Shropshire bodyguard Trevor Rees should be called as a witness at the inquest of Princess Diana and her partner Dodi al Fayed because he could bear some blame for the car crash, a coroner ruled today.

Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss told a packed court at the Royal Courts of Justice in London that Mr Rees, sole survivor of the crash, should be named as an “interested person”.

She made her comments at the start of a preliminary hearing into the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Mr al Fayed in Paris on August 31, 1997.

Mr Rees, formerly known as Rees-Jones, of Oswestry, who was seriously injured in the crash, was represented in London today by Oswestry-based solicitor Ian Lucas.

Lady Butler-Sloss, deputy coroner for the Queen’s Household, told the hearing: “Mr Lucas’ client should be an interested person in both inquests because he was the front seat passenger and particularly because he was the bodyguard and because a finger of blame could be pointed at him.”

She said during the two-day hearing she would be deciding who the interested persons are, whether she has jurisdiction to sit, whether there should be concurrent inquests or two separate inquests and whether she should call a jury.

Lady Butler-Sloss also suggested that to hold two separate inquests would be “extensive, exhausting and upsetting for the families”.

Mohammed al Fayed, the father of Dodi, was in court today along with representatives from the Royal Household, Princess Diana’s sister and executor Lady Sarah McCorquodale as well as the parents of Henri Paul, French driver of the princess’s car.

In a letter to Lady Butler-Sloss, Princes William and Harry said they wanted the inquest to be open and to move on swiftly.

Lady Butler-Sloss said the two-day hearing was an “informal meeting for interested persons” and not a resumption of formal inquest proceedings.

The hearing continues.

By Kirsty Marston at the High Court