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CNN Larry King Live

Reaction To The British Police Report On Princess Diana's Death

Aired December 14, 2006 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the death of Princess Diana -- tragic accident or a sinister plot?
A long-awaited Scotland Yard report released today.

Does it answer years of questions the world has never stopped asking?

Was Diana pregnant at the time? What was her real relationship with Dodi Fayed, the man who died with her? And why were they in Paris?

We'll ask a former press secretary to the Princess and the Queen; one of Diana's closest friends, who was interviewed by Scotland Yard; a spokesman for Dodi Fayed's father, who calls the report a cover-up; and palace insiders and best-selling royal watchers.

Plus, exclusive -- the sister of one of the missing Oregon mountain climbers talks for the first time, as rescuers continue fighting howling blizzards to find three men missing five days.

How much time do they have left?

All next on LARRY KING LIVE.

We begin with a discussion about the release of the report, called "The Stevens Report," dealing with the death of Princess Di.

Joining us from Buckingham Palace in London is Dickie Arbiter, the former press secretary to the Queen.

All our guests are in London save for Robert Lacey.

In London is Simone Simmons. She was Diana's energy healer, became a close friend during the last years of Di's life, has authored or co-authored two books on Diana and was interviewed by police for "The Stevens Report."

In London is Michael Cole, a spokesperson for Mohamed al Fayed, the father of the late Mr. Fayed, who was killed in that car crash.

Robert Lacey, the highly regarded royals expert, author of "Great Tales from English History, Volume 3." He's in Paris.

And back in London, Ingrid Seward, the royal biographer, who has authored "William and Harry: A Portrait of Two Princes and co- authored with Simone Simmons, "Diana: The Last Word."

We start with Dickie.

Why was this called "The Stevens Report," Dickie?

DICKIE ARBITER, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO THE QUEEN, PRINCE CHARLES AND DIANA: It was called "The Stevens Report," Larry, because it was conducted by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens. He conducted it over a period of almost three years at a cost of $7 million. There are those asking why did it come about and why did it take so long?

Well, quite simply, the inquiry couldn't start and the inquest couldn't be opened until the French end had been completed. And that hadn't been completed until November, 2003.

And why?

Well, there was a civil action brought against the paparazzi. They were acquitted and that trial ended in November. And until such time the French had finished, the British couldn't start. The British could not start in France because

they have no jurisdiction there.

And what Mohamed al Fayed's team was saying today was, well, we started within 48 hours of the crash.

There was no way the Brits could do that because they do not have jurisdiction in France.

KING: All right...

ARBITER: And that really sums it up.

KING: Simone Simmons, is this report -- it's 830 pages -- but is it saying, the report -- the story as originally given was true?

SIMONE SIMMONS, DIANA'S FRIEND & "ENERGY HEALER": I think there's a lot of questions that haven't been answered by the report. There's far too many questions, because I still want to know why, Henri Paul, the driver, had a very large level of carbon monoxide in his blood. That's one of the questions I want to ask.

And, also, why immediately after the accident, when the bodies were taken away, they actually removed the car and then when they bleached the streets. They went through with one of the big trucks and chlorinated the road.

KING: Do you think...

SIMMONS: Normally, you cordon off an area.

KING: Michael Cole, does your -- has your father or you -- rather, is the father, is Mohamed al Fayed or you at all swayed by this report? MICHAEL COLE, SPOKESMAN FOR MOHAMED AL FAYED, FATHER OF DIANA'S LOVER, DODI FAYED: Well, these are preliminary findings, Larry. This has got to go before a coroner's court. And we hope to be heard by ordinary people, jurors. They will decide whether this is accidental death.

Lord Stevens, frankly, admitted today that there are unanswered questions. And that's all we're interested in -- finding the answers of these unanswered questions. And there is a lot yet to be found out.

This report has been wrapped up prematurely and peremptorily because the British establishment wants to rubber stamp the French verdict and push it through.

The fix is in, Larry. But it won't work. Ordinary people will not buy it.

KING: Mohamed Fayed made a statement today.

Let's watch a little of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED AL FAYED, FATHER OF DODI AL FAYED: I am certain, 100 percent, that a leading member of the royal family have planned that and the whole plot being executed in his order, with the help of members of MI6.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Let's discuss some of the other questions hanging around this.

Robert Lacey, was she pregnant?

