Death of Diana, Princess of Wales conspiracy theories
Encyclopedia
Although the initial French investigation found that Diana, Princess of Wales
had died
as a result of an accident, a number of researchers, and others, including most notably Mohammed Al-Fayed and the Daily Express
have persistently raised conspiracy theories
that she was assassinated
. This led in 2004 to the establishment of a special Metropolitan Police
inquiry team, Operation Paget
, headed by the then Commissioner Lord Stevens
to investigate the conspiracy theories. Lord Stevens had been knighted by the Queen, and had received other royal honours prior to the investigation concerning possible royal involvement.
In December 2007, witnesses at Diana's inquest were questioned about a letter to Paul Burrell
which Diana had written by hand in October 1993, of which only redacted versions had previously been public. In this letter, Diana said, "This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous - my husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy
(Legge-Bourke). Camilla (Parker-Bowles) is nothing but a decoy, so we are all being used by the man in every sense of the word."
criminal investigation report.
One of the best-known allegations concerns the reliability of blood tests carried out that indicate he had been drinking before he took the controls of the car. The French investigators' conclusion that Henri Paul was drunk was made on the basis of an analysis of blood
samples, which were said to contain an alcohol
level that (according to Jay's September 1997 report) was three times the French legal limit. This initial analysis was challenged by a British pathologist hired by Al Fayed; in response, French authorities carried out a third test, this time using the medically more conclusive fluid from the sclera
(white of the eye), which confirmed the level of alcohol measured by blood and also showed Paul had been taking antidepressants.
It is claimed that the level of alcohol reported to have been found in Henri Paul's blood was not consistent with his sober demeanour, as captured on CCTV
that evening.
The families of Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul have not accepted the French investigators' findings. Fayed, for his part, stands by his belief that the Princess and his son were killed in an elaborate conspiracy
.
In November 2006, various news sources reported that the identity of the person to whom the blood samples belonged, had finally been ascertained, and that the samples belonged to a suicide
victim. French forensic pathologist
Dominique Lecomte was said to be facing an investigation over allegations of misleading the inquiry. Other sources stated that while there were omissions and errors in the pathologist's report, DNA
samples confirm the owner of the blood samples with high alcohol levels was indeed the driver, who was therefore correctly said to be under the influence of alcohol.
On December 10, 2006, it was reported that DNA evidence concludes that the blood tested is indeed that of Henri Paul. The tests confirm that original post-mortem blood samples were from driver Henri Paul and that he had three times the French legal limit of alcohol in his blood, the BBC said.
It has been disclosed that on November 2006 Lord Stevens had met with Henri Paul's parents telling them that their son was not drunk, and was found to have only had two alcoholic drinks (this was verified by CCTV footage at the hotel). Yet just five weeks later the report stated that Henri Paul was twice over the British drink-drive limit and three times over the French one. An expert cited in the report estimated that Paul had sunk the equivalent of ten small glasses of Ricard, his favourite liquorice-flavoured French aperitif, before driving. This contradicted Lord Steven's previous stance.
Another issue raised in court by Lord Justice Scott Baker was the level of carbon monoxide
found in one sample, which if true would have shown Mr Paul noticeably unwell. He told the jury: "You may conclude that there are some unsatisfactory features about aspects of the sampling and recording procedures". "Some of the results are puzzling."
On CCTV footage made available for the jury, Henri Paul is shown on the night of the accident waving to photographers. Inspector Carpenter who was giving evidence confirmed to the court that Mr Paul had waved at the photographers within minutes of the couple's departure. He said that one of the photographers, sitting in his car close to where the couple would later exit the hotel, was in contact with other paparazzi. Inspector Carpenter earlier explained to the jury: "You will see Henri Paul exit into Rue Cambon [at the back of the hotel] and when you watch this sequence you will see him raise his hand as if waving to the paparazzi across the road. If you look at the paparazzi across the road you will see one of them (Jacques Langevin) raises his camera". The images claim to cast doubt on the long-held belief that the group of paparazzi waiting outside the hotel had been acting without any help from inside the hotel. Al Fayed claims that Henri Paul was working for MI6 and that they set him up.
, a former MI6 agent who was dismissed from the intelligence services and later served time in prison for breaching the Official Secrets Act 1989
, has claimed that Britain's MI6 was involved. Previously, rogue agents of the secret service had investigated John Lennon
and tried to destabilize the 1970s Labour government. Although it would not have seemed impossible for such autonomous cells to get involved in a scandal, evidence later discredited the MI6 theory.
Tomlinson alleged that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death (many have said the group helped leak the Squidgygate
phone-tap tapes), that her driver on the night she died was an MI6 agent, and that her death mirrored plans he saw in 1992 for the assassination of then President of Serbia Slobodan Miloševic'. Tomlinson was arrested by French authorities in July 2006 as part of their inquiry into the death of Diana. French police were also reported to have seized computer files and personal papers from his home in Cannes
.
The Operation Paget
Inquiry was given unprecedented access to the offices of both MI5
and MI6 to investigate Tomlinson's claims. They found the original memo he referred to from 1992 and it was found to be a proposal to assassinate another Serbian figure if he gained power, not Slobodan Miloševic'. Furthermore, the plan had none of the detail about a car crash in a tunnel. The inquiry consulted the Crown Prosecution Service
to see if a prosecution for conspiracy to murder was appropriate for the report's author as it is against British Government policy to carry out assassinations. A prosecution was not pursued but the author was subjected to a disciplinary procedure by MI6. The memo was shown to Tomlinson and he confirmed it was the one he was referring to in his claims.
The inquiry found no evidence Henri Paul
was an agent for any security service and only had very limited occasional and unpaid contact with the French Security Services due to the sensitive nature of his job. It also found limited evidence of surveillance of Diana, mainly arising from phone calls she made to her friend Lucia Flecha De Lima at the Brazilian Embassy but there was nothing to suggest a concerted effort to bug her phone calls and there was certainly no monitoring of her in Paris as there was strong evidence the British Authorities had no way of knowing she was in Paris at the time of the accident.
Further evidence that discredited Tomlinson's claims was found in drafts of a book he was writing about his time in MI6 before he was jailed in 1998 for breaching the Official Secrets Act. The first draft of the book, dating from 1996, referred to the 1992 memo proposing assassination and contained none of the detail about a staged car crash in a tunnel. However, a later draft of the book from late 1997 had the same reference to the memo but contained the added car crash detail. Operation Paget regarded it as no coincidence that this detail appeared after news of how Diana died was in the public domain.
The inquiry concluded by dismissing Tomlinson's claims as an embellishment. It went on to comment that this embellishment is largely responsible for giving rise to the theories Diana was murdered.
include suggestions Diana was pregnant with Dodi Fayed's child and the couple were about to get engaged. The alleged dislike of the idea of a non-Christian within the British Royal Family meant such a relationship between the mother of the future king and a prominent Egyptian Muslim would not be tolerated.
Mohammed Fayed made the assertion in television interviews that the couple were going to announce their engagement on the Monday after the accident: 1 September 1997. Operation Paget commented that an announcement of such magnitude from the Princess of Wales would have been a substantial media event of worldwide interest and would have required much preparation. No evidence that any such preparation had been made was found. However, evidence has shown that Dodi did purchase a ring from Alberto Repossi
jewellers on the day of their deaths. This ring was from a range of engagement rings offered by the jeweller. Whether or not it was intended to be an engagement ring for Dodi to present to Diana is uncertain, as CCTV footage from the jeweller show Mrs. Repossi casually offering it from her finger to Dodi's assistant, Claude Roulet, after he went back to attempt to find a ring Dodi had seen in the Repossis' shop in Monaco. The statements of Mohammed Fayed and the Repossis were contradicted by the statements of Claude Roulet, a shop assistant, and the CCTV.
