Dodi Fayed, the son of the Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, did buy Princess Diana a $22,000 (£11,600) engagement ring a few hours before the couple's death in the Paris crash in 1997.

However, Princess Diana never had a chance to receive the ring, the inquest jury heard yesterday.

Dodi Al Fayed has bought the ring in Repossi jeweller's shop, across the square from the Ritz hotel in Paris, the afternoon before the crash.

Claude Roulet, assistant to the president of the Ritz hotel, visited the shop and took the ring in a bag to the couple's room in the hotel's Imperial suite.

The ring was deposited in the hotel strongroom before the couple went to Dodi's flat in Paris. The ring bearing the inscription "Dis-moi Oui" ("Tell me Yes") was recovered from the flat after the couple's death.

A receipt dated August 30 1997, the day before the crash, listing a "bague de fiançaille" (engagement ring), was also recovered.

The finding of the engagement ring is a focal point of Mohamed Al Fayed's case that Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were about to get engaged, that the princess was pregnant and that they were murdered by British secret service agents hired by the Duke of Edinburgh to prevent their marriage.