tapes in the early 1990s - earlier this year sold material from another tape which will be used by a US channel.
The former actor was yesterday unwilling to discuss what would happen to the tapes. Until last week, Mr Settelen had been in dispute with Diana's family, headed by her brother, Earl Spencer, who claimed the tapes belonged to them. The videos had been held by Scotland Yard after being seized in a January 2001 raid on the home of former royal butler Paul Burrell's home.
The Metropolitan police had asked the High Court to decide who had the best claim to the material, but a Scotland Yard spokesman said yesterday the two sides came to an "agreement". The tapes were handed back to Mr Settelen on Thursday.
The Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The Metropolitan police remains neutral in this matter and issued proceedings in the High Court to enable the court to decide which party had better title to the tapes.
"The two parties claiming the tapes came to an agreement on ownership, the Met then agreed that the matter could be discontinued. On Monday, a consent order to discontinue the proceedings was approved by the High Court. The Met handed back the tapes to the successful party on Thursday."
A statement issued by Mr Settelen's solicitor, Marcus Rutherford, said: "After nearly seven years struggling to regain possession of his property, Peter is delighted that the videotape record of the work he did with Princess Diana is back under his control. He does not intend to engage in speculation as to what will become of the material, but can confirm that the tapes are held in a secure location away from his home."
There had been fears that to establish ownership of copyright, the videos could have been shown during a court hearing. The content was regarded as so sensitive that the prosecution agreed not to use them in Mr Burrell's Old Bailey trial, which collapsed in 2002. He had been accused of theft from the princess's estate.
Diana had been keen to improve her public speaking and instantly clicked with Mr Settelen. They worked together for some 60 sessions. In the tapes she is reported to talk about her childhood, her relationship with her family and her sense of isolation.
The tapes are thought to have disappeared from Diana's Kensington Palace apartment following her deathin 1997, but turned up at Mr Burrell's home. American television networks are expected to start a bidding war for the tapes. Mr Settelen has previously sold other video footage with the princess to the NBC network. That featured in a two-part documentary Princess Diana: The Secret Tapes which was aired in the US in March. Audio tapes recorded some six years before Diana's death were also sold. In the documentary, Diana claimed that Prince Charles had never "supported or encouraged" her throughout their marriage.
"I had so many dreams as a young girl," she said, "hopes that my husband would look after me, would be like a father figure. He would support me, encourage me, say 'well done'. I didn't get any of that".
No one from Diana's family was prepared to comment yesterday.