President's Princess Diana Denial

1 month ago 24th Sep 14:00

Valery Giscard d'Estaing has admitted he did not have an affair with Britain's Princess Diana.

The former French president - who penned the novel 'The Princess and the President' about a love affair between two characters based on himself and the late Princess of Wales - has admitted he made the racy storyline up because they were actually only friends.

He said: "Let's not exaggerate anything. I did get to know her a bit and we had a relationship of trust. She needed to talk. I fabricated the facts but not the places or the settings."

In the book, the 83-year-old statesman - who was president of France from 1974 to 1981 - tells the story of a fictional president called Jacques-Henri Lambertye, who falls in love with a British princess from Cardiff named Patricia.

Let's not exaggerate anything. I did get to know her a bit and we had a relationship of trust. She needed to talk. I fabricated the facts but not the places or the settings.

She is described as "very pretty, always in the media, and unhappy at home".

Although he admits the storyline was fictional, Valery said the novel was inspired by the late princess.

During a conversation between the pair in 1994 about the love lives of world leaders, Diana suggested he penned a book on it and mentioned it again when they spoke six weeks before she died in a car accident in Paris.

He told Agence France-Presse: "I considered that this was a promise that I had to keep. Princess Diana is the main character of this novel. I tried to bring her back to life, as she was when you met her and it seems to me the result is quite close to reality.

"She was much more beautiful in person that one can imagine, with an intense physical presence, a very nice complexion and a sporty figure.

"I tried to pay tribute to her by bringing her back to life in a novel that depicts her as she was, sincere and generous but often disappointed in others, in her lovers in particular. Deep down, she was filled with disappointment and a need to be loved."