Queen Elizabeth II's undertakers always keep a special coffin ready in case a member of the royal family dies suddenly abroad, the inquest into the death of Princess Diana has heard.

Leverton and Sons, a 200-year-old firm which was made royal undertakers in 1991, describe the casket as its "first call" coffin in case of emergencies.

"We have some plans for some members of the royal family and there is an overall operational plan involving repatriation if there is a death abroad or, say, in Scotland," said its boss Clive Leverton.

"We have what we call a 'first call coffin' which is used," he added, giving background to events after the death of Princess Diana in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris a decade ago.

The coffin's design meant it was airtight, added Mr Leverton, who was called in to repatriate Diana's body after the crash in the early hours of August 31, 1997.

The inquest also heard that the French experts who embalmed Diana's body in the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital had a special name for the princess: 'Patricia'.

"I remember among ourselves that we did not call the Princess of Wales by her proper name but we called her Patricia," said embalmer Huguette Amarger.

There has been some controversy over the decision to embalm the body, with critics noting that this made it impossible to test whether she was pregnant at the time of her death, as claimed by the father of her boyfriend Dodi Fayed.

Ms Amarger said she heard nothing about such a possibility as the embalmers worked on the princess's body, adding that only a doctor would know about such matters.

"I do not know, I am not a doctor," she said.

- AFP