Death of Diana, Princess of Wales conspiracy theories

Although the initial French investigation found that Diana, Princess of Wales had died as a result of an accident, a number of researchers,^[1] 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."^[2]

Henri Paul

Main article: 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 Paget 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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^[who?] 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.^[5] Other sources^[who?] 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.^[6]

On December 10, 2006, it was reported^[who?] 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.^{[citation needed]}

It has been disclosed^[who?] 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.^[7]

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."^[8]

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.^[9]

Allegation of MI6 involvement

Richard Tomlinson, 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.^[10]

Tomlinson alleged that MI6 was monitoring Diana before her death (many have said the group helped leak the Squidgygate phone-tap tapes),^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12]

Relationship with Dodi Fayed

One of the main motives which have been advanced for alleged murder 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.^[13]

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.^[14]

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".^[15] 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.^[16] CCTV images released on October 6 taken just minutes before their deaths, show a relaxed Diana and Dodi affectionately holding hands.^[17]

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.^[18]

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.^[19]

Pregnancy

In January 2004, the former coroner 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.^[15]

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.^[20]

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’.‘^[21]

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.^[22][23][24] Senior members of Fayed's staff made derogatory comments about Murrell and Trevor Rees-Jones in their statements to Operation Paget.^[25]

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 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.^[26]

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.^[27]

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 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.^[28]

A white Fiat Uno and James Andanson

Analysis of the wreckage of the Mercedes revealed it had glancing contact with a white Fiat Uno car which left traces of paint on the Mercedes bodywork but extensive attempts by the French police to find the vehicle involved failed.^[29]

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.^[30]

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 CCTV 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.

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.^[31] Other sources question if she did in fact use her belt all the time, as suggested.^[32]

"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.^[33]

CNN did an analysis of the crash and concluded that injuries would have been minor had the occupants been wearing seat belts.^[34]

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.^[35]

Transport to the hospital

The first call to the emergency services switchboard was logged at 12.26 a.m. The SAMU 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.^[36]

Conspiracy theories expressed in contemporary art

Diana has been depicted a number of times in contemporary art 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.^[37] Vine destroyed many of these paintings soon after they were created.^[38] 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.^[37]

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.""^[37] 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".^[39]

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.^[40]It was aired on American television on 25 August that year - just six days before the 10th anniversary of Diana's death.^[41]

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.^[42]This film sparked outrage at the festival.^[43]

The film 2012 has a brief segment revealing that Diana had been killed by the US to cover up her knowledge of the apocalypse.

