London - Queen Elizabeth made an insurance claim for the cost of bringing the body of Princess Diana back to Britain from France, the Mirror newspaper claimed yesterday. Citing Buckingham Palace officials for its information, it said it had been assumed the royal family paid for Diana's body to be flown back to London on an air force plane after she was killed in a car crash in Paris two years ago.
The Mirror quoted a Buckingham Palace spokesman as saying the insurance claim was made in the interests of the taxpayer as royal travel was funded by government. Meanwhile, Mr Goksin Sipahioglu, president of Sipa Press, a Paris photographic agency, last night welcomed news that France's state prosecutor has recommended dismissing charges against photographers and a motorcyclist implicated in the car crash that killed Princess Diana. Judicial officials in Paris said the prosecutor decided there was insufficient evidence to pursue the charges against the nine photographers and motorcycle driver.