On May 20, 1996 she wrote to Susie Kassem: “As I don’t have a mobile it is difficult to discuss personal issues as my lines here are constantly recorded and passed on. If I’d known a year ago what I’d experience going through this divorce I never would have consented. It’s desperate and ugly.”

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In another letter she thanked the Kassems for letting her spend Christmas in 1995 with them while her sons were with their father at Sandringham in Norfolk.

“I was so thrilled to be invited into a family occasion particularly as I was made to feel like one of the team,” Diana wrote.

The 32 letters and cards, written between 1995 and 1996, are expected to fetch about £90,000 ($157,000) in the sale at Lay’s Auctioneers in Penzance, Cornwall on February 16. Proceeds will go to charities Diana supported.