London, Oct 3: The coroner overseeing the inquest into Princess Diana’s death has downplayed controversial claims that she was pregnant with boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed’s child.

Lord Justice Scott Baker devoted several hours of the first day of the long-awaited inquest dismissing reports and claims that the princess was engaged and pregnant to Harrod’s owner Mohamed Al Fayed’s son, weeks before their fatal 1997 car crash in Paris.

He showed the jury the widely publicized photograph of the princess in a leopard-print swimsuit with a swollen tummy taken in the summer of 1997, which sparked rumours she was pregnant.

He dismissed the claims, saying that the photo was taken before Dodi and Diana's relationship was believed to have begun, so she could not have been pregnant with his child.

The jury heard Diana's affair with Dodi began while she was holidaying at his father's St Tropez villa in mid-July 1997.

She told reporters on July 14 that they were in for "a big surprise with the next thing I do".

However the coroner downplayed suggestions Diana was hinting at marriage, noting her remark was made before she even met Dodi.

He also described to the 11-member jury the much-publicized claims by Mohamed Al Fayed, that the couple was murdered by British spies on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh.

Al Fayed insists the murder plot was devised because the couple were about to announce their engagement and that the princess was pregnant.

The inquest, the coroner said, could be carried on by the jury over the next six months as they attempt to determine "once and for all" what caused the crash.

Lord Justice Baker had also told jurors the task of finally deciding how she died was "yours and yours alone".

He told the jury who will hear evidence on the Princess of Wales's death that theirs was "the only view that matters" despite the "millions of words" written and spoken about the crash.

“Because of the unique nature of this case we shall explore that question a great deal more widely than would ordinarily be the case,” The Sun quoted Lord Justice Baker, as saying.

“We shall investigate matters some of which may very well turn out to be irrelevant to the cause of the deaths because one of the purposes of an inquest is to allay speculation and rumour,” he added. (ANI)