Tragic automobile accidents occur every day, but when one
occurs with the death of a high profile person, it raises questions of how the
accident happened. On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana along with her
boyfriend Dodi Fayed, died in a horrible car crash (“Tangalo and
Schifrin”).
Within hours of Princess Diana’s death, conspiracy theories
started to pop up (“London Net Conspiracy Theories”).
1. The
initial blame was on the paparazzi who were chasing the vehicle.
2. The
driver of the vehicle carrying the Princess and Dodi Fayed was drunk.
3. The
overriding theory surrounding Princess Diana’s death was that the British
Secret Service was responsible.
Let us examine the theories surrounding Princess Diana’s
death with the most reasonable evidence.
Character Analysis
Who was Princess Diana? She was what you would call
an “Ugly Duckling” who would turn into a beautiful swan. She was born
Diana Frances Spencer on July 1, 1961, at Parkhouse, Sandringham, Norfolk,
England. Diana was a direct descendant of King Charles 11, but was still
just considered a commoner. She was tall, 5’8, had blonde hair, blue
eyes, 130 pounds, and was very shy (“The truth behind her most famous fashion
moments”)
As a commoner,
Diana had a spotty, undistinguished educational background; she was educated at
home to age nine, went to Riddlesworth Hall from (age nine-twelve), West Heath
School (age twelve-sixteen); dropped out, but ended up finishing school in
Switzerland, Chateau d’Oex (“Princess Diana Biography”). She soon moved
to London where she worked as a housekeeper and a nanny. Diana had a
great fondness for children and eventually ended up becoming a Kindergarten teacher
at the Young England School (1).
It was in 1980
while visiting her sister Sarah that her commoner status would soon change.
Diana was introduced to Prince Charles, they began to date and six months
later he proposed. The press and the public were fascinated by this
seemingly odd couple - the reserved, garden-loving prince and the shy
Kindergarten teacher.
On July 29, 1981,
Charles and Diana were married, it was called the “wedding of the century” (1).
Diana was the first British citizen to marry the heir to the British
throne in almost 300 years (Raffan). It was when Diana became royalty
that she turned into a beautiful swan (1). Despite her shyness, she was shoved
into the public eye. There was something special about this princess; she
was very compassionate, kind-hearted, and was a breath of fresh air in a
monarchy that had become increasingly distant from the people (Rhodes).
Diana gained the title “Her Royal Highness”, but became best known as
“The people’s Princess”. She was a strong supporter of homeless people
living with HIV and AIDS and was a strong advocate for children in need.
She was often photographed holding, hugging and shaking the hands of
these people, ignoring the critics (“The People’s Princess”).
Under the
constant pressures of her royal duties, the public began to scrutinize her
marriage and her well-being (“Princess Diana Forever”). After the births
of their two sons, Prince William in 1982, and Prince Harry in 1984, she began
to have internal conflicts. Diana was struggling with depression, she was
angry at herself for allowing her despair to degenerate into an eating disorder
which only made matters worse. Charles displayed a total inability to
cope with her depression and distress. His response was to absent himself
and sought comfort from Camilla Parker Bowles.
The beautiful
swan soon encountered external conflict when dealing with her insecurities.
She always had the fear of rejection, sharp mood swings, and impulsive
behavior (Noonan). Problems within her marriage also led her to have
extramarital affairs, she admitted to having an affair with James Hewitt, her
horse riding instructor and Barry Mannakee, her body guard. (“BBC’s Panorama”).
The prince and princess of Wales were separated on December 9, 1992 and
divorced on August 28, 1996.
Diana emerged
from her divorce stronger than ever with a new style, a new attitude, and a new
crusade (Brown). Although she could no longer be addressed as “Her Royal
Highness”, she was allowed to keep her title as Princess of Wales. The
people and media adored her, she was one of the most photographed persons in
the world.