ROBERT LACEY, BEST-SELLING ROYALS BIOGRAPHER: The report comes out very strongly to say that she wasn't. The person who says that she was is Mr. Fayed. And he says that Diana told him this and he was asked several times on television, well, how pregnant was she?

And he says -- sometimes he says two, sometimes four, sometimes as many as five weeks. He assures us that she told him this. However, the report interviewed all her doctors and she apparently hadn't told this to the doctors.

Now, it doesn't seem likely that a woman who's pregnant, four or five weeks pregnant, would not tell her doctors. All her friends are absolutely insistent that she never said anything about being pregnant and, indeed, one of her friends who was on a holiday with her just before the crash tells us the detail that she was actually having her period.

Mr. Fayed, to prove that she was pregnant, produced a picture of Diana and she does look pregnant. It was taken on the beach when she started her holiday with him. But it was actually taken on July the 14th, which was before she had even met Dodi, because he didn't join the party to start with.

So, this is one example.

I would disagree with Michael. It's not peremptory. They've taken three years. As Dickie said, they've spent a hell of a lot of money. There is a feeling over here, in France, that it sort of repeats what the French have said.

But I've been -- I've spent the last eight hours reading the report. I've got it here on television -- on my computer, sorry. It looks like a television. There's 850 pages. It is full of the most convincing detail, which I think really justifies what Lord Stevens is saying.

KING: OK.

Let me get Ingrid's thoughts.

Ingrid Seward, what do you make of it -- by the way, what do you make of the report and were they engaged to -- were they definitely engaged to be married?

INGRID SEWARD, ROYALS BIOGRAPHER, CO-AUTHOR "DIANA: THE LAST WORD": As far as I'm concerned, they were definitely not engaged to be married. Apparently Dodi bought a ring for Diana, but she knew nothing about it. Mohamed says she told him she was engaged, but she didn't tell anyone else she was engaged. And what's the most important thing is she didn't tell her son William that she was engaged. And although William was only 15 at the time she died, she told William everything. And he would have been the first person to know.

So I actually think the report is very thorough and pretty believable.

There are unanswered questions, but in an accident, there are always going to be.

KING: Dickie, will it always be questioned?

ARBITER: There will always be questions and there will always be those who consider a conspiracy. Mohamed al Fayed talked of -- he having organized it. Well, he is referring to the Duke of Edinburgh, whom he has referred to on a number of occasions as a Nazi, which I think is absolutely abhorrent to even suggest that Prince Philip is that.

Yes, he certainly has German relatives, but then so do a lot of people.

KING: But, Dickie, he's a...

ARBITER: It doesn't make him a Nazi. He's a man who...

KING: You must -- Dickie, you must -- he's a grieving father. And he's looking for answers. ARBITER: Yes, and William and Harry...

KING: And he's suspicious of the British government. So all that's logical.

ARBITER: And -- well, William and Harry are grieving sons. They lost their mother. But they're not making these most ridiculous and outrageous statements.

Yes, he is a grieving father and I do feel sorry and I do feel sympathy. But, you know, William and Harry want to draw a line under this. Mohamed al Fayed today said he wanted to draw a line under it. Unfortunately, he's only going to draw a line under it on his terms...

KING: Let me get a break...

ARBITER: ... and his terms are conspiracy.

KING: Let me get a break and we'll come right back with more on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE.

Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORD JOHN STEVENS, FORMER METROPOLITAN POLICE CHIEF: ... is that on the evidence available now, there was no conspiracy to murder any occupants of that car. This was a tragic accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR REES-JONES, PRINCESS DIANA CRASH SURVIVOR: So I was desperate to remember. And I've had various recurring dreams or things that I thought were memories, one of those being I heard a voice call Dodi from within the vehicle, in other words, trying to fight someone off within the vehicle. And I don't accept these as true memories now. I think it's because I was so desperate to remember that things I'd read or things I'd seen were affecting me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That was Trevor Rees-Jones, the survivor of the crash, the sole survivor, appearing on this program.

Simone, was he interviewed by the Stevens people?

SIMMONS: Of course he was. I don't know what the content of the inter...

KING: Did he add anything to the report?

SIMMONS: I've got no idea what the content of his interview was. I know what they asked me and what I said to them.

KING: What did they ask you?

SIMMONS: They wanted...

KING: What did they talk to you about?

SIMMONS: They wanted to know my relationship with Diana. And, also, they asked a lot of questions about documents she'd given me beforehand, which was about land mines, as well as a letter that she'd given me where she had said that it was in 1995 and her brakes had failed. And she wanted to know -- she thought that she was being targeted by the secret services and wrote letters to a few people as such.

