LONDON — Swarming paparazzi, a mysterious second car at the crash site, and a multi-tentacled conspiracy allegedly directed by the husband of Queen Elizabeth II — jurors have much to sort through in reaching a judgment on the deaths of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed.
Nearly 11 years after the fatal car crash that shook the world, testimony has ranged far and wide in an extraordinary coroner's inquest, without shedding much light on claims that they were victims of a plot. The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, is expected to begin his summation today, which may take days before going to the jury.
The key question for the jurors is whether the crash in a Paris road tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997, was an accident.
Mohamed Al Fayed has not budged from claiming that his son and the princess died at the hands of British security agents, acting at Prince Philip's behest.
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French police concluded it was an accident, caused in part by speeding and by the high alcohol level in driver Henri Paul's blood. A British police investigation concurred.
More than 240 witnesses have testified since the inquest began on Oct. 2, including Diana's close friends and former butler, Philip's private secretary and a former head of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. Al Fayed's late bid to force the coroner to summon Philip to testify, and for written questions to be put to the queen, was summarily rejected by a higher court.
There has been evidence that Diana feared dying in a car crash, but that she also had speculated about death in a helicopter or airplane crash; there was testimony that she feared Philip.
The basic scene is familiar: The couple's car slammed into a concrete pillar in the Alma tunnel after apparently having a glancing collision with a white Fiat Uno, as they were pursued from the Ritz Hotel by photographers.
But there was precious little evidence to back up Al Fayed's claims that his son and Diana were engaged, that she was pregnant and that Philip was at the head of a murder plot.
Al Fayed believes the establishment simply didn't want Diana to marry his son, a Muslim.
As the inquest unfolded, some distance opened between Al Fayed and his lawyers.
Michael Mansfield, his main advocate, steered away from accusing Philip or claiming MI6 assassinated the couple. He did suggest that rogue agents might have been involved.
When he testified on Feb. 18, Al Fayed affirmed his belief that the conspirators included Prince Philip; Diana's ex-husband, Prince Charles; Tony Blair, who was prime minister when she died; Diana's sister, Sarah McCorquodale; her brother-in-law, Robert Fellowes; two former chiefs of London police; driver Paul; the CIA; Diana's attorney, the late Lord Mishcon; two French toxicologists; Britain's ambassador to France; members of the French medical service; and three bodyguards.
Al Fayed was the only witness to claim Diana was engaged to his son. He was told of the engagement, Al Fayed said, in a telephone call.
He alone definitively asserted that Diana was pregnant. The pathologist who examined her body said he saw no evidence.
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