Book: Queen Thought of Jewels at Diana’s Death

Less than an hour after hearing that Princess Diana had died, Queen Elizabeth II asked: “Where are the jewels?”

That’s according to a new book filled with details surrounding Diana’s death in a Paris car crash a year ago.

The book also says Prince Charles and British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the reluctant queen an ultimatum: Address the nation or risk being booed at Diana’s funeral.

If she didn’t go on television, Charles told his mother, he would do so “with an address of his own--an outright apology for the Windsors’ apparent callous disregard for the people’s suffering.”

The book, “The Day Diana Died,” was published this week by William Morrow. The author, Christopher Andersen, said it is based on interviews with palace sources, hospital workers and staffers at the Ritz Hotel in Paris.

Andersen writes that after getting the tragic news, the queen called the British consul in Paris.

Consul General Keith Moss went to the hospital room where Diana’s body lay under a sheet. He reportedly told the chief nurse: “Madame, the queen is worried about the jewelry. We must find the jewelry, quickly! The queen wants to know, ‘Where are the jewels?’ ”

Diana apparently didn’t have any royal jewels with her.