If we didn't know better we'd think agents of male stars had offered them a surefire way of earning publicity for their latest product: claim a romance/flirtation/friendship with the late Princess of Wales.

The latest famous face to become a proponent of the 'Diana fancied me' story is former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff.

In London to promote his new book, Making Waves, Hasselhoff has once again repeated his story about a joke Diana, by now officially separated from Prince Charles, made on coming face-to-face with him at an event in 1993.

According to Hasselhoff, most recently in the headlines for alleged drunken behaviour, Diana flirted with him, telling the 6ft 4 inch star: "You look much better with your clothes on", to which he laughingly replied: "Well, Ma'am, so do you."

Says the recently divorced star: "I felt like she was a little girl caught up in this whirlwind. She was smitten with me since I am so tall. I was smitten with her since she was so tall. I probably would have gone after her if circumstances had been different. In the end, I just wanted to be a friend and to hang out with her."

The story of his flirtation with the Princess is one on which Hasselhoff appears to have been dining out for some years, his having previously made it public several months before Diana died in August 1997. On that occasion, however, he disclosed that there was one person who was less than happy with his behaviour, admitting: "But my wife gave me a real telling-off afterwards for flirting with a Princess."

In 1998, the star who enjoys a hugely successful music career in Germany, performed at the memorial concert in honour of Diana which was staged by her brother, Earl Spencer, in the grounds of their ancestral home of Althorp House in Northamptonshire.

54-year-old Hasselhoff has enjoyed a more recent royal encounter, this time with Prince Harry at a polo match in July. He revealed of the meeting: "I strolled right up to him and said: "Hey, I knew your Mom and I thought she was awesome."

Like many young boys, Harry and William were once huge fans of Hasselhoff's Knight Rider, the popular TV series about a car which had extraordinary powers. On meeting him, Diana asked Hasselhoff if he'd be able to send her some Knight Rider baseball caps for her young sons.

In later years both boys inevitably became attracted to another of the actor's shows (or should that be co-stars - i.e. Pamela Anderson, a poster of whom William is said to have proudly displayed on his bedroom wall). The arrest and trial of Paul Burrell, who was cleared in November 2002 of stealing some of Diana's personal possessions, revealed that William had received a signed Baywatch card from the actor.

Hasslehoff's claim of an attraction between himself and Diana comes less than a year after gay star George Michael went on record to say the Princess, a great friend for many years, wanted to sleep with him. His claim, which provoked outrage from the press, came at a time when he too had a product to promote, in this instance a movie about his life.

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Name: Mona

Comment: I don't think you're being in the least bid rude, Joanne. As I stated, I appreciate your site and have defended you at other sites. No, it never occurred to me that you might have missed William's "walk-on-the-wild" side as you rarely miss anything. It's a sensitive topic with me, as I feel that Harry frequently gets the short end of the stick. I've grown used to popping in here and seeing the latest news and gossip pronto. No, I would never confuse you with Hello Magazine, as you're much better, honestly. Because I read your site daily, I noticed that the News page wasn't up to your usual standards, and I really thought you were on holiday, that someone else was filling in. It also never occurred to me that you might be busy with something else, as this site is so promptly updated. Now that you've explained things it all makes perfect sense, and I apologise if you've been hurt or offended.

Name: Joanne

Comment: Mona, I don't wish to be rude here but do you ever think that there are times I'm bound to miss a story simply because I'm so over-worked and, as at the beginning of the week, feeling absolutely shattered?! I hold my hands up: I missed the William bikini story.....sorry! I've also been concentrating this week on editing video packages which are upcoming as I have a duty to subscribers who help support The Royalist and the costs of producing the site.....I simply can't do everything, however much I try, so there will be times that a story is missed....but I do my best! Please appreciate that I'm not Hello! magazine; I don't have 30 people helping me. It's very, very easy for a board on, for instance, William and Harry to cover a story because there are, say, 100 people all posting comments about it. Also, with regards to the Hasselhoff story: I saw this on the Press Association (NOT the Star) and thought it was an interesting angle that, yet again, an actor is trying to flog a product on the back of Diana. I thought it would stimulate a bit of debate. That's all. To be honest, I'm not just wanting to be writing exactly the same stories that are on every other board....what's the point of that? This is why I try to cover some stories which aren't widely seen elsewhere. The Zara story was interesting in that that too stimulated a little debate and wasn't widely covered elsewhere, although even The Times had commented that her choice of wear was questionable on 9/11 memorial day. There were also some good pictures available of Zara and the widely overlooked Princess Anne at Alpha, which we duly purchased, having received requests for more Zara coverage from subscribers. With regard to the Sarah Bradford story: there's a possibility The Royalist will be able to produce a video interview with her, hence the reason I haven't covered the story yet. The same goes with Robert Jobson, author of William's Princess. Please don't think this is written with any anger or a sense of 'please feel sorry for me' as it's not - as always, I'm just trying to be completely honest but I do appreciate your comments. Please, though, be a little understanding as I'm working almost 24/7. There are many, many times I'm still working at midnight so as to hopefully provide new content on a regular basis throughout the day and night and I feel it's a little unfair to be judged on what I miss rather than what is covered, especially considering I update every single day (even Christmas!). Cheerio. Joanne

