Love apparently blessed Princess Diana in her final hours. A Paris jeweler says he created a $200,000 diamond ring that Dodi Fayed gave to Diana during dinner Saturday night at the Ritz Hotel, just before they both died in a car crash.
Queen Elizabeth II, pressed by British papers to make a show of grief, announced she will speak to the nation Friday, the day before Diana's funeral in London.The Paris jeweler quoted in The Sun newspaper Thursday said he created an extraordinary diamond ring that Fayed gave to Diana that fateful night.
"He told me how much he was in love with the princess and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her," jeweler Alberto Repossi was quoted as saying.
Fayed had asked him to create "a ring of the like that had never been seen before," Re-pos-si said. The $205,400 ring was found in the wrecked car, according to The Sun.
When contacted by The Associated Press, Repossi refused to confirm or deny reports of the ring, but a shop employee said the ring had been sold to Fayed.
Press Association, the British national news agency, said the ring was turned over to Diana's sisters when they went to Paris to recover the body Monday and it is now at Kensington Palace, Diana's London home.The Italian celebrity magazine Chi reported that a day before the fatal car crash, Princess Diana told supermodel Cindy Crawford that Fayed had brought her happiness "for the first time in my life."
Diana called Crawford while on her Mediterranean cruise with Fayed, Crawford was quoted by Chi as saying.
`I again feel loved'
Crawford said when she asked Diana how she was feeling, Diana replied: "I am immensely happy. You know, I'm serious. For the first time in my life I can say I am really happy. Dodi is a fantastic man. He fills me with attention and care. I again feel loved."
Buckingham Palace more than tripled the length of Saturday's funeral procession Thursday to allow as many people as possible to share in the massive public grieving. The procession will proceed through central London to Westminster Abbey along a 31/2-mile route.
The abbey announced that Elton John will put new lyrics to his song "Candle in the Wind" and perform that special version at Diana's funeral. The two had been friends.
`Show us you care,' tabloids say
British papers, meanwhile, lambasted the queen and the royal family for failing to respond to the public outpouring of grief. "Speak to us Ma'am," one headlined Thursday. "Show us you care," said another.
The queen's spokesman responded with a rare public television appearance.
"The queen has asked me to say that the royal family have been have been hurt by suggestions that they are indifferent to the country's sorrow at the tragic death of the Princess of Wales," spokesman Geoffrey Crawford told the BBC.
The queen has remained with Prince Charles and her grandsons Prince William, 15, and Prince Harry, 12, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
"The princess was a much-loved national figure, but she was also a mother whose sons miss her deeply. Prince William and Prince Harry themselves want to be with their father and grandparents at this time in the quiet haven of Balmoral," Crawford said.
"As their grandmother, the queen is helping the princes to come to terms with their loss, as they prepare themselves for the public ordeal of mourning their mother with the nation on Saturday."
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday the reaction to Diana's death was "something more profound than anything I can remember."
"It's not just grief as a nation, it is personal to each and every one of us," he said.
Thirty-three-year-old Prince Edward, the queen's youngest child, was driven to St. James' Palace Thursday morning and signed a condolence book set aside for VIPs. He did not enter the Chapel Royal where Diana's body rests.
All this week, relatives, close friends and staff have quietly been visiting the chapel.
Diana's brother Charles, the ninth Earl Spencer, went to the chapel Wednesday afternoon, and Sarah, Duchess of York, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, also visited Wednesday.
3 more photographers held
As Britain mourned, French police detained three more photographers Thursday in the inves-ti-ga-tion of the crash that killed Diana, Fayed and their chauffeur in a Paris tunnel early Sunday.
The three photographers, whose identities were not revealed, knew they were being sought and turned themselves in at Paris police headquarters. They can be held for up to 48 hours without charges being filed.
Meanwhile, another photographer sought to counter claims he was trying to shove his way to professional glory at the accident scene.
"I tried to help, just to see if they were still alive," said Romuald Rat of the Gamma agency, explaining on French television why he opened a door of the mangled car before police arrived.
Rat is one of seven people - six photographers and a press motorcyclist - placed under formal investigation Tuesday for man-slaugh-ter and failure to help the victims, an obligation under French law.
All seven could face up to five years in prison and fines.
The paparazzi have been accused not only of precipitating the accident with their frenzied motorcycle pursuit of Diana but of hampering police access to the mangled car.
Rat and one other photographer have had their press cards and drivers' licenses removed and are forbidden to work until the case is resolved. But after remaining silent for several days, the photographers are now speaking out.
"I saw the princess sitting on the floor, her back to me. I said in English to stay calm, that I was there, that help would arrive," Rat told France-2 television.
Rat's boss, Didier Contant, said earlier that his photographer had taken Diana's pulse.
Diana's driver, Ritz security man Henri Paul, was legally drunk at the time of the accident and reportedly had taunted photographers to try and keep up with his Mercedes.
The lone survivor of the accident, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, remained hospitalized with serious injuries. Press reports said it will be weeks before police can question him because of his injuries.
A police report, published by Le Figaro, said photographers pushed back the first officer to arrive at the scene. It did not identify the photographers.
But Contant said of Rat: "He has no photo of the accident."