A few hours before the accident, on the afternoon of 30 August, Diana's journalist friend, Richard Kay received a call on his mobile phone from Diana in which she asked about what was likely to appear in the following day's Sunday papers about her. During this call, she made no mention of any announcement she intended to make.
More revealing was the statement given by Diana's eldest sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale
, who testified that in a phone conversation with Diana on Friday 29 August, Diana spoke about Dodi Fayed in a manner that gave her sister the impression the relationship was on "stony ground".
Statements from other friends and confidantes she spoke to in the week before her death including her butler Paul Burrell
, her friend Lady Annabel Goldsmith
, and her spiritual adviser Rita Rogers were unanimous in stating she was firm about not wanting to get engaged or married to anyone at that point in her life.
Her former private secretary, Patrick Jephson, said to the BBC in reaction to the publication of the Operation Paget Report in December 2006 that her facial expression in the CCTV
footage of her at the Paris Ritz on her final evening with Dodi Fayed was one she would wear when she was disgruntled with a situation. CCTV images released on October 6 taken just minutes before their deaths, show a relaxed Diana and Dodi affectionately holding hands.
The inquiry interviewed Hasnat Khan
, a Muslim heart surgeon of Pakistani origin based in London, who had a relationship with Diana for almost two years, from September 1995 until July 1997. Diana had even explored the possibility of marriage with him. This had been met with no opposition from the Royal Family and Prince Charles had given it his blessing. Khan stated that he had received some racist hate mail from members of the public because of the relationship but he had no reason to take what was said in this hate mail seriously. He also stated that he felt the relationship was not opposed by either the Royal Family or any other branch of the British Government including the security services. Paul Burrell
stated that Diana was still not over her break-up with Khan at the time of her death.
It was also pointed out that Dodi and Diana had only first met each other just under seven weeks before the accident, at Mohammed Fayed's villa in St. Tropez on 14 July, meaning there were only 47 days from their first meeting until the night of the accident. Of those days, their schedules permitted them to be together for an absolute maximum of 35 days. From analysis of Diana's actual movements, it is likely they had only spent approximately 23 days together before the accident.
of The Queen's Household, Dr. John Burton, said (in an interview with The Times
) that he attended a post-mortem
examination of the Princess's body at Fulham
mortuary, where he personally examined her womb and found her not to be pregnant.
In an effort to prove the assertions made by Mohammed Fayed, Operation Paget
had scientific tests carried out on pre-transfusion blood found in the footwell of the seat in the wrecked Mercedes the Princess of Wales occupied at the time of the accident. This blood was found to have no trace of the hCG hormone
associated with pregnancy.
The inquiry also extensively interviewed friends of Diana's who were in close contact with her in the weeks leading up to her death. The evidence obtained from these witnesses was of a very sensitive nature and most of it was not included in Operation Paget's criminal investigation report. However, it was reported that friends said she was in her normal menstrual cycle and there was evidence she was using contraception. Her friend, Rosa Monckton
, said in an interview to a BBC documentary on the conspiracy theories in December 2006 that Diana had her period while on holiday with her about ten days before she died.
Further evidence that disproved the pregnancy allegation was provided by Myriah Daniels who was a holistic healer who travelled aboard Mohammed Fayed's yacht ‘Jonikal’ on the second cruise she went on with him and his son Dodi at the end of August 1997. She had known Dodi Fayed since the late 1980s and travelled with him, often providing him with regular treatment. She provided the following statement to the Operation Paget investigators:
‘I have been asked whether or not Diana was pregnant. I can say with one hundred per cent certainty that she was not pregnant. I will explain how I can be so sure of this fact. Firstly, she told me herself that she was not pregnant. Secondly, when you have the years of experience that I have of caring for women’s bodies there are many indications as to whether or not a woman is pregnant. It is incomprehensible to me that Diana would have allowed me to carry out such an invasive treatment [deep massage] on her stomach and intestines if she thought she was pregnant……
‘I have worked with women in the past, from prior to conception, through the full term of a pregnancy and I am familiar with what a pregnant body feels like even in its early stages, as well as the things that women would normally say to me about their pregnancy, no matter what stage it’s in.
‘…This is a very sensitive issue for me to discuss but I know for a fact she wasn’t pregnant because she told me she wasn’t and through the course of my work on her body I found no indications to show that she was. If there were any chance that she were pregnant, she definitely did not know about it herself. This is supported by a direct conversation I had with Diana on board the ‘Jonikal’.‘
Mohammed Fayed's persistence in asserting Diana was pregnant led him to get members of his staff to tell the media that on their final day together, Diana and his son had visited a villa he owned in Paris with a view to choosing a room "for the baby". While the couple had indeed visited the villa, the circumstances of the visit were exaggerated to say it lasted two hours and was in the presence of a prominent Italian interior designer. A security guard at the villa, Reuben Murrell, felt uncomfortable about lying about the matter and sold his story to The Sun stating the visit lasted just under thirty minutes and was not in the company of any interior designer. He provided stills from CCTV to prove this and said he had been in the presence of Diana and Dodi for the entirety of their visit and there was no conversation about them coming to live at the villa. He later resigned from Mohammed Fayed's employment and initiated an employment tribunal for constructive dismissal after Fayed had successfully sued him for breach of contract because of the CCTV images he supplied to The Sun. Senior members of Fayed's staff made derogatory comments about Murrell and Trevor Rees-Jones in their statements to Operation Paget.
In 2004, a Channel 4 documentary, The Diana Conspiracy, refuting the conspiracy theories claimed the butler at the villa who gave an interview to the ITV documentary Diana: Secrets Behind the Crash in June 1998 who claimed to have shown the couple around with a view to them living there wasn't even present at the villa on the day as he was on vacation.
Operation Paget
found that 31 August 1997 was a very hot day in Paris. Diana's body had been stored in an empty room adjacent to the emergency room where she had been treated at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
as the mortuary was on the other side of the hospital grounds and some distance away. Dry ice and air conditioning units were placed in the room to keep it cool but appeared to have little success.
Diana's two sisters and Prince Charles were scheduled to view the body later that afternoon before bringing it back to the United Kingdom, President Jacques Chirac
and his wife also wished to pay their respects. This meant there was very little time to prepare the body for viewing and it was clearly unacceptable to present Diana's body to her family and the President of France in its then state.
Faced with this situation, the hospital staff decided to press ahead with embalming with only verbal authority from Madame Martine Monteil, the local superintendent of police, who assured Jean Monceau "that everything would be in order". Under French law, paperwork is required to be completed before undertaking the embalming of any body likely to be subject to a post-mortem. This paperwork was completed but only after the embalming had been carried out, giving rise to allegations of suspicious circumstances. This comes despite there being no way the hospital staff could have known whether or not Diana was pregnant as a pregnancy test would have been irrelevant to her post crash treatment and accordingly was not carried out.
Operation Paget
investigated Tomlinson's claim that the use of a powerful strobe light to blind helicopter pilots formed part of MI6 agents' training in the early 1990s and it was apparent this tactic had been used to facilitate the murder of Diana. The police found that such a tactic never, at any time, formed part of MI6 training.
