Diana, Princess of Wales, is planning a controversial visit to Bosnia this week as part of her campaign against landmines.
News of the intended visit came a day after Britain and other Western countries adopted a new get-tough policy after Bosnia's failure to meet peace deadlines.
The British foreign Office yesterday gave the go-ahead for the visit after undertaking a security assessment.
"Our advice at this stage to the office of diana, Princess of Wales, is to go ahead, but we are of course keeping the security situation under close review," a spokesman said.
"through our [diplomatic] post in Sarajevo, we shall stay in close touch with the authorities about security over the visit.
Diana launched her anti-landmine campaign in January with a high-profile visit to Angola on behalf of the British Red Cross. It was her first working trip abroad since her divorce in August 1996 from Prince Charles.
Despite being characterised by some British MPs as meddling in international affairs, the Angola visit boosted the princess's desire to be an informal ambassador for Britain.
But the British Red Cross insisted in a statement yesterday that it was not involved in the princess's planned trip to Bosnia.
"If she is going to Bosnia she is not going with the Red Cross. We don't know who she is going with. It is very confusing. We haven't got a clue what is going on," said a British Red Cross spokesman.
The princess's office also declined to shed any light on her plans, saying it could not confirm or deny reports about the trip.
One newspaper report said she was expected to arrive in Bosnia on Friday and stay for four days.
Only two weeks ago the princess was forced to scrap a trip to Bosnia on behalf of the Red Cross.
This was apparently because of the potential embarrassment of a meeting with Ms Ljiliana Karadzic - wife of the alleged war criminal Dr Radovan Karadzic - who is president of the Serb Republic's branch of the Red Cross.
The Red Cross said yesterday that it had been decided that a visit to Bosnia by the princess would not have been right because of the overall political and security situation.
British troops last month led a swoop on two Serbs suspected of war crimes, killing one man in an exchange of fire.
The operation angered ultra-nationalist Serbs and provoked retaliatory bombings against international monitors and NATO peacekeeping troops.