London, Dec 21: Henri Paul, the man who drove Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed on the day of the fatal car crash in Paris ten years ago, was drunk and “walking like a clown” shortly before the tragedy, the inquest into their deaths has heard.

Alain Willaumez, a bar tender at the Paris Ritz, told the jury that Paul was visibly under the influence, could not walk straight, and bumped into another worker as he left to join the Princess and Dodi.

Speaking via videolink from Paris, Willaumez said he had served Paul the aniseed liqueur Ricard at the hotel’s Bar Vendome on the fateful night, and then gave him a message to go and meet Diana and Dodi.

“I found him drunk. His eyes were wide open and in an abnormal condition, ” The Sun quoted him, as saying.

“When he left the bar he bumped into one of my colleagues.

“It was not a precise and accurate walk. He was walking like a clown. He was staggering like a drunk, ” he added.

Willaumez also revealed that the Ritz bosses were aware that their security chief was a heavy boozer.

He said that after a day of the crash, Ritz president Frank Klein had asked him to alter his story by telling cops that Paul had only taken fruit juice.

“He told me that the bodyguard had stated that Mr Paul had drunk some fruit juice and showed no signs of being drunk, and he added that we all should stick to the same story for the good of the Royal Family. I was amazed, ” he said.

French and British police both concluded that Paul had double the legal limit of alcohol in his blood and lost control of the car as it raced ahead of pursuing photographers.

But Dodi’s father Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of London department store Harrods, claims they were killed by a British Establishment conspiracy to prevent Diana marrying a Muslim and having his child. (ANI)