The detail of eyewitness testimony was thoroughly reviewed and Operation Paget officers succeeded in uncovering two new witnesses. The police found that only one eyewitness at the scene of the crash, François Levistre, made a clear, specific reference to seeing a bright flash. He claimed to have seen it in his rear-view mirror and recounted other elements of what he saw in considerable detail while he was negotiating the difficult bend out of the tunnel, a task which would have required his full attention on the road in front of him. Crucially, however, his testimony was directly contradicted by his then-wife, who sat in the passenger seat next to him. Television documentaries produced by Channel 4 in 2004 and the BBC in 2006 both raised the issue of Levistre's prior criminal record for offences involving dishonesty.
Other eyewitness testimony made little reference to the appearance of any inexplicable flashes at the crash site. Several witnesses who would be expected to have seen a blinding flash made no reference to one.
In any event, the detailed crash reconstruction revealed that the chain of events that led to the car unavoidably colliding with the pillar started well before it was at the mouth of the tunnel where the flash is alleged to have been discharged. Furthermore, a strobe light of the type that was alleged to have been used is so powerful that a flash emitted from it would have been bright enough to illuminate a very wide area. It would have likely blinded not only Henri Paul, but also the driver of the white Fiat Uno, the pursuing paparazzi and witnesses standing at the road side. The Operation Paget
report concluded the alleged flash did not happen.
car which left traces of paint on the Mercedes bodywork but extensive attempts by the French police to find the vehicle involved failed.
The essence of the allegations made by Mohammed Fayed were the white Fiat Uno was used by the "security services" to block the road in front of the Mercedes, causing it to swerve and thereby crash into the side of the tunnel. Fayed further alleged that the Fiat Uno involved was owned by a French photojournalist named Jean-Paul James Andanson who had photographed Diana while she was at his villa in St. Tropez in July 1997. Andanson's death in May 2000, Fayed claimed, was either due to guilt over what he had done or because he was assassinated by the French or British security services to silence him.
Operation Paget found Andanson had a solid alibi for the night of the accident placing him at his home some 175 miles (282 km) south of Paris. This alibi was supported by documents related to travel he made from his home on the morning after the accident and statements from his widow and son. The white Fiat Uno he owned was in an unroadworthy condition, being nine years old at the time with 370,000 km on the clock and had not been maintained for several years before the death of Diana. He traded it in part exchange with a Fiat dealership near his home in November 1997 for a new car. Operation Paget concluded it extremely unlikely because of the car's condition and the fact Andanson had so openly disposed of it that it was the one at the scene of the accident in Paris.
French police examined James Andanson's car as part of their effort to trace the one that had come into contact with the Mercedes with a view to prosecuting the driver for failing to render assistance. They reached the same conclusion Operation Paget investigators were to, seven years later. The French police spent a year after the accident searching for the vehicle and eliminated over 4000 white Fiat Unos from their inquiry. Operation Paget decided it would be unlikely renewed enquiries would identify the vehicle involved as such a long period of time had elapsed since the accident. It concluded the threat of prosecution for an imprisonable offence probably deterred the driver from coming forward at the time.
The Paget report states that when the car was found, Andanson's body was in the driver's seat of the car, his head was detached and lay between the front seats. There was also a hole in his left temple. The French pathologist concluded this was caused by the intense heat of the fire.
Operation Paget found no evidence Andanson was known to any security service and, contrary to Fayed's claims, his death was thoroughly investigated by French police. A break-in at his former workplace in June 2000 alleged to have been carried out by security services was found to be unconnected to his death as no items related to him were stolen. The break-in was investigated by French police who to this day have not found the criminals responsible.
images showing the Mercedes' journey from the hotel to the crash site has been frequently cited as evidence of an organized conspiracy. In a submission to the Minister for Justice, Scotland for Public Inquiry in February 2003, Mohammed Fayed stated that there were approximately 10 video cameras on the route taken by the Mercedes, including one on the entrance to the tunnel itself, yet there are no recordings from any of these cameras for the night in question. In December 2006, The Independent
newspaper published an article stating there were more than 14 CCTV cameras in the Pont de l'Alma
underpass, yet none have recorded footage of the fatal collision.
Judge Hervé Stéphan was appointed as Examining Magistrate in this case on 2 September 1997. On that day, by Judicial Order, he tasked the Brigade Criminelle with identifying all video and photographic images along the route taken by the Mercedes. Lieutenant Eric Gigou of the Brigade Criminelle led the team that carried out that work, initially by retracing the route several times and drawing up a list of possible locations. His report showed that the team identified ten locations of CCTV cameras. None of these had any images relevant to the inquiry, since they were principally security cameras facing the entrances to buildings. Most of the cameras were not maintained by the City of Paris: the owners of the buildings to which they were attached operated them privately.
There was a traffic-monitoring camera above the underpass in the Place de l’Alma itself but this was under the control of la Compagnie de Circulation Urbaine de Paris (Paris Urban Traffic Unit). That department closed down at about 11 p.m., had no night duty staff and made no recordings. Officers in the Police Headquarters Information and Command Centre could continue to view the pictures shown by the traffic camera in real time but could not control it. There would be no reason for those in the overnight control room in Paris to be viewing that camera in particular, before the crash.
The subject of the CCTV cameras is dealt with in Chapter 5 of the Operation Paget report. It was also found that a photograph that was published in a book by David Cohen 'Diana, Death of a Goddess' and captioned as having been taken just before the car entered the tunnel was in fact taken by a photographer as the car left the back of the Paris Ritz.
"What is certain is that she was not wearing a seat belt and this made things worse. We would like to think that if she had been wearing a seat belt, we'd have been able to save her," said Prof. Andre Lienhart, who reviewed the emergency services' response for the French government investigation of the incident.
CNN did an analysis of the crash and concluded that injuries would have been minor had the occupants been wearing seat belts.
In 2005, the Daily Express
published an article claiming that the Mercedes had been stolen prior to the crash and altered to render the seat belts dysfunctional. This alteration had allegedly been carried out by the DST
working in co-operation with MI5
and MI6. In this version of events, the car crash was then caused by a bright flash of light aimed at Henri Paul from a passing white Fiat Uno.
Analysis of the wreckage of the car after its repatriation to England in 2005 by a Forensic Accident Investigator from the Transport Research Laboratory
of thirty-five years experience on behalf of Operation Paget
found that all the seatbelts were in good working order with the exception of the right rear one which was for the seat Diana occupied. Follow up enquiries with French investigators found that they had declared all the seatbelts operational at an examination in October 1998, suggesting the damage to this seatbelt took place after the accident.
ambulance carrying the Princess arrived at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital at 2.06 a.m. This length of time has prompted much conspiracy-related comment.
The period between the crash and the arrival at the hospital needs to take into account the following: the time taken for emergency services to arrive; the time taken by the Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris to remove the Princess from the damaged car; and the actual journey time from the crash site to the hospital.
Police Officers Sébastien Dorzee and Lino Gagliadorne were the first emergency officials to arrive at the scene at around 12:30 a.m. Sergeants Xavier Gourmelom and Philippe Boyer of the Sapeurs-Pompiers arrived at around 12:32 a.m. Doctor Jean-Marc Martino, a specialist in anaesthetics and intensive care treatment and the doctor in charge of the SAMU ambulance, arrived at around 12:40 a.m. The Princess was removed from the car at 1:00 a.m. She then went into cardiac arrest. Following external cardiopulmonary resuscitation the Princess of Wales’s heart started beating again. She was moved to the SAMU ambulance at 1:18 a.m.
