London: Princess Diana was pregnant at the time of her death in a road accident in Paris six years ago, a media report said.

"I can tell you that she (Diana) was pregnant," a senior police official in France was quoted as saying by the 'Independent' today (Dec 21, 2003).

According to the daily, the source dismissed suggestions that there was any murder conspiracy before the death of Diana, her friend Dodi al-Fayed and their driver in a car crash on August 31, 1992.

The source, who however claimed that there was "a cover-up of sorts" in the days following the crash, said medical reports, which have never been made public, showed that Diana was pregnant at the time of her death.

Reports that Diana was pregnant - first alleged by Dodi's father millionaire businessman Mohammed al-Fayed soon after her death - have been seized on by the wilder conspiracy theorists as a possible motive for an assassination plot by the Royal Family and British Government.

The source who, according to the report, saw all documents relating to the case surrounding her death, was speaking after a British coroner announced that he would hold inquests into the cause of the deaths of Diana and Dodi, beginning on January 6.

The same police source said the investigation file points clearly to an accident, caused in part by the fact that chauffeur Henri Paul had been drinking heavily.