Princess Diana's "secret mascot" was a sex toy, according to the former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe.

Princess Diana

Princess Diana

The late royal - who died in 1997 after being involved in a car crash in Paris, France, - reportedly carried around the vibrator, which she called Le Gaget, with her everywhere she went because she believed it brought her good luck.

Speaking about Diana's unusual must-have handbag item in his book 'Diana: A Closely Guarded Secret', he said: "[Diana] She attached almost superstitious importance to it and, when we arrived in Nepal the following March, she turned to me and said: 'I hope we've got Le Gaget, Ken. You know everything will go wrong without it.'

"We all referred to it as 'Le Gaget', or the gadget -- in fact, it was a sex toy."

And the phallic object used to be the brunt of many jokes during formal meetings.

Ken explained: "Diana loved pranks and practical jokes, and one of the most uproarious involved an item purchased on a wild staff night out in Paris, during her official visit to France in November 1992.

"I had persuaded Lady Sarah McCorquodale, her sister and acting lady-in-waiting during the trip, to secrete it in Diana's handbag the next morning.

"The Princess discovered it while going through her bag, between meetings with the French president Jacques Chirac and Paul McCartney."

Diana was obsessed with her lucky charm so much she had to have it shipped to India when she realised she had left it at her home in London.

Ken said: "Much to her consternation, I had to admit it had been left in a drawer at Kensington Palace.

"A telephone call was made and a secretary instructed to dispatch the vibrator by diplomatic bag to the British Embassy in Nepal."

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