The ambulance departed the crash scene at 1:41 a.m. and arrived at the hospital at 2:06 a.m.—a journey time of approximately 26 minutes. This included a stop at the Gare d’Austerlitz ordered by Dr Martino because of the drop in the blood pressure of the Princess of Wales and the necessity to deal with it. The ambulance was travelling slowly on his express instructions. The doctor was concerned about the Princess of Wales’s blood pressure and the effects on her medical condition of deceleration and acceleration.
The SAMU ambulance carrying the Princess of Wales passed the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital on the Ile de la Cité en route to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. The decision to transfer the Princess to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital was taken by Dr Marc Lejay who was on despatch duty in SAMU Control on that night, in consultation with Dr Derossi, who was at the scene. The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital was the main reception centre for multiple trauma patients in Paris. The Hôtel-Dieu was not equipped to deal with the injuries the Princess of Wales had sustained. Dr Marc Lejay stated: ‘The Hôtel-Dieu hospital on the ‘Ile de la Cité’ is closer but not equipped with heart surgery teams or neurosurgical teams or teams trained to take patients with multiple injuries.’ Dr Lejay was also aware that Professor Bruno Riou was on duty at the Pitié-Salpêtrière that night and was particularly skilled to treat the Princess of Wales’s injuries. Dr Jean-Marc Martino supported this view.
since her death. Some artworks have referenced the conspiracy theories, as well as paying tribute to Diana's compassion, and acknowledging her perceived victimhood.
In July 1999, British artist Tracey Emin
, at the height of her Turner Prize
fame, created a number of monoprint drawings inspired by the public and private life of Diana for a themed exhibition called Temple of Diana held at The Blue Gallery, London. Among the works was a delicate sketch of a rose drawn next to the phrase, It makes perfect sense to know they killed you.
British artist Stella Vine
provoked media controversy in 2004 when Charles Saatchi
bought Hi Paul can you come over I'm really frightened (2003), a painting by her of Diana, Princess of Wales. The work's title came from the thick red text painted across the canvas, a reference to Diana's butler Paul Burrell
. Vine painted as many as 30 paintings of Diana, having become fascinated by conspiracy theories into the Princess' tragic car crash which she had read on the Internet. Vine destroyed many of these paintings soon after they were created. She put them in a skip as she didn't have enough space to dry nor store the wet paintings. The only one she kept was later added to Saatchi's collection.
Vine said she was upset that some people, including her relatives, didn't like her image of Diana, as she believe it was not a disrespectful picture but it was in fact a self portrait as much as depiction of Diana: "The picture is about two women. One who lived in Kensington Palace. And the other who lives down the Whitecross Street. "I look at the picture," says Vine, "and I also see myself."" In 2005, a new Vine painting of Diana, Murdered, pregnant and embalmed (2005), was bought by singer George Michael
for £25,000, reported in The Sun
newspaper which condemned it as "sick".
Unlawful Killing
, a British documentary film about the deaths of Diana and Dodi, was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
in May 2011. It was directed by Keith Allen and funded by Mohamed Al-Fayed
. It contains allegations that Prince Philip was a psychopath in the mould of British serial killer Fred West
, and orchestrated the murder of Diana and Dodi, and that the Queen was a "gangster in a tiara". It also alleges that Diana's life could have been saved had she been taken to hospital quickly and efficiently, and condemns the inquest into her death for failing to investigate why this action was not taken. It perpetuates the long-standing allegation by Al-Fayed that the Royal Family was opposed to Diana's relationship with Dodi due to his religion. The film will not be shown in British cinemas due to laws on libel and contempt.This film sparked outrage at the festival.
The film 2012
has a brief segment revealing that Diana had been killed by the US to cover up her knowledge of the apocalypse.
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
had died
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Fayed's...
as a result of an accident, a number of researchers, and others, including most notably Mohammed Al-Fayed and the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
have persistently raised conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
that she was assassinated
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
. This led in 2004 to the establishment of a special Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
inquiry team, Operation Paget
Operation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
, headed by the then Commissioner Lord Stevens
John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington
John Arthur Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington KStJ QPM DL FRSA was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2000 until 2005. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Constable of Northumbria Police before being appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary in September 1996...
to investigate the conspiracy theories. Lord Stevens had been knighted by the Queen, and had received other royal honours prior to the investigation concerning possible royal involvement.
In December 2007, witnesses at Diana's inquest were questioned about a letter to Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell, RVM is a former servant of the British Royal Household. He was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II and later butler to Diana, Princess of Wales...
which Diana had written by hand in October 1993, of which only redacted versions had previously been public. In this letter, Diana said, "This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous - my husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy
Tiggy Legge-Bourke
Alexandra Shân "Tiggy" Legge-Bourke MVO was nanny, later companion, to Prince William of Wales and his brother Prince Harry, and a personal assistant to Charles, Prince of Wales, between 1993 and 1999...
(Legge-Bourke). Camilla (Parker-Bowles) is nothing but a decoy, so we are all being used by the man in every sense of the word."
Henri Paul
Allegations made about the driver of the Mercedes, Henri Paul, include that he was in the pay of a national security service, though different versions of the allegation name the country of the security service alternately as Britain, France or the United States. Purported evidence to support this arises mainly from the money in his possession at the time of his death and his personal wealth. These allegations are covered in chapter four of the Operation PagetOperation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
criminal investigation report.
One of the best-known allegations concerns the reliability of blood tests carried out that indicate he had been drinking before he took the controls of the car. The French investigators' conclusion that Henri Paul was drunk was made on the basis of an analysis of blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
samples, which were said to contain an alcohol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
level that (according to Jay's September 1997 report) was three times the French legal limit. This initial analysis was challenged by a British pathologist hired by Al Fayed; in response, French authorities carried out a third test, this time using the medically more conclusive fluid from the sclera
Sclera
The sclera , also known as the white or white of the eye, is the opaque , fibrous, protective, outer layer of the eye containing collagen and elastic fiber. In the development of the embryo, the sclera is derived from the neural crest...
(white of the eye), which confirmed the level of alcohol measured by blood and also showed Paul had been taking antidepressants.
It is claimed that the level of alcohol reported to have been found in Henri Paul's blood was not consistent with his sober demeanour, as captured on CCTV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
that evening.
The families of Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul have not accepted the French investigators' findings. Fayed, for his part, stands by his belief that the Princess and his son were killed in an elaborate conspiracy
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
.
In November 2006, various news sources reported that the identity of the person to whom the blood samples belonged, had finally been ascertained, and that the samples belonged to a suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
victim. French forensic pathologist
Forensic pathology
Forensic pathology is a branch of pathology concerned with determining the cause of death by examination of a corpse. The autopsy is performed by the pathologist at the request of a coroner or medical examiner usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some...
Dominique Lecomte was said to be facing an investigation over allegations of misleading the inquiry. Other sources stated that while there were omissions and errors in the pathologist's report, DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
samples confirm the owner of the blood samples with high alcohol levels was indeed the driver, who was therefore correctly said to be under the influence of alcohol.
On December 10, 2006, it was reported that DNA evidence concludes that the blood tested is indeed that of Henri Paul. The tests confirm that original post-mortem blood samples were from driver Henri Paul and that he had three times the French legal limit of alcohol in his blood, the BBC said.
It has been disclosed that on November 2006 Lord Stevens had met with Henri Paul's parents telling them that their son was not drunk, and was found to have only had two alcoholic drinks (this was verified by CCTV footage at the hotel). Yet just five weeks later the report stated that Henri Paul was twice over the British drink-drive limit and three times over the French one. An expert cited in the report estimated that Paul had sunk the equivalent of ten small glasses of Ricard, his favourite liquorice-flavoured French aperitif, before driving. This contradicted Lord Steven's previous stance.