Name: Mona

Comment: I will admit normally Joanne does a superb job of relaying the news and giving us a forum in which to discuss it, and I do appreciate it. However, I haven't seen much on Ms Bradford's book (yesterday's reported comment from Prince Phillip was a humdinger), nor has there been much on Burrell's book (that has since been rectified). I did miss the piece Joanne did on Chelsey. Additionally, there are those of us out here who have noticed a pattern when it comes to coverage on William & Harry. Had Harry reportedly shown up in a bikini at a party, that would have been front and center on every royal board. The ones that are populated by young girls covered it at length, however, the more traditional boards either completely ignored it (like The Royalist) or wrote it off as "good fun". Somehow I think if there had been pictures, the "good fun" comments would have been few and far between. All of this occurred during the last few days, and during that time Joanne choose to highlight two tiny pieces from the Daily Star (Zara and that ridiculous actor). I found that very strange, quite unlike Joanne, and not up to her usual standards. And I wasn't joking about the holiday comment, I seriously wondered whether someone was filling in.

Name: M-M

Comment: Joanne deserves only praise for posting everything - a good cross section of what is going on . It means that we can all see for ourselves what these lying has-beens are claiming in order to give themselves publicity . They are the male equivalent of certain female writers who write as if they knew Diana well when in fact they got nowhere near her while she was alive . Hopefully no one else will take it any more seriously than we do . Is that too otimistic ?

Name: udyusa

Comment: Joanne on holiday? Highly unlikely if totally impossible!!! She is at her computer almost 24/7 and extremely lucky if she is able to get a nap in. Those complainers should try walking in her shoes for a few days, if they could manage to last that long! Thank you, Joanne, for all of your wonderful videos, articles, large photos, plus comments on the Forum! But most of all for putting up with likes of us.

Name: Paul	Comment: Diana always had such a natural empathy with people. These guys are mixing up with theirs own feelings.

Name: Kate	Comment: Poor Diana.... Another slug, as Kathy G states, emerging from under a rock... We'll put him into the Hewitt pile of dung.....

Name: Joanne

Comment: Hi Mona. Holiday? What's a holiday? Thanks for your encouragement.......nice to see you commenting on all the more serious stories I've written and taken hours to research. Sorry but in my opinion royal reporting doesn't have to be oh-so-pious and kow-towing. Plus I was actually making a point about the fact so many celebrities now try to promote their new book/film by linking themselves to Diana. Cheerio! Joanne

Name: Mona

Comment: All the royal news and gossip out there and you want to talk about an out-of-work actor and this pathetic, desperate attempt to garner himself some attention and revive his career? There are two books being serialized (which are fascinating, despite the fact that Burrell wrote one of them), Chelsey being robbed at gunpoint, and William's bikini. Instead we get this moron and Zara's hotpants. No one cares what Zara wears. Is the real Joanne on holiday?

Name: Kathy Gebhardt	Comment: oh good Heavens...another dreamer comes out from under a rock. When will this nonsense come to an end?

Name: Trudie

Comment: Amazing how these third rate stars on sad hopes of reviving careers suddenly come forward with riduculous stories of Diana. Any one with an ounce of intelligence would know Diana was a lady and had more class then these nobodies and would never have slept with them. But now that she is gone and cannot defend herself anyone who met her for a second seems to have either publicity or a book in the works how sad

Name: M-M	Comment: These men have hit on a cheap way of blowing on the ashes of a dying career , their own . If Diana had fancied the unspeakable George Michael or the ridiculously vain Hasselhof I would be astonished . Again Diana is a soft target , no one defends her reputation or threatens to sue on her behalf .