The former head of Britain's MI6 today declared its secret agents had "absolutely not" murdered Diana, Princess of Wales.
Sir Richard Dearlove stepped out of the shadows and into the witness box at Diana's inquest to publicly defend the agency.
Sir Richard Dearlove leaves the High Court in London today
He was MI6 director of operations when the Princess, her lover Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul died in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
Sir Richard said this was an "exception" to the agency's golden rule not to comment on allegations made against the service. He told the inquest he was not aware of the agency carrying out any killings during his career.
Ian Burnett QC, for the coroner, asked: "Was there any operation of any kind made against or in respect of the Princess of Wales or Dodi Fayed during that summer?"
Sir Richard responded: "Absolutely not".
Mr Burnett asked: "That includes all such things as eavesdropping, surveillance, bugging — anything that anyone could think?"
Sir Richard answered: "Everything."
Mr Burnett said: "With what degree of confidence are you able to tell the jury of that fact?"
Sir Richard replied: "Complete confidence."
Under laws governing SIS (the Secret Intelligence Service), it requires authorisation from the Foreign Secretary to carry out any operation that would involve breaking the law, such as bugging or assassination.
No such authorisation was sought in relation to Diana in 1997, the court heard.
Mr Burnett asked: "Are you able to confirm from your own knowledge it follows from what you have said, that no authorisation was sought in respect of any activities concerning Princess Diana?"
Sir Richard replied: "I can absolutely confirm that."
He told the inquest that as a senior MI6 official with "very extensive knowledge of the service" he would have known if there was a murder plot, as suggested by Dodi's father Mohamed al Fayed.
Such a claim is a "very personal allegation", given his position in 1997, he told the jury. Sir Richard directly rebutted Mr al Fayed's claims that the couple were killed by MI6 on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh.
The idea that Prince Philip, the main culprit in Mohamed al Fayed's theory, joined forces with the security services in running the country was "utterly ridiculous", according to Sir Richard.
Sir Richard added: "I do not want to be flippant. I'm tempted to say I'm flattered, but this is such an absurd allegation that it is difficult to deal with... It's completely off the map. I cannot think of any other way of saying it."