Another issue raised in court by Lord Justice Scott Baker was the level of carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
found in one sample, which if true would have shown Mr Paul noticeably unwell. He told the jury: "You may conclude that there are some unsatisfactory features about aspects of the sampling and recording procedures". "Some of the results are puzzling."
On CCTV footage made available for the jury, Henri Paul is shown on the night of the accident waving to photographers. Inspector Carpenter who was giving evidence confirmed to the court that Mr Paul had waved at the photographers within minutes of the couple's departure. He said that one of the photographers, sitting in his car close to where the couple would later exit the hotel, was in contact with other paparazzi. Inspector Carpenter earlier explained to the jury: "You will see Henri Paul exit into Rue Cambon [at the back of the hotel] and when you watch this sequence you will see him raise his hand as if waving to the paparazzi across the road. If you look at the paparazzi across the road you will see one of them (Jacques Langevin) raises his camera". The images claim to cast doubt on the long-held belief that the group of paparazzi waiting outside the hotel had been acting without any help from inside the hotel. Al Fayed claims that Henri Paul was working for MI6 and that they set him up.
Allegation of MI6 involvement
Richard TomlinsonRichard Tomlinson
Richard Tomlinson is a New Zealand-born British former MI6 officer who was imprisoned during 1997 for violating the Official Secrets Act 1989 by giving the synopsis of a proposed book detailing his career in the Secret Intelligence Service to an Australian publisher...
, a former MI6 agent who was dismissed from the intelligence services and later served time in prison for breaching the Official Secrets Act 1989
Official Secrets Act 1989
The Official Secrets Act 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. It is said to have removed the public interest defence created by that section....
, has claimed that Britain's MI6 was involved. Previously, rogue agents of the secret service had investigated John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and tried to destabilize the 1970s Labour government. Although it would not have seemed impossible for such autonomous cells to get involved in a scandal, evidence later discredited the MI6 theory.
Tomlinson alleged that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death (many have said the group helped leak the Squidgygate
Squidgygate
Squidgygate refers to the pre-1990 telephone conversations between Diana, Princess of Wales and a close friend, James Gilbey, and to the controversy surrounding how those conversations were recorded. During the calls, Gilbey affectionately called Diana by the names "Squidgy" and "Squidge"...
phone-tap tapes), that her driver on the night she died was an MI6 agent, and that her death mirrored plans he saw in 1992 for the assassination of then President of Serbia Slobodan Miloševic'. Tomlinson was arrested by French authorities in July 2006 as part of their inquiry into the death of Diana. French police were also reported to have seized computer files and personal papers from his home in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
.
The Operation Paget
Operation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
Inquiry was given unprecedented access to the offices of both MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
and MI6 to investigate Tomlinson's claims. They found the original memo he referred to from 1992 and it was found to be a proposal to assassinate another Serbian figure if he gained power, not Slobodan Miloševic'. Furthermore, the plan had none of the detail about a car crash in a tunnel. The inquiry consulted the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
to see if a prosecution for conspiracy to murder was appropriate for the report's author as it is against British Government policy to carry out assassinations. A prosecution was not pursued but the author was subjected to a disciplinary procedure by MI6. The memo was shown to Tomlinson and he confirmed it was the one he was referring to in his claims.
The inquiry found no evidence Henri Paul
Henri Paul
Henri Paul was the Deputy Head of Security at the Hôtel Ritz Paris. He was the driver at the time of the car accident at the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris that killed him along with Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed on 31 August 1997. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the sole survivor of...
was an agent for any security service and only had very limited occasional and unpaid contact with the French Security Services due to the sensitive nature of his job. It also found limited evidence of surveillance of Diana, mainly arising from phone calls she made to her friend Lucia Flecha De Lima at the Brazilian Embassy but there was nothing to suggest a concerted effort to bug her phone calls and there was certainly no monitoring of her in Paris as there was strong evidence the British Authorities had no way of knowing she was in Paris at the time of the accident.
Further evidence that discredited Tomlinson's claims was found in drafts of a book he was writing about his time in MI6 before he was jailed in 1998 for breaching the Official Secrets Act. The first draft of the book, dating from 1996, referred to the 1992 memo proposing assassination and contained none of the detail about a staged car crash in a tunnel. However, a later draft of the book from late 1997 had the same reference to the memo but contained the added car crash detail. Operation Paget regarded it as no coincidence that this detail appeared after news of how Diana died was in the public domain.
The inquiry concluded by dismissing Tomlinson's claims as an embellishment. It went on to comment that this embellishment is largely responsible for giving rise to the theories Diana was murdered.
Relationship with Dodi Fayed
One of the main motives which have been advanced for alleged murderMurder in English law
Murder is an offence under the common law of England and Wales. It is considered the most serious form of homicide, in which one person kills another either intending to cause death or intending to cause serious injury .-Actus reus:The definition of the actus reus Murder is an offence under the...
include suggestions Diana was pregnant with Dodi Fayed's child and the couple were about to get engaged. The alleged dislike of the idea of a non-Christian within the British Royal Family meant such a relationship between the mother of the future king and a prominent Egyptian Muslim would not be tolerated.
Mohammed Fayed made the assertion in television interviews that the couple were going to announce their engagement on the Monday after the accident: 1 September 1997. Operation Paget commented that an announcement of such magnitude from the Princess of Wales would have been a substantial media event of worldwide interest and would have required much preparation. No evidence that any such preparation had been made was found. However, evidence has shown that Dodi did purchase a ring from Alberto Repossi
Repossi
Repossi Joailliers is a jewelry company owned by Italian-born Alberto Repossi. The company has headquarters in Paris, Milan, and Monte Carlo. It also has two Tokyo-based branches, WAG Incorporated and Nagahori Corporation.- History :...
jewellers on the day of their deaths. This ring was from a range of engagement rings offered by the jeweller. Whether or not it was intended to be an engagement ring for Dodi to present to Diana is uncertain, as CCTV footage from the jeweller show Mrs. Repossi casually offering it from her finger to Dodi's assistant, Claude Roulet, after he went back to attempt to find a ring Dodi had seen in the Repossis' shop in Monaco. The statements of Mohammed Fayed and the Repossis were contradicted by the statements of Claude Roulet, a shop assistant, and the CCTV.
A few hours before the accident, on the afternoon of 30 August, Diana's journalist friend, Richard Kay received a call on his mobile phone from Diana in which she asked about what was likely to appear in the following day's Sunday papers about her. During this call, she made no mention of any announcement she intended to make.
More revealing was the statement given by Diana's eldest sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale
Lady Sarah McCorquodale
The Lady Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia McCorquodale is the older sister of Diana, Princess of Wales.-Early life:Sarah was born The Honourable Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia Spencer; she acquired the courtesy title The Lady Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia Spencer in 1975, when her grandfather died and her father became...
, who testified that in a phone conversation with Diana on Friday 29 August, Diana spoke about Dodi Fayed in a manner that gave her sister the impression the relationship was on "stony ground".
Statements from other friends and confidantes she spoke to in the week before her death including her butler Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell, RVM is a former servant of the British Royal Household. He was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II and later butler to Diana, Princess of Wales...
, her friend Lady Annabel Goldsmith
Lady Annabel Goldsmith
Lady Annabel Goldsmith is a British socialite and the eponym for a celebrated London nightclub of the late 20th century, Annabel's. She was first married for two decades to entrepreneur Mark Birley, the creator of Annabel's, which she helped make a glamorous success as her husband's inaugural...
