Paying their due

The reports suggested that some of the four other partners working on the fund charged up to $400 an hour. But legal sources said that senior partners in big London firms routinely charged that amount with assistant solicitors earning around $150 an hour.

One of the trustees,the writer and broadcaster Vivienne Parry, said: “The financial benefits from the commercial projects being established by Mishcon de Reya will massively outweigh the costs of setting them up.“Of course we will keep an eye on the fees, but we can’t do something as big and complex as the memorial fund without the best legal advice.” She said that the trustees were “as one” in their confidence in the firm’s handling of legal issues such as clearing copyright for the multi-million selling Diana Tribute Album and issuing licences for Diana memorabilia.“If you are doing something like this, you have to do it properly.

You can’t expect to pop into a local high street solicitors and ask them to do international copyright law, without which the Diana Tribute Album would never have come out. This firm was the Princess of Wales’ first choice.

Furthermore, they have thrown resources at this and haven’t charged us for half of it.”Confirming the $800,000 figure, the firm’s statement said the money was for the cost of legal transactions and the 20 per cent discount was equivalent to its normal profit margin. A further 15 assistants were working on the fund’s affairs, assessing more than 1,500 projects and helping to establish rights to Diana’s name and image around the world.

John Jackson, the firm’s chairman, said: “We regret that this leaked document has been sensationalised. We are satisfied that our fees are charged in a proper way and at a proper quantum.”The fund has raised about $57.7 million, much of it from sales of Elton John’s Candle in the Wind ’97 which has become the biggest selling single ever with sales of 33 million.