Princess Diana died in Paris on 31 August 1997, after the car carrying her and Dodi Fayed crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. In the years that followed, her death became the subject of endless questions and theories.
Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed, publicly claimed that the couple had been murdered in a plot involving the British establishment. A French investigation had already concluded that the crash was an accident. In Britain, a Metropolitan Police inquiry called Operation Paget reported in 2006 that it had found no evidence of murder.
Still, questions remained. The official British inquest opened in full in October 2007 at the High Court in London, led by Lord Justice Scott Baker, with a jury.
The evidence was detailed and often painful. The jury heard about the final hours at the Ritz Hotel, the decision to use a decoy car, the speed of the Mercedes as it entered the tunnel, and the motorbikes and cars of the photographers who were following. Medical experts explained Diana’s injuries and the efforts made to save her life.
Over six months, the jury heard from around 250 witnesses. They examined evidence about the car, the driver, the photographers who had followed it, and the many conspiracy claims. They also visited the tunnel in Paris.
On 7 April 2008, the jury delivered its verdict. Diana and Dodi had been unlawfully killed. The jury found that the deaths were caused by the grossly negligent driving of the chauffeur, Henri Paul, and of the following vehicles, the photographers who had pursued the car.
They also listed contributing factors: Henri Paul’s driving had been impaired by alcohol, and Diana and Dodi were not wearing seatbelts. The theory that the couple had been murdered in a conspiracy was rejected.
After the verdict, Mohamed Al Fayed said he would end his campaign to prove a conspiracy. Diana’s sons, William and Harry, said they agreed with the jury’s verdict and thanked those who had worked on the inquest.
More than ten years after that night in Paris, the official answer was clear. It did not end every theory, but it gave a final legal verdict on one of the most heartbreaking moments of the twentieth century.
For many people, the verdict brought a sense of closure. For others, the questions will never fully disappear. But the inquest remains the most detailed official examination ever carried out into the death of the Princess of Wales.