, and her spiritual adviser Rita Rogers were unanimous in stating she was firm about not wanting to get engaged or married to anyone at that point in her life.
Her former private secretary, Patrick Jephson, said to the BBC in reaction to the publication of the Operation Paget Report in December 2006 that her facial expression in the CCTV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
footage of her at the Paris Ritz on her final evening with Dodi Fayed was one she would wear when she was disgruntled with a situation. CCTV images released on October 6 taken just minutes before their deaths, show a relaxed Diana and Dodi affectionately holding hands.
The inquiry interviewed Hasnat Khan
Hasnat Khan
Hasnat Ahmad Khan, PHD, FRCS, has been a heart and lung surgeon at Harefield Hospital in London. He is reported to be planning to return to Pakistan to accept a post at a hospital in Lahore...
, a Muslim heart surgeon of Pakistani origin based in London, who had a relationship with Diana for almost two years, from September 1995 until July 1997. Diana had even explored the possibility of marriage with him. This had been met with no opposition from the Royal Family and Prince Charles had given it his blessing. Khan stated that he had received some racist hate mail from members of the public because of the relationship but he had no reason to take what was said in this hate mail seriously. He also stated that he felt the relationship was not opposed by either the Royal Family or any other branch of the British Government including the security services. Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell, RVM is a former servant of the British Royal Household. He was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II and later butler to Diana, Princess of Wales...
stated that Diana was still not over her break-up with Khan at the time of her death.
It was also pointed out that Dodi and Diana had only first met each other just under seven weeks before the accident, at Mohammed Fayed's villa in St. Tropez on 14 July, meaning there were only 47 days from their first meeting until the night of the accident. Of those days, their schedules permitted them to be together for an absolute maximum of 35 days. From analysis of Diana's actual movements, it is likely they had only spent approximately 23 days together before the accident.
Pregnancy
In January 2004, the former coronerCoroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
of The Queen's Household, Dr. John Burton, said (in an interview with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
) that he attended a post-mortem
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
examination of the Princess's body at Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
mortuary, where he personally examined her womb and found her not to be pregnant.
In an effort to prove the assertions made by Mohammed Fayed, Operation Paget
Operation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
had scientific tests carried out on pre-transfusion blood found in the footwell of the seat in the wrecked Mercedes the Princess of Wales occupied at the time of the accident. This blood was found to have no trace of the hCG hormone
Human chorionic gonadotropin
Human chorionic gonadotropin or human chorionic gonadotrophin is a glycoprotein hormone produced during pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo after conception and later by the syncytiotrophoblast .. Some tumors make this hormone; measured elevated levels when the patient is not...
associated with pregnancy.
The inquiry also extensively interviewed friends of Diana's who were in close contact with her in the weeks leading up to her death. The evidence obtained from these witnesses was of a very sensitive nature and most of it was not included in Operation Paget's criminal investigation report. However, it was reported that friends said she was in her normal menstrual cycle and there was evidence she was using contraception. Her friend, Rosa Monckton
Rosa Monckton
Rosamond Mary Monckton, married name Rosamond Mary Lawson, is a British business woman and charity campaigner, usually known as Rosa Monckton....
, said in an interview to a BBC documentary on the conspiracy theories in December 2006 that Diana had her period while on holiday with her about ten days before she died.
Further evidence that disproved the pregnancy allegation was provided by Myriah Daniels who was a holistic healer who travelled aboard Mohammed Fayed's yacht ‘Jonikal’ on the second cruise she went on with him and his son Dodi at the end of August 1997. She had known Dodi Fayed since the late 1980s and travelled with him, often providing him with regular treatment. She provided the following statement to the Operation Paget investigators:
‘I have been asked whether or not Diana was pregnant. I can say with one hundred per cent certainty that she was not pregnant. I will explain how I can be so sure of this fact. Firstly, she told me herself that she was not pregnant. Secondly, when you have the years of experience that I have of caring for women’s bodies there are many indications as to whether or not a woman is pregnant. It is incomprehensible to me that Diana would have allowed me to carry out such an invasive treatment [deep massage] on her stomach and intestines if she thought she was pregnant……
‘I have worked with women in the past, from prior to conception, through the full term of a pregnancy and I am familiar with what a pregnant body feels like even in its early stages, as well as the things that women would normally say to me about their pregnancy, no matter what stage it’s in.
‘…This is a very sensitive issue for me to discuss but I know for a fact she wasn’t pregnant because she told me she wasn’t and through the course of my work on her body I found no indications to show that she was. If there were any chance that she were pregnant, she definitely did not know about it herself. This is supported by a direct conversation I had with Diana on board the ‘Jonikal’.‘
Mohammed Fayed's persistence in asserting Diana was pregnant led him to get members of his staff to tell the media that on their final day together, Diana and his son had visited a villa he owned in Paris with a view to choosing a room "for the baby". While the couple had indeed visited the villa, the circumstances of the visit were exaggerated to say it lasted two hours and was in the presence of a prominent Italian interior designer. A security guard at the villa, Reuben Murrell, felt uncomfortable about lying about the matter and sold his story to The Sun stating the visit lasted just under thirty minutes and was not in the company of any interior designer. He provided stills from CCTV to prove this and said he had been in the presence of Diana and Dodi for the entirety of their visit and there was no conversation about them coming to live at the villa. He later resigned from Mohammed Fayed's employment and initiated an employment tribunal for constructive dismissal after Fayed had successfully sued him for breach of contract because of the CCTV images he supplied to The Sun. Senior members of Fayed's staff made derogatory comments about Murrell and Trevor Rees-Jones in their statements to Operation Paget.
In 2004, a Channel 4 documentary, The Diana Conspiracy, refuting the conspiracy theories claimed the butler at the villa who gave an interview to the ITV documentary Diana: Secrets Behind the Crash in June 1998 who claimed to have shown the couple around with a view to them living there wasn't even present at the villa on the day as he was on vacation.
Embalming of the body
Mohamed Fayed alleged that Diana's body was deliberately embalmed soon after her death to ensure that any pregnancy test at post-mortem would produce a false result.Operation Paget
Operation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
found that 31 August 1997 was a very hot day in Paris. Diana's body had been stored in an empty room adjacent to the emergency room where she had been treated at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Paris, France. Part of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, it is one of Europe's largest hospitals...
as the mortuary was on the other side of the hospital grounds and some distance away. Dry ice and air conditioning units were placed in the room to keep it cool but appeared to have little success.
Diana's two sisters and Prince Charles were scheduled to view the body later that afternoon before bringing it back to the United Kingdom, President Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
and his wife also wished to pay their respects. This meant there was very little time to prepare the body for viewing and it was clearly unacceptable to present Diana's body to her family and the President of France in its then state.
Faced with this situation, the hospital staff decided to press ahead with embalming with only verbal authority from Madame Martine Monteil, the local superintendent of police, who assured Jean Monceau "that everything would be in order". Under French law, paperwork is required to be completed before undertaking the embalming of any body likely to be subject to a post-mortem. This paperwork was completed but only after the embalming had been carried out, giving rise to allegations of suspicious circumstances. This comes despite there being no way the hospital staff could have known whether or not Diana was pregnant as a pregnancy test would have been irrelevant to her post crash treatment and accordingly was not carried out.
