A tragic letter by Princess Diana in which she wrote of her hopes that 1997 "will be an easier year" for her has come to light as part of a collection of her confidential correspondence.
The Princess of Wales wrote the poignant note on December 17, 1996 - eight months before she was killed in a car crash in Paris.
The sombre tone of the two-page letter reflected the traumatic year Diana had just endured, having come through her divorce to Prince Charles.
In the letter the Princess revealed her intention to spend Christmas 1996 abroad "in the sunshine," jokingly adding "I will top myself if I remain here!"
As with Royal family tradition, William and Harry spent that Christmas at Sandringham with their father and grandparents.
It was widely thought Diana spent her last Christmas alone at Kensington Palace but, according to this letter, she had arranged to fly abroad.
She then adds: "I hope '97 will be an easier year for us all."
Diana started 1997 in a relationship with the heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan, but this came to an end in July.
She then entered into a brief relationsip with Dodi Fayed who was killed alongside her in the car crash on August 31, 1997.
The letter has been revealed as part of the cache of 32 letters and cards Diana wrote to her close friends, Susie and Tarek Kassem.
The Kassems, who got to know Diana well during the last two years of her life, are selling the collection at auction with some of the proceeds going to charity.
In a second and upbeat letter sent to the Kassems in September 1996, Diana also wrote of how she was looking forward to the future after discovering a new sense of freedom.
She wrote: "I am more than happy to have my freedom & reckon that I'm very fortunate to have a second chance! Lots of nice things have come my way and it's fun... who'd have thought!"
Mimi Connell Lay, of Lay Auctioneers of Penzanze, Cornwall which is selling the letters, said: "The Christmas 1996 letter is heartbreaking. We have the benefit of hindsight of course and we know what happened to her in the year of 1997. It really is a tragic letter in that respect.
"Diana did really struggle with Christmas time as they always had to be spent at Sandringham House and she found that really hard going later in the marriage.
"Diana spent the Christmas of 1995 with the Kassems and it is clear in this letter that she had made plans not to spend it alone at Kensington Palace.
"I think the line about topping herself was a throwaway and light-hearted remark given she put an exclamation mark on the end of it.
"The letter she sent in September 1996 was far more upbeat and about her looking forward to the future.
"Of course at this time she was in a relationship with Hasnat Khan who she had called the 'love of my life'.
"Their relationship ended in the summer of 1997."
The Kassems, who lived in London and are aged in their 70s now, have treasured the letters for over 25 years.
They have decided to sell them as they feel a great responsibility owning them and they don't want to pass that on to their children or grandchildren.
The letter Diana wrote on December 17, 1996, reads: "I was so thrilled to receive flowers and glass bow, thank you very much indeed for thinking of me. I am off abroad for a week on the 24th to the sunshine, as not being a lover of Christmas, I will top myself if I remain here!
"I hope '97 will be an easier year for us all."
She then goes on to refer to the death of her close friend Yannis Kaliviotis, who she knew as John. The 27-year-old died earlier that year from cystic fibrosis.
She added: "I think often of John and his family and miss them more than I could ever have imagined."
The letters will be sold on February 16.
