Four out of the eight teams established as a permanent reminder of Diana’s work with youngsters face an uncertain future on the eve of the 10th anniversary of her death.

The crisis comes as Princes William and Harry invite nurses and more than 100 sick children to a party  to watch rehearsals for the July 1 Diana memorial concert at Wembley.

Diana’s best friend, Rosa Monckton, is calling on Chancellor Gordon Brown, who launched the teams in 1998, to rescue them.

Ms Monckton, 53, said: “These nurses represent everything Diana stood for. The Government must fulfil its promise of giving Diana a lasting legacy.”

Teams were set up with £6million from the Department Of Health to establish palliative care in Cumbria, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Leic-estershire, Cornwall, Wales, Coventry and Oxfordshire.

Costs were only met for the first three years but most of the managing primary care trusts failed to bid for lottery cash to keep the service going.

Now the hard-up NHS is reviewing funding for the services in Leicester, Cumbria, Kent and Coventry.

Additional reporting Petra Kendall-Raynor