Diana was 36
years old, still full of vitality, and had a lust for life. She worked
hard and was a devoted mother, but she was also a woman who desired to be
loved. She would soon meet Dodi Al-Fayed. They had met at various
parties and found each other pleasant. They had a lot of similarities:
they were divorcees, very wealthy, came from broken homes as children, and were
raised by their fathers. It was July of 1997 that they were invited to a
Mediterranean cruise, along with Diana’s sons, aboard his father’s yacht. This
is where the sparks would fly between them. Dodi made her feel safe,
carefree, and very desirable. A couple of weeks later they took another
trip to a villa in St. Tropez. Diana was well aware of the paparazzi’s
presence and seemed troubled (“Dodi Al-Fayed”). She knew what would
appear in the papers, but she did not want this to ruin her good mood.
She was having fun, felt alive, and was head over heels in love.
Diana approached
the photographers and said to them: “I have a huge surprise for you!
You just have to wait a little…” At the same time, England wondered
why Diana appeared to have a round belly in the photographs of her in her
bathing suit. Could she have been expecting a baby (“Dodi Al-Fayed”)?
On August 31,
1997, the news of Princess Diana’s death would shock the world. She was
involved in a high speed chase that resulted in a terrible accident that
instantly killed the driver, Henri Paul, and Dodi Al-Fayed. Princess
Diana was pronounced dead less than three hours later. The bodyguard,
Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only survivor.
Conspiracy Theories
On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana was pronounced dead.
Within hours of her death, several conspiracy theories popped up.
The initial blame was on the paparazzi, who were chasing the vehicle.
The second theory was that Henri Paul, the chauffeur, was intoxicated and
driving erratically. However, the overriding theory was that the British
Secret Service was responsible.
The first theory
proposes that the paparazzi was responsible for her death. Every aspect
of Princess Diana’s life was hounded by the paparazzi. Diana was a
recently divorced Princess with a new lover, Dodi Al-Fayed. It was on the
night of August 31, 1997, that the Princess and Dodi were having dinner
at the Ritz Hotel that the paparazzi had crowded outside of the hotel after
hearing rumors that there was going to be an announcement of an engagement or
of a pregnancy (Thomas).
The rumor has
never been proven, but the father of Dodi Al-Fayed, Mohammed, has insisted even
in court that it was true (Jordan). Mohammed claims that Diana had called
him with the news of the pregnancy and that Dodi had purchased a ring from a
jeweler with the inscription, “Dis-moi oui” (tell me yes) (1).
While the couple was eating dinner,
Diana’s chauffeur left the hotel in a decoy vehicle to throw off the awaiting
paparazzi. They waited for another chauffeur, Henri Paul, to pick them
up. As they were getting ready to leave the hotel, surveillance captured
the last picture of Princess Diana alive and well (“The movements of Henri
Paul”). In the picture, you can see the Princess looking back to see if
any paparazzi were following them. An independent witness states that as
the Mercedes sped off it was being pursued by a black motorbike, a
dark saloon and a white turbo Fiat Uno (Reid). As the vehicle entered the
tunnel, the driver of the Mercedes lost control and crashed into a concrete
pillar. Henri Paul and Dodi Al-Fayed died instantly, but Trevor
Rees-Jones and Princess Diana survived.
Instead of going
to the aid of the Princess, the paparazzi was snapping photos of the Princess
as she lay crumpled in the back seat of the smashed up vehicle (“The Princess
Diana Death Pictures”). French doctors struggled to save her, but she was
pronounced dead less than three hours after the accident (Rainer).
During the arrest
of several paparazzi, they kept insisting that they were not responsible for the
accident because they were not in the tunnel when the accident occurred(Allen).
They were arrested anyway for not aiding the injured and because they
were taking photos. After several days in jail and being questioned, they were
released. There was no proof or evidence that indicated that they were
responsible for the deadly crash. Several years later the magistrates
ruled that the pack of pursuing paparazzi played no role in the accident (1).
The second theory
indicates that Henri Paul was responsible for her death because he was
intoxicated and driving erratically. Henri Paul was a former French
Military Pilot; he did not have a chauffeur’s license but had been
trained to drive a heavily armoured Mercedes in anti-terrorist maneuvers
(Bell,et al). Henri Paul was the deputy security chief at the Ritz Hotel,
and he had been off duty when he was ordered into work at the last minute to
drive the glittering couple. It is unclear if Henri Paul was actually
intoxicated, because there are too many conflicting stories of his sobriety.