A bright flash
An alternative explanation for the cause of the crash has been reports of a bright white flash just before the car entered the tunnel, blinding the driver. Richard Tomlinson made this allegation in media interviews and claimed it was consistent with eyewitness testimony.Operation Paget
Operation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
investigated Tomlinson's claim that the use of a powerful strobe light to blind helicopter pilots formed part of MI6 agents' training in the early 1990s and it was apparent this tactic had been used to facilitate the murder of Diana. The police found that such a tactic never, at any time, formed part of MI6 training.
The detail of eyewitness testimony was thoroughly reviewed and Operation Paget officers succeeded in uncovering two new witnesses. The police found that only one eyewitness at the scene of the crash, François Levistre, made a clear, specific reference to seeing a bright flash. He claimed to have seen it in his rear-view mirror and recounted other elements of what he saw in considerable detail while he was negotiating the difficult bend out of the tunnel, a task which would have required his full attention on the road in front of him. Crucially, however, his testimony was directly contradicted by his then-wife, who sat in the passenger seat next to him. Television documentaries produced by Channel 4 in 2004 and the BBC in 2006 both raised the issue of Levistre's prior criminal record for offences involving dishonesty.
Other eyewitness testimony made little reference to the appearance of any inexplicable flashes at the crash site. Several witnesses who would be expected to have seen a blinding flash made no reference to one.
In any event, the detailed crash reconstruction revealed that the chain of events that led to the car unavoidably colliding with the pillar started well before it was at the mouth of the tunnel where the flash is alleged to have been discharged. Furthermore, a strobe light of the type that was alleged to have been used is so powerful that a flash emitted from it would have been bright enough to illuminate a very wide area. It would have likely blinded not only Henri Paul, but also the driver of the white Fiat Uno, the pursuing paparazzi and witnesses standing at the road side. The Operation Paget
Operation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
report concluded the alleged flash did not happen.
A white Fiat Uno and James Andanson
Analysis of the wreckage of the Mercedes revealed it had glancing contact with a white Fiat UnoFiat Uno
The Fiat Uno is a supermini car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat. The Uno was launched in 1983 and built in its homeland until 1995, with production still taking place in other countries.-First series :...
car which left traces of paint on the Mercedes bodywork but extensive attempts by the French police to find the vehicle involved failed.
The essence of the allegations made by Mohammed Fayed were the white Fiat Uno was used by the "security services" to block the road in front of the Mercedes, causing it to swerve and thereby crash into the side of the tunnel. Fayed further alleged that the Fiat Uno involved was owned by a French photojournalist named Jean-Paul James Andanson who had photographed Diana while she was at his villa in St. Tropez in July 1997. Andanson's death in May 2000, Fayed claimed, was either due to guilt over what he had done or because he was assassinated by the French or British security services to silence him.
Operation Paget found Andanson had a solid alibi for the night of the accident placing him at his home some 175 miles (282 km) south of Paris. This alibi was supported by documents related to travel he made from his home on the morning after the accident and statements from his widow and son. The white Fiat Uno he owned was in an unroadworthy condition, being nine years old at the time with 370,000 km on the clock and had not been maintained for several years before the death of Diana. He traded it in part exchange with a Fiat dealership near his home in November 1997 for a new car. Operation Paget concluded it extremely unlikely because of the car's condition and the fact Andanson had so openly disposed of it that it was the one at the scene of the accident in Paris.
French police examined James Andanson's car as part of their effort to trace the one that had come into contact with the Mercedes with a view to prosecuting the driver for failing to render assistance. They reached the same conclusion Operation Paget investigators were to, seven years later. The French police spent a year after the accident searching for the vehicle and eliminated over 4000 white Fiat Unos from their inquiry. Operation Paget decided it would be unlikely renewed enquiries would identify the vehicle involved as such a long period of time had elapsed since the accident. It concluded the threat of prosecution for an imprisonable offence probably deterred the driver from coming forward at the time.
Possible suicide
James Andanson died in May 2000. The official verdict was suicide. His body was found in a black, burnt-out BMW in a forest in the south of France, the doors were locked with no sign of the car keys. Andanson's death was attributed to problems in his private life and evidence was uncovered from his friends and associates that he had talked of suicide long before the death of Diana and he had even mentioned details of the social circumstances in which he would take his life and the method by which he would do it. Their testimony was consistent with the way Andanson actually took his life.The Paget report states that when the car was found, Andanson's body was in the driver's seat of the car, his head was detached and lay between the front seats. There was also a hole in his left temple. The French pathologist concluded this was caused by the intense heat of the fire.
Operation Paget found no evidence Andanson was known to any security service and, contrary to Fayed's claims, his death was thoroughly investigated by French police. A break-in at his former workplace in June 2000 alleged to have been carried out by security services was found to be unconnected to his death as no items related to him were stolen. The break-in was investigated by French police who to this day have not found the criminals responsible.
CCTV images
The absence of CCTVClosed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
images showing the Mercedes' journey from the hotel to the crash site has been frequently cited as evidence of an organized conspiracy. In a submission to the Minister for Justice, Scotland for Public Inquiry in February 2003, Mohammed Fayed stated that there were approximately 10 video cameras on the route taken by the Mercedes, including one on the entrance to the tunnel itself, yet there are no recordings from any of these cameras for the night in question. In December 2006, The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
newspaper published an article stating there were more than 14 CCTV cameras in the Pont de l'Alma
Pont de l'Alma
Pont de l'Alma is an arch bridge in Paris, crossing the Seine. It was named to commemorate the Battle of Alma during the Crimean War, in which the Franco-British alliance achieved victory over the Russian army on September 20, 1854....
underpass, yet none have recorded footage of the fatal collision.
Judge Hervé Stéphan was appointed as Examining Magistrate in this case on 2 September 1997. On that day, by Judicial Order, he tasked the Brigade Criminelle with identifying all video and photographic images along the route taken by the Mercedes. Lieutenant Eric Gigou of the Brigade Criminelle led the team that carried out that work, initially by retracing the route several times and drawing up a list of possible locations. His report showed that the team identified ten locations of CCTV cameras. None of these had any images relevant to the inquiry, since they were principally security cameras facing the entrances to buildings. Most of the cameras were not maintained by the City of Paris: the owners of the buildings to which they were attached operated them privately.
There was a traffic-monitoring camera above the underpass in the Place de l’Alma itself but this was under the control of la Compagnie de Circulation Urbaine de Paris (Paris Urban Traffic Unit). That department closed down at about 11 p.m., had no night duty staff and made no recordings. Officers in the Police Headquarters Information and Command Centre could continue to view the pictures shown by the traffic camera in real time but could not control it. There would be no reason for those in the overnight control room in Paris to be viewing that camera in particular, before the crash.
The subject of the CCTV cameras is dealt with in Chapter 5 of the Operation Paget report. It was also found that a photograph that was published in a book by David Cohen 'Diana, Death of a Goddess' and captioned as having been taken just before the car entered the tunnel was in fact taken by a photographer as the car left the back of the Paris Ritz.
Seatbelt
There was some media discussion in April 2006 suggesting that Diana was a faithful seat belt user and therefore the fact that both her and Dodi's belts either failed or were not used was sinister and may suggest sabotage. Other sources question if she did in fact use her belt all the time, as suggested."What is certain is that she was not wearing a seat belt and this made things worse. We would like to think that if she had been wearing a seat belt, we'd have been able to save her," said Prof. Andre Lienhart, who reviewed the emergency services' response for the French government investigation of the incident.
CNN did an analysis of the crash and concluded that injuries would have been minor had the occupants been wearing seat belts.