But the -- when the car was taken for a service, they said she was very heavy on the brakes.

KING: Michael Cole, we have an e-mail from Gregory in Halifax, Nova Scotia: "Do you think that this matter can finally be put to rest? Or is Mr. Fayed still going to continue to pressure the matter?"

COLE: Well, Mohamed needs closure. He wants closure. It's taken a lot out of him emotionally. But he believes he has a solemn duty as a father to make sure that the whole truth comes out.

I mean we've heard opinions about pregnancy.

Do you know what, Larry?

I'll tell you a fact. Her body was embalmed in France, which is illegal. So we'll never be able to know, because the corpse was drenched in formaldehyde. If there was any sign of pregnancy, it would have been removed.

Who ordered that, an illegal act in France?

I am the only person of your panelists who actually knew Dodi and Diana. I knew Dodi for 11 years and I knew Diana for 12. And I have given a 50-page statement to the Stevens inquiry.

And I know what Dodi told me before he was killed.

And I also know the Princess of Wales, the important people in her life, the important men in her life were her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. The next important person in her life was her father, Earl Spencer, Johnny Spencer. She loved her father very deeply and she gave to Dodi her father's gold cuff links.

Now, I treasure my father's gold cuff links more than anything. I think she would not have done that unless it was a sincere relationship. And these people who say it was a summer fling, it was just a holiday romance, they are working an agenda. They're not addressing the truth of it. And I don't want to hog your program, but I can tell you what happened when I last spoke to Dodi. And I can also tell you about my last conversation with Diana...

KING: All right, can you quickly...

COLE: If u would like me to, I will.

KING: Quickly do that. Quickly do that.

What did Dodi say?

COLE: Well, Dodi said to me that they were going to go in November to Hong Kong. The Princess wanted to see Hong Kong after the Chinese take over. They were going to go across the Pacific, have a holiday in the Hawaii Islands. And they were all going to Malibu. He just bought the house of Julie Andrews on the beach there and that's where they were going to live.

And they were also, irony of ironies, going to have an apartment in Paris, because she felt that the press was impossible in Britain and she wanted to be near England, but not so close.

Interestingly, the people who pooh-poohed the fact that they were going to get engaged, one of them is Paul Burrell, her butler. He writes in one of these money making books, the first one, he said the boss -- he called the Princess the boss -- the boss came in and said Paul, we're going to Malibu. We're going to live in Julie Andrews' house. Tell your wife, Maria, we're going.

And they started looking at the brochures of the house and working out where the bedrooms would be.

KING: All right...

COLE: I don't believe for a moment that the Princess would have contemplated living in Malibu with Dodi without being married.

KING: Right.

COLE: This affair with Dodi was her first...

KING: OK.

COLE: ... as a free woman. The other affairs we found out about, with Oliver Hoare and Hewett...

KING: All right.

COLE: ... and the other people...

KING: OK, Michael...

COLE: They were all covert affairs when she was married or separated.

KING: All right, let me let someone else in, Michael.

COLE: She would not have gone on to...

KING: Michael...

COLE: Yes, of course.

KING: Let me let someone else in.

All right, Robert Lacey, you read the whole report.

What did you learn?

LACEY: Well, I mean maybe Dodi did say those things to Michael. But if you actually read the report, every single one of Diana's friends who discussed this with Diana herself say that she said things like I need marriage like I rash on my face. And this is days before she died.

I know Michael was close, but actually Michael, nine days after, or so, the crash, wrote to complain to the British Press Complaints Commission that the idea that she was pregnant -- which had been suggested by somebody -- was a scurrilous rumor and wasn't true at all.

This is a very complicated question. But a lot of the evidence in this report is presented in terms of what Dodi said. This whole question of the ring, Dodi says this, Dodi's jeweler says this.

But when it comes to Diana's friends and family, every single one of whom they spoke to, there's no mention of her...

KING: So...

LACEY: ... in that...

KING: I've got to get a break.

LACEY: It's not talked...

KING: I've got to...

LACEY: It's not...

KING: Robert, I've got to get a break.

LACEY: Yes?

KING: But there is nothing in that report that caused you to question this further?

LACEY: No.

KING: OK.

Coming up, the man a lot of people say Diana was really in love with at the time of her death and why she couldn't be with him. She talked a lot about him and so will we, after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made -- the Prince and Princess on their wedding day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Ingrid Seward, tell us about Dr. Khan. He was apparently interviewed for this report and they had -- had they talked of marriage?

