LONDON - Princess Diana showed no signs of being pregnant when she died, a pathologist who examined her body said Monday.
Dr. Robert Chapman, testifying at an inquest into the death of the princess and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, said there were no physical signs of pregnancy. But he said signs aren't always visible in the early stages of pregnancy.
Fayed's father, Mohamed al Fayed, claims the couple were the targets of a conspiracy directed by Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip. He alleges that Diana was pregnant with Dodi's child and that the pregnancy was one motive for the murder plot.
Chapman, who performed post mortems after the couple's bodies were returned to Britain on Aug. 31, 1997, said he inspected Diana's womb and ovaries as he would for any woman of childbearing age.
He said signs of a pregnancy can be detected as early as seven days. But "certainly from Day 1 to 7 there could not or would not be anything to see," he said.
"From Day 7 to 14, you might see something; thereafter, there is an increasing likelihood of being able to see things which would indicate pregnancy," he said.
He said fluids used by embalmers in Paris made it impossible to carry out blood tests, but said that would not have affected physical evidence in the womb or ovaries.
"An established pregnancy will show one a change in the size of the uterus: a change in the thickness of the lining and presence of a gestation sac, an embryo with membranes, attached to the wall of the uterus, and there will be changes also in the appearance of the ovaries," he said.
"Were any of these indications present here?" attorney Nicholas Hilliard asked.
"No," Chapman said.
Chapman's findings had been disclosed in December in the report by London's Metropolitan Police.
His testimony Monday was briefly interrupted by two spectators in the court, one of whom shouted something about "the conspiracy." Both were ejected.
