State benefits from Diana will

LONDON, March 3: The state got the lion's share of the will of Diana, Princess of Wales, taking more than 14 million dollars in inheritance ...

LONDON, March 3: The state got the lion8217;s share of the will of Diana, Princess of Wales, taking more than 14 million dollars in inheritance tax from her 34.6 million dollars legacy.

Her sons William and Harry will share what is left, with small gift bequests to her 17 godchildren and an 82,000 dollar quot;thank youquot; to her former butler Paul Burrel.

Details of the will, the first to be made public by a close member of the royal family, were published yesterday. It promises to be a best seller and there were queues outside Somereset House in London where the will was on sale for 1.2 dollars.

Six months after her death in a Paris car crash, her will reveals that Diana was listed among the top 1,000 fortunes in Britain and that she left a total of 21,468,352 million pounds in shares, bank deposits, jewels and clothes. Most of Diana8217;s money came from the 27 million dollars settlement she received when she divorced Prince Charles, as well as an annual allowance.

Contrary to reports that the Princess wasa spendthrift, financial experts said she had looked after her money well and protected the inheritance her sons will receive. William and Harry therefore will receive about 11 million dollars each as Diana expressly wished that the two boys should be given the same treatment.

Meanwhile, the bodyguard who survived the accident, Trevor Rees-Jones, said on Monday that Princess Diana was conscious and talking immediately after the Paris car crash that killed her and Dodi.

quot;I have had flashes of a female voice calling out in the back of the car. First it8217;s a groan. Then Dodi8217;s name is called. It could only have been Princess Diana. I was conscious, and so was she,quot; Trevor said in his most extensive public comments since the crash. Dr Frederic Mailliez, the French doctor who treated Diana immediately after the accident, said that she had been semi-conscious and muttering, but quot;did not say anything precisequot; after the accident.

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Harrods Department store owner Mohamed Al-Fayed was arrested on Monday andreleased on police bail in the latest twist to a long-running feud with his bitter business rival quot;Tinyquot; Rowland.

Al-Fayed went voluntarily to a London police station to answer questions about allegations of theft and criminal damage brought by Rowland.

No charges were brought against Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris last August.

quot;Al-Fayed volunteered to go to the police today in order to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion. He went voluntarily, he spoke to the police at length, he is now back in business as he should be,quot; his spokesman said.

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The bad blood between Al-Fayed and Rowland goes back to the 1980s when Rowland, the former boss of the Lonrho Mines-to-hotels conglomerate, lost out to Al-Fayed in a battle for control of the department store Chain House of Fraser. The two had apparently buried the hatchet in 1993. But the reconciliation was short lived.