SEWARD: I think that Diana very much wanted to marry him. But he was extremely nervous of who she was, what she was. And he's a very private person. He was totally dedicated to his work. He was a heart surgeon.

Diana met him in hospital, one of the hospitals. I can't remember which one. And she went up in the lift with him and she looked at his feet and looked right up at his big brown eyes and she thought this man is gorgeous.

And he wasn't obviously gorgeous, but he was to her. And she developed very, very slowly a relationship with him, which remained almost totally secret.

But he was terrified of her celebrity and terrified of the publicity that surrounded her.

KING: Dickie, what, if anything, still mystifies you about this whole story?

ARBITER: Well, the one thing that does mystify me are all these sort of rantings that we heard a few moments ago from Michael Cole alleging what she said.

We don't know what she said. We have to take it that what she said to Michael Cole is true.

But the only person who can substantiate that, alas, is no longer with us. She died on the 31st of August, 1997.

KING: Right.

ARBITER: I lived at Kensington Palace, very close by to her. I saw her regularly. I said to her once, "Are you going to get married again?"

She said, "I need it like a rash."

Diana was not going to get married until such time that William and Harry were grown up. They weren't grown up and she wasn't going to foist a stepfather on them.

KING: All right...

ARBITER: And William would have been the first person she would have told, and she didn't tell him.

KING: Simone, but why would Michael Cole lie?

SIMMONS: I haven't got a clue. All I know is that Diana wanted so desperately to marry Hasnat Khan.

KING: And you support that...

SIMMONS: And she would have been quite happy living in a three up and two down.

KING: So you discount what...

SIMMONS: When Diana was a...

KING: I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

SIMMONS: Well, I do actually believe that the version that Kate Snell tells, which she's the only one that's had access to Hasnat Khan, the heart surgeon, where she said that from the boat, Diana phoned the photographer, Jason Fraser, gave the position of where she was and then complained after the photos had been taken that they were too grainy.

She organized the whole photo shoot.

At the same time, she was phoning Hasnat Khan and his family every day from that yacht.

So what does that tell you?

If you're in one -- in love with one person, you're not going to be with somebody else. But she did try desperately hard to make Hasnat jealous.

KING: Michael Cole, you must admit it's all a little bewildering.

COLE: I resent the suggestion that I've lied about anything and if Dickie says that, he's not the gentleman I thought he was.

I had never presumed to ask the Princess about her relationship. The last time I saw her, she seemed very happy, as if she had a sort of inner secret that was keeping her joyful. I didn't ask her.

What I said was what Dodi told me and what his intentions were. And he bought the ring.

The interesting thing about -- the guests here have said she didn't tell her son. She'd been on holiday with Dodi for a week on the boat. I'm told, Larry, it only takes a second to fall in love. They were coming back that day to London. Her sons were going back the following day, or, in fact, that afternoon, to their respective schools, Eaton and Lovegrove. It would have been the most natural thing in the world to say to them then, after this holiday, at the beginning of the new school term, look, I'm thinking of getting married to Dodi. What do you think?

And I'm sure, like charming little boys, they'd have said whatever makes you happy, mom.

And I don't believe that the so-called friends -- I mean Diana had a friend of the week and some of them were not as close as they thought they were.

KING: I think the key here, Michael, is why would -- why would they want to kill her?

COLE: Well...

KING: Why?

COLE: Two words, the two words that keep MI6, the British secret intelligence service, in business and justify their great sums of money. Two words -- militant Islam. If the Princess had married Dodi, who was the least political person I ever met, never spoke about politics, you'd have had the stepfather of the future king was a Muslim. And the step grandfather, Mohamed al Fayed, was the man who, through his courageous...

KING: So...

COLE: ... revelations...

KING: So they would have...

COLE: ... about the Tory Party...

KING: Michael...

COLE: ... brought it down.

KING: Under that theory, they would have also killed her if she was with Dr. Khan.

COLE: Well, it's so interesting that she was interested in...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) yes.

COLE: ... in marrying that sort of person. We just heard from Simone and Ingrid that they were -- maybe, on a rebound, I think that's an expression which ladies use on these occasions, maybe there was a rebound.

All I know is that he bought her a ring which had been sold as "Did-Moi Oui," which is "Tell Me Yes." It wasn't "Tell Me Yes" to a contract of employment. It was "Tell Me Yes" to a contract of marriage. KING: Let me get a break.

