Lynne O'Donnell reports from London on the conspiracy theories about the death of Princess Diana, resuscitated by the opening of her inquest yesterday.
Britain's beleaguered royal family faced fresh controversy yesterday when the opening of an inquest into the death of Princess Diana coincided with revelations that she feared her former husband, Prince Charles, was planning her murder.
A tabloid newspaper published a letter from the princess to her former servant, Mr Paul Burrell, in which she claimed "my husband" was planning to have her killed in a car crash dressed up as an accident.
The letter, revealed last year in Mr Burrell's book, A Royal Duty, but with the name obscured, has already encouraged conspiracy theorists in their belief that Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, died not in a tragic traffic accident but at the hands of dark forces in the British establishment.
The Daily Mirror published the letter uncensored as the royal coroner, Mr Michael Burgess, opened two separate inquests into the deaths of Diana and Dodi, more than six years after they died in a Paris underpass on August 31st, 1997. An official two-year French inquiry concluded the princess and her lover died after a high-speed race through Paris in a car driven by a man who was drunk and under the influence of drugs, and who lost control of the vehicle, killing three of its four occupants.
The note to Mr Burrell 10 months before her death reflects the depression and self-pity the princess was prone to following her divorce from Prince Charles.
In her rounded, childish hand, she writes: "This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous - my husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injuries in order to make the path clear for him to marry." Diana gave the letter to Mr Burrell as "insurance", the paper said.
Mr Burrell chose to obscure the words "my husband" in his book to protect Prince Charles and his sons, and said yesterday he did not endorse the newspaper's decision to publish it. For its part, the paper said: "We realise the allegation will seem not just shocking but utterly preposterous to many people. But the whole point of this long-delayed inquest is to get to the bottom of what did happen to her."
Prince Charles's former press secretary, Colleen Harris, told BBC Radio the allegation was "absolute nonsense", and would add to the royal family's frustration with continuing conspiracy theories.
Royal frustration is set to be stretched out for many months, however.
Before adjourning the inquests for up to 15 months, Mr Burgess ordered Britain's most senior police officer to spend the coming year investigating the fantastic theories that have swirled around Diana's and Dodi's deaths - many of them fuelled by Dodi's father, the Egyptian businessman and owner of Harrods department store, Mr Mohammed Fayed.
Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner who has spent much of his time in recent years investigating links between security forces and loyalist paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland, as well as reforming beat policing and impressively reducing crime figures, is now charged with chasing royal rumours.
In announcing Sir John's participation, Mr Burgess said: "I am aware there is speculation that these deaths were not the result of the sad but relatively straightforward road traffic accident in Paris." Sir John would help determine if any of the myriad stories, including a murder plot backed by the royal family, warranted further investigation.
Leaks from the investigation and speculation about its findings can be expected to return the squalid saga to the front pages. Then there will be the inquest. The coroner said it would focus on four main questions - "who the deceased person was, and how, when and where the cause of death arose". Under British law, inquests are mandated in the deaths of Britons abroad from other than natural causes. They usually have limited scope but can recommend police action. It is not unusual for inquests to be adjourned soon after opening to allow investigations to proceed.
The royals will not appreciate the contributions of the aggrieved Mr Mohammed Fayed who will be given a stage by the official inquiries.
The inquest into Diana's death, held at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre near the House of Parliament and attended by 80 journalists from around the globe, was followed a few hours later by the opening of the inquest into Dodi's death, in Reigate, Surrey. It was similarly adjourned until next year. Beforehand Mr Fayed alighted from his chauffeured limousine to pose for photographers.
It is Mr Fayed's imagination and tenacity that have given birth to and nurtured many of the disturbing, dubious and often distasteful headlines about his son's death. He has claimed that the royal family wanted Diana dead to prevent her marrying Dodi, which would have made him stepfather of the future king and put a Muslim at the heart of the British establishment.
He has also claimed that Dodi and Diana had already chosen an enormous engagement ring, and, even more incredulously, that Diana was pregnant, carrying Dodi's child, at the time of their deaths.
Mr Fayed has made callous comments about Diana's immediate family as well as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, accusing them of not caring about the princess in life or death. His shop has been stripped of its royal warrant and his applications for citizenship rejected.
Last year, claiming residency in Scotland through ownership of a castle there, he sought to have the Scottish judicial system hold an inquiry into his son's death, but failed on the grounds that the crash happened outside Scottish jurisdiction.
Throughout it all, Mr Fayed does not appear to have recognised that his son employed a chauffeur, Henri Paul, who was a drunk, took drugs to mask alcoholism, did not insist that his passengers wear seatbelts, and decided to race through the Paris streets with paparazzi photographers on motorcycles.