Princess Diana's debut as Britain's goodwill ambassador lost some of its sparkle Friday when an elderly Argentine woman whose son died in the Falklands War screamed obscenities at her.

"Bitch! You bitch!" Lucia Mastroianni, 75, shouted in Spanish at the princess as she began a visit to a hospital."You daughter of a thousand whores. Go away," she cried before being taken away by hospital staff in a wheelchair. Her son Luis died on the cruiser General Bel-grano, sunk by a British submarine in the most controversial episode of the 1982 war.

The Princess of Wales did not flinch at the insults and kept up the smiles and compassion that have warmed an Argentine public initially indifferent to her four-day visit.

Wearing a pink tailored jacket and skirt, the 34-year-old estranged wife of Prince Charles went on with her hospital visits then met President Carlos Menem, no stranger to scandal himself, for lunch at his Olivos palace.

Diana has left behind the scandal whipped up by her frank television interview Monday in which she confessed adultery with her riding instructor, questioned Charles' fitness to be king and said the royal family treated her as an enemy.

While Britons believe she was not treated well, Diana accepts she will never be queen and wants instead to begin a new role as a "queen of people's hearts" and goodwill ambassador by trying to help heal the wounds of the Falklands War.

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Argentine Navy chief Adm. Enrique Molina Pico expressed sympathy for the woman who insulted Diana.

"I understand and respect (her) personal feelings. And if the lady really suffered the loss of a son, which is a loss that is unparalleled, well, she expressed her feelings," he said at a memorial for sailors who died in the Falklands.

Similarly bitter feelings were expressed by the ex-combatants association, which accused Diana of "coming to seduce public opinion (and) cast a smoke screen over the debate about the sovereignty of our Malvinas" - Argentina's name for the south Atlantic islands.

Diana returns to Britain Sunday.

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