Thursday Aug 13 9:58 PM EDT

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams among Diana crushes: author

 IAN BAILEY

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Princess of Wales had an intense crush on Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, slotting him among several celebrity admirers in the last year of her life, says a new book. In The Day Diana Died, American author Christopher Andersen describes Adams as one of about nine men that Diana had close - though not necessarily romantic - relationships with.

The author of 19 books, including biographical works on John F. Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy and actress Katherine Hepburn, said Thursday he has no evidence of a serious romance but of a "serious crush on her part.

"Bryan Adams - she had a crush on for some time, but he was, for much of that time, romantically entangled with other women," Andersen said from his home in New York.

Although born in Kingston, Ont., Adams got his musical start in Vancouver, launching a career that’s seen him vault to international star status and sell millions of albums.

Adams, 38, lives in London, but maintains an elaborate studio in Vancouver’s downtown Gastown district.

"She was a great fan of his music. She found him sexy and talented. She had similar feelings about a number of other performers from George Michael to Luciano Pavarotti," said Andersen.

"I think she felt more physically attracted to Bryan Adams obviously."

Adams’s representatives did not return calls Thursday.

A decade ago, there was speculation that Adams had a crush on Diana amidst suggestions that he was barred from singing his song, Diana, at a rock gala in Vancouver during the opening of Expo 86.

But the show’s co-producer denied the reports, and also noted that Adams had not written the song for the princess.

The Day Diana Died was published this week by William Morrow, based in New York. Andersen has said it is based on interviews with palace sources, hospital workers and staff at the Ritz Hotel in Paris.

Diana had a meal there with Dodi Fayed on Aug. 31 before they got into a Mercedes that crashed in a tunnel.

Diana’s other admirers included Placido Domingo, Asian electronics tycooon Gulu Lalvani and British businessman Christopher Whalley, says Andersen.

Andersen claims so many of these men were calling Diana that she had a special code to identify them, based on greyhound racing.

He quotes Diana’s hairdresser Natalie Symonds as suggesting Diana labelled the men as "traps," numbered one through nine, with the numbers varying with the princess’s feelings for them.

"If Diana was in the middle of a meeting her butler Paul Burrell would interrupt and say, ‘Trap Four is on the phone,?" Andersen writes, quoting Symonds.

Andersen’s book has been vigorously denounced by Buckingham Palace for its depictions of the Queen’s conduct after Diana was killed.

He claims that within an hour of hearing of Diana’s death, the Queen called the British consul in Paris, Keith Moss, to ask if the princess had any royal jewels with her, and whether they were safe.

Moss allegedly went to the hospital room where Diana’s body lay under a sheet and asked the chief nurse about the jewels.

Diana apparently did not have any royal jewels.

Andersen also suggests the Queen tried to stop Prince Charles from flying to France to claim his ex-wife’s body.

A palace spokeswoman calls the claim "completely inaccurate and without any foundation whatsoever," suggesting they are "deeply hurtful" to the Royal Family as the first anniversary of Diana’s death looms.

On Thursday, Andersen rebuffed the palace’s attack.

"I consider it a badge of honor at this stage," he said. "All I can say is if we struck a nerve, so be it.

"The palace never responds to anything unless it’s true. "