The court did not immediately explain its reason for rejecting the application by wealthy businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi died in the crash with Princess Diana on Aug 31, 1997.

The ruling upheld an earlier decision by the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, who said March 7 that it would not be useful to put questions to Prince Philip or to the queen herself.

The court said it would not release the reasons for its decision until after the inquest jury had reached a verdict.

The ruling means no further witnesses will be called to testify at the inquest.

Tuesday was the last day that any witnesses were scheduled to appear at the inquest. In the coming weeks, the coroner will sum up the evidence and lawyers will make final arguments before the inquiry closes at the end of next month.

More than 240 witnesses have testified in the latest inquest, including Mr Al Fayed, Diana's former butler, Mr Paul Burrell, and bodyguard Mr Trevor Rees, the sole survivor of the crash.

Mr Al Fayed returned to the witness box on Tuesday to explain claims that he won a court case involving the soccer team that he owns, Fulham Football Club, when the judgment in that case was made 10 days after he testified at the Diana inquest, on Feb 18.

Mr Al Fayed told the jury he had been mistaken about the other case and had not known the outcome.

The inquest began five months ago after a decade of British and French police investigations and French court proceedings. Both investigations concluded the deaths were accidental.

Mr Al Fayed has claimed that Prince Philip was at the head of an establishment conspiracy to have the couple killed. Mr Al Fayed and his attorney, Mr Michael Mansfield, have charged the car accident in a Paris tunnel was orchestrated by British intelligence agents to thwart the couple's plans to marry. -- AP