Pathologist denies Diana was pregnant

Photo: Pathologist denies Diana was pregnant

The pathologist who examined Princess Diana after her death said she had showed no sign of pregnancy.

Dr. Robert Chapman, testifying at an inquest into the death of the princess and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, said there were no physical signs. However, he said, there might not any visible signs at an early stage of pregnancy.

Chapman's testimony was briefly interrupted by two spectators in the court, one of whom shouted something about "the conspiracy." Both were ejected.

Fayed's father, Mohamed al Fayed, who claims the couple were the targets of a conspiracy directed by Prince Philip, has asserted that Diana was pregnant with Dodi's child and that this was one motive for the plot.

Chapman's findings had been disclosed in December in the report done by London's Metropolitan Police.

Chapman, who performed post mortems after the couple's bodies were returned to Britain on Aug. 31, 1997, said he inspected Diana's womb and ovaries as he would for any woman of childbearing age.

He said signs of a pregnancy could be detected as early as seven days.

"Certainly from day one to seven there could not or would not be anything to see," he said.

"From day seven to 14 you might see something, thereafter there is an increasing likelihood of being able to see things which would indicate pregnancy."

He said fluids used by embalmers in Paris made it impossible to do blood tests, but that would not affected physical evidence in the womb or ovaries.

"An established pregnancy will show one a change in the size of the uterus, a change in the thickness of the lining and presence of a gestation sac, an embryo with membranes, attached to the wall of the uterus and there will be changes also in the appearance of the ovaries."

"Were any of these indications present here?" attorney Nicholas Hilliard asked.

"No," Chapman said.