LONDON (AFP) - Princess Diana addressed her last boyfriend as "darling Dodi" in letters thanking him for a holiday on his yacht and sending him her fathers cufflinks as a present, her inquest in London heard Friday.
In one letter she also referred to herself as a "chick".
Diana died alongside Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul in a high-speed car crash in Paris in August 1997. The High Court has previously heard that Fayed bought Diana an expensive engagement ring hours before the smash.
Fayeds father Mohamed Al-Fayed, who owns Harrods department store in London, says that the couple were about to become engaged, despite claims by several Diana confidantes that the relationship was casual.
Model Kelly Fisher gave evidence insisting that she was engaged to Fayed and felt "humiliated" when he was pictured kissing Diana in the press.
In one letter, Diana, former wife of heir to the throne Prince Charles, thanks "darling Dodi" for a six-day holiday on his yacht, adding: "This comes with all the love in the world and as always a million heartfelt thanks for bringing such joy into this particular chicks life."
In another, she writes: "Darling Dodi, these cufflinks were the very last gift from the man I loved most in the world, my father.
"They are given to you as I know how much joy it would give him to know they were in such safe and special hands. Fondest love, Diana."
But under questioning from Al-Fayeds lawyer Michael Mansfield, Rosa Monckton, a friend of Diana, played down the seriousness of the relationship, which she admitted she did not approve of.
Monckton said that Diana "tended to speak and write in an extravagant way" and that any ring which he gave her "was going firmly on her right hand".
She said Diana would have still been in a relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan when she met Fayed had he not ended their relationship because he was uncomfortable with the limelight.
"She told me Hasnat would never have her back once the photographs of her with Dodi had appeared and she was very upset about it," Monckton told the inquest.
The inquest also heard from Fisher, who dated Fayed shortly before his death and insisted she was engaged to him.
She said that she was very upset when Fayed and Diana were pictured kissing in the media and called him to ask if their relationship was over, to be told it had ended two months previously.
"I was really going a little bit crazy and he did make a nice gesture to me and he told me, if I wanted, he would get me a psychiatrist, which was really nice," she told the hearing.
"He did want to marry me, he asked my family, he bought us a house to live in, he gave me a beautiful engagement ring.
"And why would I sit here ten years later when I have a completely new life and lie about being engaged to someone?... We were engaged and thats all there is to say about it."