The London Times reported that Ritz staffers said Paul was visibly drunk
and The Financial Times reported that Paul was known by photographers as both a
tippler and a tipster (1). But, there is clear footage of Paul walking in
the Ritz Hotel and also of him in the elevator with the Princess and Dodi, and
he did not appear intoxicated (“The movements of Henri Paul” ).
As the Mercedes
was about to take off from the hotel, surveillance cameras captured the last photo
of the Princess, alive and well. You can see the Princess peering out the
back window to see if they were going to be pursued by the paparazzi (“The
movements of Henri Paul”). Shortly after leaving is when Paul lost
control of the vehicle due to the fact that he was speeding..
During the
investigation, officials stated that Paul’s blood test showed that he had the
equivalent of 10 glasses of wine or nine hefty shots of whiskey in his system.
This is three times the blood-alcohol limit (Bell, et al).
The officials also said, “by having that much booze in his
system, would leave a 165 pound man seeing double and unable to walk without
staggering” (1) Prosecutors said that when the investigators pried open
the door to the Mercedes and looked at the crumpled dashboard, the speedometer
was frozen at 121 m.p.h.(1).
It was on April
7, 2008, the jury concluded that the cause of the deadly accident that killed
Princess Diana was due to Henri Paul being intoxicated and driving erratically
because they were being chased by the paparazzi.
The overriding
theory was that Britain’s Secret Service was responsible. In a letter to
her butler, Paul Burrell, that Princess Diana wrote prior to her divorce states
that her husband, Prince Charles, was plotting to kill her (Attachment 1)
(Rainer). In the letter, she wrote: “I am sitting here at my desk today
in October, longing for someone to hug me and encourage me to keep strong and
hold my head high. 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”(1).
This letter had
been shown to the inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice but was dismissed
because Lucia Flecha da Lima, the wife of the former Brazilian ambassador to
London and one of the Princess’s closest confidantes, stated that the Princess
had never expressed fears for her safety. She also stated that Paul
Burrell was perfectly capable of imitating Princess Diana’s handwriting
(Rayner).
There was little
doubt that Princess Diana, recently divorced from Prince Charles, was a thorn
in the side of the Royal Family (Reid). Her romance with Dodi Al- Fayed,
only six weeks old, was serious. Could a rumor of a possible pregnancy
and marriage to her Muslim boyfriend be a threat to the Royal Family? If
she did marry and move abroad with him, she surely was going to take the future
King of England with her,
Before and after
the deadly accident, several witnesses stated that there were two people on a
black motorbike wearing helmets that concealed their face and a dark saloon, as
well as a white turbo Fiat Uno, were the ones that caused the accident (1).
The most compelling eyewitness, a French harbour pilot, chillingly
recalls the black motorbike stopping, and one of the riders jumping off the
bike, peers into the window where the Princess was and gave a gesture used
formally in the military (where both arms are crossed over the body and then
thrown out straight to each side) to indicate mission accomplished.
Afterwards, the rider climbed back on the motorbike and raced out of the
tunnel. The riders of the motorbike nor the vehicles were never
identified or linked to the deadly accident (1).
How did the jury
come to the conclusion that it was a combination of alcohol and reckless
driving by Henri Paul that caused the deadly accident? Because of a blood
test that indicated that he had a blood-alcohol level that was three times the
limit, and also because of the speedometer being frozen at 121 m.p.h.(Bell, et
al).
In a survey that
was done in advance of the movie version of Princess Diana’s life: 41% believed
that Diana’s death was an accident, 38% thought that it was not an accident,
and 21% said they did not know. The belief in theories about the Princess
Diana’s death, 33% believe that she was assassinated, 25% believe that
Diana was pregnant, 25% believe that the M16 was involved in Princess Diana’s
death, 19% say Henri Paul was in the pay of a national security service, 16% say
that the SAS was involved in her death, and 14% think that her seatbelt may
have been sabotaged (“38% of Brits…”). The poll that I took here at the
College of the Mainland 100% believe that the British Secret Service was
responsible.
It was only hours
after Princess Diana’s death that conspiracy theories popped up. These
theories remain debated today.
Tragic automobile accidents occur every day, but when
one occurs with the death of a high profile person, it raises questions of how
the accident happened. On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana along with her
boyfriend Dodi Fayed, died in a horrible car accident (“Tangalo and Schifrin”).
