By Natalie Paris and agencies
A model has claimed she was engaged to Dodi Fayed when he started his relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales, an inquest into the Princess's death has heard.
The revelation came as letters written by the Princess describing her love for Dodi were read for the first time in court.
Kelly Fisher told the inquest that she had received a ring from Dodi six months before the crash in Paris, which she believed signified their engagement.
Ms Fisher said she was given the ring in front of friends in February 1997 after meeting Dodi in July the year before.
She told Nicholas Hilliard, junior counsel for the inquest, that Dodi had first spoken to her about their future together in August or September.
"He was very quick," she said. "He moved very fast in the relationship, which I thought at the time was nice ... I was excited too."
Asked what Dodi had said to her at that time, Ms Fisher said: "I know that was when he told me he loved me.
"He would say things like 'You know we could go to Las Vegas, you know what happens in Las Vegas'.
"I just thought it was a joke in the beginning. He started saying it more. He started asking me if I wanted to get married."
Kelly Fisher arrives to give evidenceMr Hilliard put to her: "Is there any doubt in your mind that the ring you got in February 1997 and the event you had in the hotel with friends was because the two of you were engaged to be married?"
She replied: "No doubt. He had a bungalow and my friends were in the main area and I went into the bedroom area with him.
"He had the box and he said how much he loved me and how much he wanted to spend his life with me and he opened the box and gave me the ring."
She alleged that she only realised their relationship was in difficulty months after being given the ring, when she saw Dodi pictured with the Princess in the newspapers.
On August 6, a friend phoned her in the early hours to tell her about the publication of the photo showing the couple together.
"I said 'they are just friends' and she said 'no, they are seeing each other, it's in all the papers'."
The Princess and Dodi Fayed at the Ritz Hotel on the night of their deathsMs Fisher said she had taped her confrontation with Dodi on the telephone and could provide it in court.
She alleged that Dodi had denied starting a relationship with the Princess.
"I said 'Why are you doing this to me? Is it because it's Princess Diana?' He made several statements about Diana on this tape and I said 'Are we over?' and he said 'We'll talk when I get to LA'."
Dodi apparently told her during the call that they had split up two months before.
When asked in court how she felt having to prove her engagement to Dodi, Ms Fisher said: ""It's just quite humiliating to sit here and try to prove to people that someone wanted to marry you, you know.
"He did want to marry me, he asked my family, he bought us a house to live in, he gave me a beautiful engagement ring.
"And, why I would sit here 10 years later, when I have a completely new life, and lie about being engaged to someone just wouldn't happen.
"We were engaged and that's all there is to say about it."
Earlier in the proceedings, jurors were read some of the thank you letters written by the Princess to Dodi.
In one, the Princess wished him "all the love in the world".
The letters were presented to support Mohamed Fayed's case that his son and the Princess were in love and planning to marry when they died in a car crash in a Paris underpass ten years ago.
He also alleges that their deaths were masterminded by the Duke of Edinburgh in league with the British secret services, a contention undermined by warm letters between the Duke and the Princess read out at the inquest yesterday.
In one of the letters, the Princess thanked Dodi for a holiday she had enjoyed on his yacht.
"This comes with all the love in the world and as always a million heartfelt thanks for bringing such joy into this chick's life," she wrote.
In another she enclosed a gift of cufflinks, with the note: "Darling Dodi, these cufflinks were the very last gift from the man I loved most in the world, my father.
"They are given to you as I know how much joy it would give him to know they were in such safe and special hands. Fondest love, Diana."
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