Around 10 months before her death, princess Diana wrote a letter claiming there was a plot to tamper with the brakes of her car, cause an accident and clear the way for ex-husband Prince Charles to remarry.

Diana wrote the sensational letter to her former butler, Paul Burrell. It has been reproduced in the Daily Mirror newspaper, which is serialising Burrell's book.

The disclosure comes weeks before the heir to the British throne arrives in India on a nine-day official visit at the invitation of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Diana and her friend Dodi al Fayed were killed on August 31, 1997 when their chauffeur-driven Mercedes crashed in the Pont D'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. A French inquiry in 1999 blamed chauffeur Henri Paul after concluding he had taken a cocktail of drink and drugs and was driving too fast.

In the letter, Diana said, "I am sitting here at my desk today in October, longing for someone to hug me and encourage me to keep strong and hold my head high.

This particular phase in my life is the most (most is underlined) dangerous. (The princess then identified where she felt the threat and danger would come from) ... is planning "an accident" in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry.

[Daily Mirror blacked out the name for legal reasons.]

I have been battered, bruised and abused mentally by a system for years now, but I feel no resentment, I carry no hatred. I am weary of the battles, but I will never surrender. I am strong inside and maybe that is a problem for my enemies.

Thank you, Charles, for putting me through such hell and for giving me the opportunity to learn from the cruel things you have done to me.

I have gone forward fast and have cried more than anyone will ever know.

The anguish nearly killed me, but my inner strength has never let me down, and my guides have taken such good care of me up there."

Burrell said he released the letter to the Daily Mirror in the hope that it would lead to a British inquest and a "thorough investigation of the facts by British authorities."

"With the benefit of hindsight, the content of that letter has bothered me since her death," he told the newspaper.