Princess Diana’s former bodyguard claims she planned to flee to the US without Princes William and Harry

The late royal’s former bodyguard has revealed the extreme length the princess planned to take to flee the British press.

Princess Diana planned to sacrifice a life with her sons and move to America in a bid to escape the UK media, according to her former bodyguard.

While the princess would be forced to leave her children behind, she planned to take boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed with her, Lee Sansum revealed in his new book, Protecting Diana: A Bodyguard’s Story, reports Page Six.

Diana, Princess of Wales with boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed in St Tropez. Picture: Supplied

Mr Sansum, who looked after Princess Diana and her sons Princes William and Harry when they holidayed in St Tropez in 1997, said the press were “the bane of her life everywhere, not just in St Tropez.

Diana with sons Princes William and Harry were constantly followed by the media.

“And she said to me, ‘There is nothing I can do in the UK. The papers there attack me no matter what I do.’ Then she told me, ‘I want to go to the US and live there so I can get away from it all. At least in America they like me and will leave me alone.’”

In the book, Mr Sansum recalls asking Diana if her sons, then 15 and 12, would be going with her, with Diana explaining she would never be allowed to take them and that, if she moved, she would probably only be able to see them on their school holidays.

The media was the bane of Princess Diana’s life. Picture: WireImage

“You could tell Diana was a wonderful mother, so loving and attentive to her two boys but it looked as if she might have to leave them both behind in the UK to escape from the press, who hounded her relentlessly every single day of her life,” Mr Sansum writes.

“It was also to free them from all of the attention they got when she was with them.”

A few days into the holiday, Diana became fed up with the lurking press and announced she was going to tell them she was leaving the UK for good.

“I was alarmed because if we thought the press pack outside was huge now, just for her holiday, it would probably go up ten-fold if she gave them a story as big as this one,” the author writes.

“The place would be swarming with paps, desperate to get pictures of the princess who was about to leave it all behind to run off to America.”

Princess Diana wanted to protect her sons from the relentless UK media.

According to the book, Diana did go out to speak to reporters but ultimately did not say anything about her plans.

In the book, Mr Sansum also rejected claims Princess Diana was mentally unstable.

“I can tell you that I spent 10 days close to her and she was one of the most balanced people I have ever met,” he writes.

“I ought to know. I am trained to spot if someone is unbalanced. It’s part of my job. You look for signs that people give off when they are under stress because it means they might be about to do something. Diana wasn’t excessively angry or out of control. She was normal and very deliberate.”

Princess Diana’s former security detail says Diana was a loving mother. Picture: AFP

He also said Dodi Al-Fayed was more than just a summer fling designed to make Diana’s ex-boyfriend Dr. Hasnat Khan jealous.

“They were really friendly and affectionate towards one another,” he writes of Di and Dodi. “The guys on the security team all thought it was game on and would develop into a serious relationship. You wouldn’t see them kissing in public, so some people misread that as if it wasn’t a romantic relationship but her boys were often around and the paparazzi were always there too, so that naturally made them more cautious and less demonstrative to one another.”

Princess Diana was 36 when she died. Picture: AFP

“Diana was one of the nicest people you could meet,” Mr Sansum recalls.

“She was lovely, in fact, just a normal person who clearly loved her boys. The poor woman got slagged off for everything she did – even when it was really normal stuff like working out to stay fit, the press gave her grief about that too. It was so unfair.”

Princess Diana was 36 when she died.

Originally published as Princess Diana’s former bodyguard claims she planned to flee to the US without Princes William and Harry