Princess Diana Saved From Embarrassing Encounter With Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs

Britain's Princess Diana was saved from an embarrassing encounter by Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs. The late royal - who caused a stir by initially agreeing to attend the premiere of "Buster" in 1988, which some claimed glamorized the Great Train Robbery - was the subject of a plan to get the princess to meet Biggs during a trip to South America with then-husband Prince Charles in 1991.

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A group of paparazzi asked Biggs - who fled to South America after the robbery in the 60s - to appear at a royal engagement in Brazil and approach the princess.

However, Biggs remained loyal to the royal family and realized it would cause a scandal if he was photographed with Diana, so refused to take part in the scheme.

The former fugitive's biographer, Christopher Pickard, said: "They wanted him to get in close to her, say something like, 'Hello love,' and grab her hand so they could be photographed together."

"Ronnie wasn't in the business of turning down requests to help the media - in fact that's practically the only way he survived financially - but he was adamant he wouldn't bring the royal family into disrepute."

"He's funny like that, Queen Elizabeth locked him away but he admired her for it."

The Great Train Robbery is the name given to the £2.6 million train robbery committed in August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, in Buckinghamshire, England.

Most of the money was never recovered. At the time it was believed to be the biggest robbery in British history.

Biggs voluntarily returned to the U.K. in 2001 after suffering three strokes. He remained in prison until earlier this week, when he was released on compassionate grounds after doctors diagnosed he had severe pneumonia and has only days to live.