References

1. ^ Peter Hounam, Derek McAdam, John Morgan, Noel Botham, Jon King, Nicholas Davies are just a few of the numerous researchers presenting detailed evidence of an orchestrated conspiracy
2. ^ Rayner, Gordon; "Princess Diana letter - 'Charles plans to kill me'", The Daily Telegraph, 20 December 2007 (accessed 11 May 2011)
3. ^ "The Death of Diana, Princess of Wales: Part one of two". The Smoking Gun website. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0316051diana3.html. Retrieved 2006-06-01.  page 4
4. ^ VIDEO: Henry Paul Ties Shoelaces.
5. ^ Ani (December 01, 2006). "Blood samples of Di's driver belonged to a suicide victim". InformationLiberation. http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=18399. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
6. ^ Andrew Pierce (09 December 2006). "DNA tests prove Diana's driver was drunk, says BBC television documentary". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1536398/DNA-tests-prove-Dianas-driver-was-drunk-says-BBC-television-documentary.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
7. ^ Reid, Sue (25 September 2007). "Diana: The unseen evidence which has been mysteriously ignored until now". Daily Mail (London, United Kingdom: Associated Newspapers). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-483701/Diana-The-unseen-evidence-mysteriously-ignored-now.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
8. ^ "Ex Met boss to be grilled over Diana driver 'drunk as a pig' claim". Daily Mail (London, United Kingdom: Associated Newspapers). 3 October 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-485429/Ex-Met-boss-grilled-Diana-driver-drunk-pig-claim.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
9. ^ Robert Verkaik (5 October 2007). "CCTV footage suggests Henri Paul tipped off paparazzi about Diana's movements". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/cctv-footage-suggests-henri-paul-tipped-off-paparazzi-about-dianas-movements-396029.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Princess Diana - The Conspiracy Theories. Updated 2008". LondonNet. http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/talk/news/diana_conspiracy_theories.html. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
11. ^ "Intelligence: NZ's Tomlinson Draws MI6 Wrath Again". New Zealand's Independent News Media. 5 July 2006. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0607/S00040.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
12. ^ "The detail of the investigation into the claims of Richard Tomlinson are in Chapter 16 of the Operation Paget report" (PDF). Metropolitan Police. http://www.met.police.uk/news/docs/OperationPagetReport.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
13. ^ "The detail of the investigation into the claims of pregnancy and the nature of her relationship with Dodi Fayed are in Chapter 1 of the Operation Paget report" (PDF). Metropolitan Police. http://www.met.police.uk/news/docs/OperationPagetReport.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
14. ^ Operation Paget Report, pages 54-78
15. ^ ^{a b} Operation Paget Report, page 26
16. ^ [1] BBC, 14 December 2006,Retrieved 21 October 2007
17. ^ [2] BBC, October 6, 2007, Retrieved 19 October 2007
18. ^ Operation Paget Report, pages 121-129
19. ^ Operation Paget Report, pages 20-25
20. ^ Operation Paget Report, page 82
21. ^ Operation Paget Report, page 83
22. ^ Operation Paget Report, pages 668-671
23. ^ "BBC News article on outcome of copyright case involving Reuben Murrell". BBC. 10 February 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/638181.stm. Retrieved 2 January 2010. 
24. ^ "Full text of judgement on copyright case involving Reuben Murrell". HM Courts Service. http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/judgmentsfiles/j495/hydepark.htm. 
25. ^ "The details of the deteriorating relationship between Mohammed Fayed and bodyguards associated with the deaths of his son and Princess Diana are in Chapter 13 of the Operation Paget report" (PDF). Metropolitan Police. http://www.met.police.uk/news/docs/OperationPagetReport.pdf. 
26. ^ The Operation Paget inquiry report into the allegation of conspiracy to murder Metropolitan Police Service, 2006-12-14, Chapter 9, page 532, paragraph 4, page 538, statement 177: 'Jean Monceau is an experienced embalmer. ... He believed she needed to be embalmed. This was principally for presentation purposes before the Princess of Wales’ family ...', page 539: 'I suggested arterial injections to preserve the body from the proliferation of bacteria (odours and change of colour), especially given that the heat in the room where the body was, being so high was a contributory factor.'
27. ^ Operation Paget Report, Chapter Nine
28. ^ "The details of the investigation of the allegations surrounding the alleged bright flash are in chapter 7 of the Operation Paget report" (PDF). Metropolitan Police. http://www.met.police.uk/news/docs/OperationPagetReport.pdf. 
29. ^ "The details of the investigation of the allegations surrounding the white Fiat Uno are in chapter 14 of the Operation Paget report" (PDF). Metropolitan Police. http://www.met.police.uk/news/docs/OperationPagetReport.pdf. 
30. ^ "The main players in a tragic story: what we now know". The Independent (London). 15 December 2006. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2076155.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-22. 
31. ^ The Royalist - Express Claims Diana's Seatbelt May Have Been 'Sabotaged'
32. ^ "The Royalist". http://www.theroyalist.net/content/view/633/2/. 
33. ^ ""DNA evidence shows Diana's driver drunk: BBC". Updated 9 December 2006. CBC News". 9 December 2006. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/12/09/diana-crash.html. 
34. ^ ""Could a seat belt have saved Diana?". CNN.com. 5 September 1997". http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/05/crash.analysis/. Retrieved 1 May 2010. .
35. ^ "Operation Paget Report, page 421" (PDF). Metropolitan Police. http://www.met.police.uk/news/docs/OperationPagetReport.pdf. 
36. ^ "The issue of post-crash medical treatment of the Princess of Wales is dealt with in Chapter Eight of the Operation Paget Report" (PDF). Metropolitan Police. http://www.met.police.uk/news/docs/OperationPagetReport.pdf. 
37. ^ ^{a b c} Deveney, Catherine. "Stripped bare", Scotland on Sunday, 14 March 2004. Retrieved on 17 December 2008.
38. ^ Stella Vine's Latest Exhibition Modern Art Oxford, 14 July 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
39. ^ Iggulden, Caroline. "George's sick Di portrait", The Sun, 30 August 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
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42. ^ Thomas, Liz (14 May 2011). "Al-Fayed funded Diana movie alleges Prince Phillip is a 'Fred West-style psychopath' and labels Royal Family 'gangsters in tiaras'". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1386973/New-Diana-movie-calls-Prince-Phillip-Fred-West-style-psychopath-labels-Royal-Family-gangsters-tiaras.html. 
43. ^ McGuire, Caroline (14 May 2011). "Outrage at sick film on Di death". The Sun (London). http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3580140/Outrage-at-sick-film-on-Princess-Diana-death.html.