Within hours, several conspiracy theories popped up.
1.
The initial blame was on the paparazzi who were chasing the vehicle.
2.
The driver of the vehicle carrying the Princess and Dodi Fayed was drunk.
3.
The overriding theory surrounding Princess Diana’s death was that the
British Secret Service was responsible.
The
jury concluded that it was a combination of alcohol and reckless driving by the
driver, Henri Paul, that killed Princess Diana (Bell, Trumposky, Kennedy), but
the theories of her death remain debated today.
Work cited
Allen, Peter. ?Paparazzi Found Partly Responsible for
Diana's Death Will Never Face Justice.? Daily Mail Online, Associated
Newspapers, 8 Apr. 2008, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-557966/Paparazzi-partly-responsible-Dianas-death-face-justice.html.
Bell et al. ?Princess Diana's Driver Was Drunk When She
Died in 1997.? News Tangle, NY Daily News, 2015, newstangle.com/princess-dianas-driver-was-drunk-when-she-died-in-1997/.
Brown, Tina. ?Diana's Final Heartbreak.? The Hive,
Vanity Fair, 11 June 2007, www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/07/diana200707.
Jordan, Mary.
?Paparazzi and Driver Found Negligent in Princess Diana's Death.? Washington
Post, The Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2008, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/07/AR2008040702743.html.
Jordan, William. ?38% Of Brits Think Princess Diana's Death
'NOT an Accident'.? YouGov: What the World Thinks, YouGov, 2013, yougov.co.uk/news/2013/09/17/38-brits-princess-dianas-death-was-not-accident/.
Kay,
Richard. ??The Princes Diana Death Pictures.?? Daily Mail.com, Oct.
2007, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-485294/Published-time-Coroner-releases-amazing-pictures-Diana-car-took-death.html.
Kofman, Jeffrey, and Leezel Tanglao. ?Diana: Remembering
the 'People's Princess' 16 Years After Her Death.? ABC News, ABC News
Network, 31 Aug. 2013, abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/diana-remembering-peoples-princess-16-years-death/story?id=20125569.
The Life of Diana, Princess of Wales.? BBC's Panarama, www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/ob-divorce.html.
Morgan, David. ?The People's Princess.? CBSNews, CBS
Interactive, 1997, www.cbsnews.com/pictures/princess-diana-a-photo-album/.
The Movements of Paul Henri,? director. CCTV, Oct. 2014.
Princess Diana Bio.? Biography.com, A&E Networks
Television, 2015, www.biography.com/people/princess-diana-9273782.
Princess Diana, Forever Young.? YOU, You.co.za, 2011, www.you.co.za/news/princess-diana-forever-young/.
Ramsdale, Suzannah. ?Princess Diana's Dresses: The Truth
Behind Her Most Famous Fashion Moments.? Marie Claire, Marie Claire, 16
July 2013, www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/princess-diana-s-dresses-the-truth-behind-her-most-famous-fashion-moments-116675.
Rayner, Gordon. ?Princess Diana Letter: 'Charles Plans to
Kill Me'.? The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 2007, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573170/Princess-Diana-letter-Charles-plans-to-kill-me.html.
Rayner, Gordon. ?Princess Diana: 'Paparazzi Didn't Help
Victims'.? The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, Oct. 2007, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1565702/Princess-Diana-Paparazzi-didnt-help-victims.html.
Reid, Sue. ?Diana: The Unseen Evidence Which Has Been
Mysteriously Ignored until Now.? Daily Mail Online, Associated
Newspapers, 25 Sept. 2007, www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-483701/Diana-The-unseen-evidence-mysteriously-ignored-now.html.
Rhodes, Melvin. ?Diana -- The World's Princess.? Diana
-- The World's Princess, Lifenets, 1997, www.kubik.org/vcm/diana.htm.
Thomas, Helen, and Https://www.facebook.com/popdust/. ?Conspiracy Theory Thursday-The Princess Diana Death
Conspiracy.? Popdust, Popdust, 12 Aug. 2016, www.popdust.com/conspiracy-theory-thursdaythe-princess-diana-death-conspiracy-1891804632.html.
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