In 2005, the Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
published an article claiming that the Mercedes had been stolen prior to the crash and altered to render the seat belts dysfunctional. This alteration had allegedly been carried out by the DST
Direction de la surveillance du territoire
The Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterrorism and more generally the security of France against foreign threats and interference...
working in co-operation with MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
and MI6. In this version of events, the car crash was then caused by a bright flash of light aimed at Henri Paul from a passing white Fiat Uno.
Analysis of the wreckage of the car after its repatriation to England in 2005 by a Forensic Accident Investigator from the Transport Research Laboratory
Transport Research Laboratory
TRL is a British transport consultancy and research organisation based at Wokingham Berkshire with approximately 500 staff. TRL is owned by the Transport Research Foundation , which is overseen by 80 sector members from the transport industry. TRL also own small UK regional offices situated in...
of thirty-five years experience on behalf of Operation Paget
Operation Paget
Operation Paget was the Metropolitan Police inquiry, led by Lord Stevens, that investigated the conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed on 31 August 1997....
found that all the seatbelts were in good working order with the exception of the right rear one which was for the seat Diana occupied. Follow up enquiries with French investigators found that they had declared all the seatbelts operational at an examination in October 1998, suggesting the damage to this seatbelt took place after the accident.
Transport to the hospital
The first call to the emergency services switchboard was logged at 12.26 a.m. The SAMUSamu
Samu may refer to:* Samu, nickname for a Homo erectus man found in Vértesszőlős, Hungary* SAMU - Service d'Aide Médicale d'Urgence, an emergency medical service in France.* Servicio de Atencion Medica Urgente, also an emergency medical service...
ambulance carrying the Princess arrived at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital at 2.06 a.m. This length of time has prompted much conspiracy-related comment.
The period between the crash and the arrival at the hospital needs to take into account the following: the time taken for emergency services to arrive; the time taken by the Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris to remove the Princess from the damaged car; and the actual journey time from the crash site to the hospital.
Police Officers Sébastien Dorzee and Lino Gagliadorne were the first emergency officials to arrive at the scene at around 12:30 a.m. Sergeants Xavier Gourmelom and Philippe Boyer of the Sapeurs-Pompiers arrived at around 12:32 a.m. Doctor Jean-Marc Martino, a specialist in anaesthetics and intensive care treatment and the doctor in charge of the SAMU ambulance, arrived at around 12:40 a.m. The Princess was removed from the car at 1:00 a.m. She then went into cardiac arrest. Following external cardiopulmonary resuscitation the Princess of Wales’s heart started beating again. She was moved to the SAMU ambulance at 1:18 a.m.
The ambulance departed the crash scene at 1:41 a.m. and arrived at the hospital at 2:06 a.m.—a journey time of approximately 26 minutes. This included a stop at the Gare d’Austerlitz ordered by Dr Martino because of the drop in the blood pressure of the Princess of Wales and the necessity to deal with it. The ambulance was travelling slowly on his express instructions. The doctor was concerned about the Princess of Wales’s blood pressure and the effects on her medical condition of deceleration and acceleration.
The SAMU ambulance carrying the Princess of Wales passed the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital on the Ile de la Cité en route to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. The decision to transfer the Princess to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital was taken by Dr Marc Lejay who was on despatch duty in SAMU Control on that night, in consultation with Dr Derossi, who was at the scene. The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital was the main reception centre for multiple trauma patients in Paris. The Hôtel-Dieu was not equipped to deal with the injuries the Princess of Wales had sustained. Dr Marc Lejay stated: ‘The Hôtel-Dieu hospital on the ‘Ile de la Cité’ is closer but not equipped with heart surgery teams or neurosurgical teams or teams trained to take patients with multiple injuries.’ Dr Lejay was also aware that Professor Bruno Riou was on duty at the Pitié-Salpêtrière that night and was particularly skilled to treat the Princess of Wales’s injuries. Dr Jean-Marc Martino supported this view.
Conspiracy theories expressed in contemporary art
Diana has been depicted a number of times in contemporary artContemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
since her death. Some artworks have referenced the conspiracy theories, as well as paying tribute to Diana's compassion, and acknowledging her perceived victimhood.
In July 1999, British artist Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
, at the height of her Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
fame, created a number of monoprint drawings inspired by the public and private life of Diana for a themed exhibition called Temple of Diana held at The Blue Gallery, London. Among the works was a delicate sketch of a rose drawn next to the phrase, It makes perfect sense to know they killed you.
British artist Stella Vine
Stella Vine
Stella Vine is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting with subject matter drawn from either her personal life of family, friends and school, or rock stars, royalty and celebrities.After a difficult relationship with her stepfather, she left home and in...
provoked media controversy in 2004 when Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi is the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and led that business - the world's largest advertising agency in the 1980s - until they were forced out in 1995. In the same year the Saatchi brothers formed a new agency called M&C...
bought Hi Paul can you come over I'm really frightened (2003), a painting by her of Diana, Princess of Wales. The work's title came from the thick red text painted across the canvas, a reference to Diana's butler Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell
Paul Burrell, RVM is a former servant of the British Royal Household. He was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II and later butler to Diana, Princess of Wales...
. Vine painted as many as 30 paintings of Diana, having become fascinated by conspiracy theories into the Princess' tragic car crash which she had read on the Internet. Vine destroyed many of these paintings soon after they were created. She put them in a skip as she didn't have enough space to dry nor store the wet paintings. The only one she kept was later added to Saatchi's collection.
Vine said she was upset that some people, including her relatives, didn't like her image of Diana, as she believe it was not a disrespectful picture but it was in fact a self portrait as much as depiction of Diana: "The picture is about two women. One who lived in Kensington Palace. And the other who lives down the Whitecross Street. "I look at the picture," says Vine, "and I also see myself."" In 2005, a new Vine painting of Diana, Murdered, pregnant and embalmed (2005), was bought by singer George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
for £25,000, reported in The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
newspaper which condemned it as "sick".
Conspiracy theories in other media
The Murder of Princess Diana, a fictionalized book written by British author Noel Botham, was published on 28 February 2007 (almost 10 years after her death) and alleged that Diana had been deliberately killed.It was aired on American television on 25 August that year - just six days before the 10th anniversary of Diana's death.Unlawful Killing
Unlawful Killing (film)
Unlawful Killing is a British documentary film, directed by Keith Allen, about the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed on 31 August 1997. It has been entirely financed by Mohamed Al-Fayed and premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It accuses Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret...
, a British documentary film about the deaths of Diana and Dodi, was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 11 to May 22, 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition...
in May 2011. It was directed by Keith Allen and funded by Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed is an Egyptian businessman and billionaire. Amongst his business interests are ownership of the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club, Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods Department Store, Knightsbridge...
. It contains allegations that Prince Philip was a psychopath in the mould of British serial killer Fred West
Fred West
Frederick Walter Stephen West , was a British serial killer. Between 1967 and 1987, he alone, and later, he and his wife Rosemary, tortured, raped and murdered at least 11 young women and girls, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September 1979 at...
, and orchestrated the murder of Diana and Dodi, and that the Queen was a "gangster in a tiara". It also alleges that Diana's life could have been saved had she been taken to hospital quickly and efficiently, and condemns the inquest into her death for failing to investigate why this action was not taken. It perpetuates the long-standing allegation by Al-Fayed that the Royal Family was opposed to Diana's relationship with Dodi due to his religion. The film will not be shown in British cinemas due to laws on libel and contempt.This film sparked outrage at the festival.
The film 2012
2012 (film)
2012 is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures...
has a brief segment revealing that Diana had been killed by the US to cover up her knowledge of the apocalypse.