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SCMP Reporter

Stunned disbelief turned to fury in Britain yesterday over news that Diana's death was due as much to drunken driving as to the pressures of fame.

 Revelations that the driver of the car had drunk over three times the legal limit of alcohol and was doing 196 km/h when it crashed into a concrete wall took some of the heat off the role of the paparazzi.

 'Drunk at 121 mph', screamed the tabloid Sun's front page. 'Killed by drunken driving, not fame', said the front-page headline in The Independent.

 Mourners outside Buckingham Palace, where the carpet of flowers grows daily, were horrified at the news.

 'This man was driving for one of the finest hotels and and had the world's most famous woman for his passenger. It is tantamount to him killing Diana,' said Patricia Fox.

 Buckingham Palace called for a nationwide minute's silence after Diana's funeral on Saturday, which it says will be a 'unique' ceremony in honour of 'a unique person'.

 More than a million mourners are expected to line the processional route from St James' Palace to Westminster Abbey and dignitaries from around the world to attend the service at 11 am.

 Scotland Yard has activated a special operations centre to co-ordinate policing of what is expected to be the biggest funeral in the capital since the burial in 1979 of Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

 Around 500 charity workers from 150 charities will be part of the funeral procession and a Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund has been set up.

 This will provide cash for charities which feel their greatest fund-raiser has now vanished.

 The fund may include money for her latest campaign for a world ban on landmines.

 Hundreds of stores, theatres, cinemas, banks and radio stations have joined organisations planning to close or observe the silence on the day of her funeral.

 Mohamed al-Fayed has ordered his Harrods store in Knightsbridge to close all day.

 Volunteers joined police yesterday to clear a space in the huge sea of flowers outside Kensington Palace to make room for further tributes.

  These included cards from classes of schoolchildren. One read: 'All the flowers in the world are not enough for you.'  A message from 'David Hayes and all the lads at HM Prison Dartmoor' read: 'Diana, thank you for treating us like human beings and not criminals.'  One of the most moving tributes had come earlier from eight-year-old heart patient Danielle Stephenson who left her hospital bed at nearby Royal Brompton Hospital with a bouquet of sunflowers.

 Danielle suffers from a rare heart rhythm problem and is forced to spend three months a year in the famous heart and lung hospital which Diana frequently visited. Danielle, who met the princess 11 times, said 'it felt she was like one of my best friends'.

 Diana once invited the Stephenson family to Kensington Palace for drinks, presenting Danielle and her seven-year-old sister Natasha with necklaces.

 'I think that she just enjoyed giving,' said Danielle's mother.

 The number of books of condolence at St James' Palace has been increased from five to 15 to cut the six-hour wait.

 The palace is staying open until midnight on Friday so as many as possible can sign the books.

 US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is to attend the funeral, the White House confirmed last night.

 'In recognition of the president's and the first lady's personal association with the late Princess Diana and deep respect for her humanitarian work, Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend Saturday's funeral,' said a White House spokesman.

 CNN said Vice-President Al Gore and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright might also travel to London to pay their respects to the princess.

 The White House spokesman said President Bill Clinton would not attend the funeral. Protocol rules made it inappropriate for him to be there.



Shock over death crash turns to anger