NEW YORK - The mother of Princess Diana claims in a new book that the royal family refused to let her hug her daughter's body after Diana was killed in a car crash in 1997.
Frances Shand Kydd also says Buckingham Palace did not allow her to travel to Paris to accompany Diana's body back to Britain.
For Kydd, the episode brought back painful memories of the birth of Diana's brother John, who died just hours after he was delivered.
"I did not see or touch or hold either of them when they were dead," she says. "I do ache about it."
In "Frances: The Remarkable Story of Princess Diana's Mother," Kydd tells authors Max Riddington and Gavan Naden that she was proud of her family on the day of Diana's funeral.
"Proud of her, proud of my other daughters who were rock-steady in their readings at the service, and proud of my son (Charles), who gave the ultimate tribute of brotherly love," she says.
Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed, were killed in a crash in a Paris tunnel as their Mercedes was pursued by paparazzi.
