Buckingham Palace was regularly swept for bugs

Buckingham Palace was regularly swept for bugging devices, the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and her companion Dodi Al Fayed has heard.

London, Feb 13 : Buckingham Palace was "regularly" swept for bugging devices, the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and her companion Dodi Al Fayed has heard.

The revelation came from the Queen's former private secretary Lord Fellowes, who also denied being involved in a plot to murder Diana.

"The rooms in which business was conducted by the Queen and by her private secretaries were swept on a regular basis by the security services," The Sun quoted him, as saying.

"I wouldn't say it was a constant preoccupation but yes we needed reassurance at regular intervals that there was no bugging going on," he added.

Lord Fellowes, who also happens to be Diana's brother-in-law, also said that while it was "possible" that the late royal's notorious Squidgygate tapes were the result of her phone being bugged by the secret service, it was "not exceedingly likely".

He also revealed that the 'Squidgygate' and 'Camillagate' tapes prompted high level meetings and correspondence involving the heads of MI5 and GCHQ, the Government's listening station, in early 1993.

However, the then Home Secretary blocked a full Security Service investigation for fear that such a move would leak out and be misrepresented in the press.

Lord Fellowes also shot down Mohamed Fayed's accusation that he worked on a plot to kill Diana from the British Embassy's communication centre in Paris, by stating that he was not even in the French capital at the time, but in Burnham Market church hall, Norfolk, at the Rumpole event.

The inquest into the Princess' death continues.

ANI