Test confirms driver drunk

A third blood test carried out on the driver of the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales, her friend, Dodi Fayed, and the driver…

A third blood test carried out on the driver of the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales, her friend, Dodi Fayed, and the driver himself were killed has confirmed that he was more than three times the French drink-driving limit when he crashed. His condition was worsened by anti-depressant drugs, traces of which were found in his system, police in Paris said last night.Meanwhile, the princess's mother, Mrs Frances Shand Kydd, added her voice to family denials of a rift with the royal family over the details of last Saturday's funeral. Responding to a report on Monday's Channel 4 news, she said: "There is no division, nor has there been."The French authorities investigating the fatal accident agreed to the third test after the al-Fayed family released a security video from the Ritz Hotel in Paris which they said proved the driver, Henri Paul, had not been drinking before he drove the car in which the princess and Dodi al-Fayed died. Last night's disclosure of the test results, which put the level of alcohol in Paul's blood at 1.8 grammes of alcohol per litre of blood, provoked a row involving the al-Fayeds, Mr Paul's family and the French authorities. Both families challenged the results and those of two previous tests carried out at an official post mortem.They recorded alcohol levels of 1.75 and 1.87 grammes, far in excess of the legal French limit of 0.5 and 0.8 grammes which is the level set for liability for a criminal offence. Defending the request for a third blood test a spokesman for the al-Fayed family insisted: "We are only seeking to establish the full facts so that everyone can know what went on. We have no brief to defend the indefensible. We have not seen the report and we will be seeking professional advice."Earlier, two French judges in charge of the investigation into the car crash visited the scene of the accident for the first time. Confusion remains over the exact speed of the princess's car when it entered the underpass at Pont d'Alma. The judges, Mr Herve Stephan and Mr Marie-Christian Davidal, spent 25 minutes inside the underpass and were informed of the results of the toxicology test while they visited the crash scene.The French authorities have already gathered three volumes of evidence, including 20 rolls of film taken by the paparazzi following the car. Some are believed to show the princess and Mr Fayed shielding their faces from photographers' flashes.