LONDON - Princess Diana would not have become pregnant outside marriage as she was "brought up in a quite old-fashioned way", her stepmother told her inquest in London Wednesday.
Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of her boyfriend Dodi Fayed who died alongside her in a Paris car crash in 1997, has claimed that she was pregnant at the time of the smash, which he blames on a British establishment plot.
But Raine, Countess Spencer, told the inquest into Diana's death at the High Court in London that, while her stepdaughter was "deeply and blissfully" in love with Dodi Fayed, she was unlikely to be pregnant.
"Diana was brought up in a quite old-fashioned way," said the countess, whose mother was the late romantic novelist Barbara Cartland.
"I don't personally believe she would have considered it. It would have been out of the question for her," said Countess Spencer, whose relations with Diana were strained, according to media reports.
She also said that Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip were both "extremely nice" to Diana, despite Harrods department store owner Al-Fayed's claim that the prince was involved in a plot to kill her.
"Diana had never mentioned receiving any nasty letters from him," she added.
The couple died along with driver Henri Paul, who was over the drink-drive alcohol limit, after a high-speed crash in Paris on August 31, 1997 while being pursued by press photographers.
The inquest started in October and is expected to last well into next year.
kah/phz/ach
12/12/2007 18:27 GMT