Princess Diana

London, Oct. 24 (Agencies): Princes William and Harry today accused their mother Diana’s former butler of “cold and overt betrayal” over revelations about her private life in his forthcoming book.

In a statement unprecedented for its strength of feeling, Princes William and Harry said if she was alive today, Princess Diana would be mortified by the details of her private letters which Paul Burrell has revealed. “We ask Paul to bring these revelations to an end.”

The statement came as three photographers who took pictures of Britain’s Princess Diana and her friend Dodi al Fayed in their car just before their fatal 1997 crash went on trial in Paris for invasion of privacy.

However, the defendants in the first criminal trial relating to the crash were likely to face only symbolic punishment after the public prosecutor requested suspended prison sentences against them.

The judge said he would issue a verdict on November 28.

The case hangs on a precedent in French law under which the interior of a car is deemed private even if on a public road. Under the country’s strict privacy laws, the photographers could in theory be jailed for a year and ordered to pay fines of $53,000.