Prince Philip told Downing Street to "---- off" over Diana funeral

The Duke of Edinburgh was so incensed by the intervention of 10 Downing Street over the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, that he allegedly told Government spin doctors to "---- off".

By Aislinn Simpson

Sky's political editor Adam Boulton also claims in a revealing new memoir that Tony Blair was "presumptuous" in his advice to the Palace about its handling of the Princess of Wales' death. Mr Boulton's book, Tony's Ten Years: Memoirs of the Blair Administration, is serialised in the Guardian newspaper.

It is seen as particularly revealing since Mr Boulton's wife, Anji Hunter, was a senior aide to Mr Blair in 1997, having met as teenagers in Edinburgh. Mr Boulton focuses on reporting the inner workings of Downing Street, as well as Mr Blair's relations with other foreign leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Tony and Nicolas were firm friends (by 2007), and Blair was neither surprised nor dismayed that the president spent much of their private time together discussing his sex life," Mr Boulton wrote.

"Sarkozy confided to the prime minister that he was unwilling to stop philandering, even though his second marriage to Cecilia was now under threat." The veteran correspondent, who became Sky political editor in 1989, also tells of the tension surrounding Princess Diana's death, just months after Tony Blair came to power. "The events of that week in September 1997 were very sad, but as the spinners from Downing Street came to Buckingham Palace and started to kick around what roles Harry and William should play in the funeral, the Queen had relished the moment when Philip had bellowed over the speakerphone from Balmoral: 'Fuck off. We are talking about two boys who have lost their mother'. Once the arrangements had been sorted out Blair read the lesson very melodramatically that day in the abbey," he wrote.

He added later: "Blair had been helpful reading the public mood when Diana had died but he was also presumptuous." Mr Boulton's account of the days following the Princess' death are of particular interest since there are few inside accounts of that time. The most detailed version of events so far came from the part-fictional portrayal of the Royal family in the film The Queen, for which actress Helen Mirren was awarded an Oscar.

No one from Buckingham Palace was available for comment (last night).