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Associated Press

The fascination with Princess Diana’s life extends to her death. Not since the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy has a tragic demise been so minutely analysed, or spawned so many lurid theories.
A French investigation, a years-long British police inquiry and a coroner’s inquest all concluded there was no foul play in the princess’ fatal car crash – but that has not silenced speculation that Diana was the victim of an establishment murder plot.

The car crash:
The 36-year-old princess left the Ritz Hotel in Paris just after midnight on August 31, 1997, with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and her bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones. Her Mercedes Benz, pursued by paparazzi, crashed into a concrete pillar in the Alma Tunnel at more than 100km/h. The princess, Fayed and driver Henri Paul were all killed. Rees-Jones was injured but survived.

The conspiracies:
Global shock soon gave way to speculation – about the role of the pursuing paparazzi and, for some, about whether darker forces were at work.

Diana was the world’s most famous woman at the time, and her public discussion of her unhappy marriage had been a major embarrassment to Britain’s royal family since she and Prince Charles had separated in 1992.
Diana had written in a 1995 letter of fears that Charles was “planning an ‘accident’ in my car” – although she had also speculated about dying in a helicopter or aeroplane crash.
The most vocal conspiracy theorist was Dodi’s father, Mohammad Al Fayed, a wealthy businessman who owned the Ritz in Paris and London’s Harrods department store. He insisted that Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, had masterminded a conspiracy by British spies to kill Diana and Dodi because he disapproved of their relationship.
Al Fayed claimed Diana was pregnant and planning to marry Dodi, and that the royal family could not countenance the princess marrying a Muslim.
In 2008, Al Fayed told an inquest that the list of alleged conspirators included Philip, Charles, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Diana’s sister Sarah McCorquodale, two former London police chiefs and the CIA.

What the investigations found:
Several investigations ruled out a criminal conspiracy in Diana’s death.
A French court ruled in 1999 that the crash was an accident caused by Paul, who was drunk and driving at twice the legal speed limit.
A three-year British inquiry led by Metropolitan Police chief John Stevens also found that Paul was drunk and driving at a high speed to elude pursuing photographers. Stevens’ report said Diana was not pregnant, and had not been planning to marry Dodi.

Stevens concluded in 2006 that Diana’s death “was a tragic accident”.
In 2007, an inquest opened before a judge and jury at London’s Royal Courts of Justice. It heard from 240 witnesses before concluding in April 2008 that Diana had been unlawfully killed through the reckless actions of driver Paul and the paparazzi.
In 2013, British police investigated allegations by an anonymous former soldier that Britain’s special forces unit, the SAS, was involved in Diana’s death. Police concluded there was “no credible evidence” and declined to reopen the investigation.

And yet questions remain...
Enough mysteries remain to ensure that the Diana conspiracy theories will never be completely silenced. There is no surveillance camera footage of the crash, although there were cameras in the tunnel.
Some witnesses reported seeing a bright flash in the tunnel just before the accident, though others did not.
And police have never traced a white Fiat car that was seen in the tunnel and may have collided with Diana’s vehicle before the crash.

Pauline Maclaran, co-author of Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture, said conspiracy theories about celebrity deaths are not only common but durable.
“Human nature refuses to believe that something as random as a car accident could kill someone as special as Diana,” she said. “When you have icons, it’s very hard to believe that they can just come to an end in such a futile way.”


Diana’s tragic death still clouded by conspiracy theories

Flowers and tributes in memory of Diana are placed on the gates of her former residence, Kensington Palace in London. Photo: Reuters

FILE- In this Friday, Aug. 22, 1997 file photo, Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales, and her companion Dodi Fayed, walk on a pontoon in the French Riviera resort of St. Tropez. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the “people’s princess.” (AP Photo/Patrick Bar-Nice Matin, File)

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 06, 1996 shows Diana, Princess of Wales arriving at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Central London, on March 6, 1996. Britain prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. August 31, 1997, Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a high-speed car crash in Paris. For the week following, leading up to her spectacular funeral, Britain was plunged into an unprecedented outpouring of popular grief which shook the monarchy. / AFP PHOTO / Gerry PENNY

FILE - In this Sunday Aug.31, 1997 file photo police prepare to take away for investigation the motorbike of a photographer that was chasing the car of Diana, Princess of Wales, when a crash took place in a tunnel along the Seine river in Paris. Diana was killed in the crash.The way Princess Diana died 20 years ago this month _ in a high-speed Paris car crash while she and her boyfriend were being chauffeured by an intoxicated driver and pursued by photographers _ shocked and angered the public. It also preserved her in memory as a glamorous, beloved and vulnerable victim. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

(FILES) This file photo taken on August 31, 1997 shows shows the wreckage of the car that Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales was travelling in along with Dodi Al-Fayed, in the Alma Tunnel in Paris. The 1997 car crash that killed Britain's Princess Diana spawned a host of conspiracy theories, but evidence that it was an accident only grows stronger, bolstered by new revelations about the history of the vehicle. A book titled "Qui a Tue Lady Di?" (Who Killed Lady Di?), published in May, revealed that the Mercedes 280 had a previous owner and had been stolen twice before the fateful night of August 31, 1997, when Diana was killed along with her new Egyptian lover Dodi Al-Fayed. / AFP PHOTO / PIERRE BOUSSEL

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 1997, file photo, Britain's Prince Charles casts a concerned glance towards his sons Prince William, left, and Prince Harry as they wait for the coffin of Princess Diana to be loaded into a hearse outside Westminster Abbey in London. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the "people's princess." (AP Photo/John Gaps III, File)

FILE- In this early Sunday, Aug. 31, 1997 file photo, police services prepare to take away the car in which Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales, died in Paris, in a car crash that also killed her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and the chauffeur. The crash happened shortly after midnight in a tunnel along the Seine River at the Pont de l Alma bridge, while paparazzi on motorcycles were following her car. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the “people’s princess.” (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

Britain's Prince William, left, and Prince Harry walk away after placing flowers amongst the floral and pictorial tributes to their late mother Princess Diana placed on the gates of Kensington Palace, London, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017. Princes William and Harry paid tribute to their mother, Princess Diana, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of her death by visiting the Sunken Garden to honor Diana's work with charities. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

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