The Queen warned former butler Paul Burrell of "powers at work in this country" shortly after the death Diana, Princess of Wales, her inquest was told.

Mr Burrell said the Queen had made the remarks during a 90-minute meeting with him, but that he had not asked her to clarify what she meant.

Ian Burnett QC, counsel for the inquest, suggested that possible explanations included media chiefs, the Establishment and the security services.

The Princess had been convinced she was being bugged via her mobile phone and home land lines - a claim which Mr Burrell suggested may well have been true.

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Mr Burrell said the Queen had shown her concern in such a way because she is "just a wonderful lady".

"I think it was a general 'be careful warning' over many issues," he told the court.

"This was unprecedented times and as the Queen said to me, no one has been as close to a member of my family and this has never happened before.

"The Queen is a good, kind, devout lady and she looks after members of her staff who look after her on a daily basis. As I had done to her, she extended me the kindness of looking after me."

Fears that she was being spied on led to a search for surveillance equipment in the Princess's apartment, with the carpet and floorboards in her sitting room taken up.

But Mr Burrell told jurors no gadgets were found.

Discussing letters that the Duke of Edinburgh wrote to the Princess, Mr Burrell said they had seemed "cutting" but not nasty.

In an apparent reference to claims that he ordered her death, he said: "Why would he want to harm her?"

He said the letters, written in 1992, reflected a "healthy banter" between the two.

"When they arrived they were startling," he said. "The Princess didn't expect them and they did seem to be rather cutting from a member of your family.

"But they are frank and supportive and do contain constructive criticism."

He went on: "The Princess did not particularly like what she was told but Prince Philip was always frank."

The court also heard Mr Burrell contend that the Princess had planned secretly to marry Hasnat Khan, the heart surgeon with whom she had a two-year relationship.

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