Princess Diana's former bodyguard claims the royal had plans to move to the US without her sons

Princess Diana was planning to move to America without her sons weeks before she died, one of her former bodyguards claims.

Mail Online says Lee Sansum tells in his memoir, Protecting Diana: A Bodyguard’s Story, the royal was on the verge of telling paparazzi of her plans in a bid to protect princes William and Harry from the spotlight as they holidayed with her and Dodi Al-Fayed in St Tropez in July 1997.

Lee said: “She said to me, ‘There is nothing I can do in the UK. The papers there attack me no matter what I do’.

“Then she told me, ‘I want to go to the US and live there so I can get away from it all. At least in America, they like me and will leave me alone’.”

According to Mail Online, Lee remembers asking Diana if her sons would be joining her, to which she replied she would never be allowed to take them away from their royal duties.

Diana, who died 25 years ago aged 36, reportedly said: “I will probably only be able to see them in the school holidays.”

Former military contractor Lee is also said to hit back in his book at claims Diana was mentally unstable in the weeks leading up to her fatal crash in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997, in which Dodi, 42, was also killed.

He is said to have written: “I can tell you that I spent 10 days close to her, and she was one of the most balanced people I have ever met. I ought to know. I am trained to spot if someone is unbalanced, it's part of my job.”

Lee, 60, escaped dying or being maimed for life in Diana’s crash as he and other bodyguards drew straws to decide who would accompany her in her Mercedes the night of her death.

His bodyguard friend Trevor Rees-Jones, now 54, was the only survivor of the collision as unlike Diana he wore his seatbelt, but required extensive surgery to get him back on his feet after he sustained horrific full-body injuries in the smash.

It also claimed the life of driver Henri Paul, 41, who was ruled at an inquest to have been over the alcohol limit while speeding.

- Bang! Showbiz