We'll come right back with our guests on the release today of "The Stevens Report."

Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE WILLIAM OF WALES: The service is going to include both sides of the family, my mother's side and my father's side, everyone getting together. It should be a good occasion, and lots of loud hymns, "I Vow to You, My Country" (ph), all the good ones. And it should be a very sort of simple and nice service.

PRINCE HENRY OF WALES: Well, we both wanted to put our standpoint. We wanted to represent exactly what our mother would have wanted, how she was and all sorts of things. So therefore, the church alone isn't enough. We wanted to have this big concert with, you know, full of energy, full of fun and happiness, which I knew she would have wanted. And on her birthday, as well, it's going to be the best birthday she's ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Robert Lacey, have the boys commented yet on the report?

LACEY: I'm sorry, I didn't hear that question, Larry.

KING: Have William and Harry commented on the report yet?

LACEY: Yes, their comments have been passed on. Lord Stevens today said he wouldn't say -- he went to brief them on the report. And we are told that the thing that shocked them most about it was the behavior of the paparazzi, because I think everybody is pretty much agreed that whatever happened in the tunnel with blinding lights and that sort of thing and the condition of the driver, that the whole situation was set up by the paparazzi, who then set upon the car and took very painful photographs of the dying princess and the other dead bodies in the car. These were taken away by the police. That is apparently what shocks the boys.

Interestingly, that extract you just had there, it shows how media-savvy these boys are. They're not arguing about this. They're just concentrating on the good things about their mother, having a nice, positive concept to record her memory next year. I think this all goes very well for the British monarchy.

KING: We have an e-mail from Trish in Colonia (ph), New Jersey.

"I've always wondered why Princess Diana did not drive in cars with tinted windows or in an SUV-type vehicle with no windows in the back to give her more privacy while traveling."

Dickie Arbiter's at Buckingham Palace.

How would you respond to that, Dickie?

DICKIE ARBITER, FMR. PRESS SECRETARY: Well, very simply, that the royal family are there to be seen. And if you have tinted windows, you can't be seen. And that's the simple answer. They're there to be seen. They're there to do a job. And Diana was one of those people that was doing a job.

But going back, very briefly to this report, one question that I would like to ask and maybe Michael can answer it, is why do they leave the Ritz Hotel? Why didn't they stay there?

LACEY: In fact, Mohamed was urging them to stay at the hotel. He said, keep the suite, stay there. They wanted it go back to Dodi's apartment because at the apartment the champagne was on ice. And the ring, they tell me, yes the ring was there. And all their possessions, their clothes, everything was there. They wanted to have a last romantic night alone in the apartment before flying back to Britain the next day.

That's why. I mean, this was a romantic Paris interlude at the end of a charming and lovely holiday in the Mediterranean. And they didn't really...

ARBITER: But it was a romantic...

LACEY: ... want that ruined by the paparazzi.

ARBITER: But it was a romantic interlude that really wasn't on the schedule. It was a romantic interlude that wasn't on the schedule.

LACEY: I don't really understand what you're talking about.

KING: He's saying the schedule...

(CROSSTALK)

KING: All right. I got a few minutes left. Let's bring in Simone. Do you think this is going to put things away or is this going to go on and on and on and on and on and on?

SIMONE SIMMONS, DIANA'S FRIEND AND "ENERGY HEALER": Of course it will go on forever. It'll be like Marilyn Monroe. But what people should do is celebrate Diana's life like her sons are doing. Don't mourn her death. Celebrate her life because she was a vivacious, wonderful person who was so full of life. She's an amazing woman with a brilliant sense of humor. She didn't spend her last years crying her eyes out. She was happy. And people should be happy for her.

KING: Ingrid, what still puzzles you?

INGRID SEWARD, ROYALS' BIOGRAPHER: I must tell you a very funny joke that Diana said. I've got get this in. She did have a great sense of humor. And she did say to a friend of mine, why would I marry a man who is controlled by his father,when I have been married to a man who's controlled by his mother?

And I think that just sums Diana up. She was very funny.

And what so puzzles me, I think they -- the bugging, the security, the CIA, the -- that still puzzles me a little bit, because she was involved with land mines. She was involved with the son of a very controversial man. So there are still a few questions that will probably never be answered.

KING: Thank you all very much.

We're going to spend some moments with Ken Wharfe. He was Diana's palace guard at one time and was head of her security detail as well.

We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her but felt they knew her will remember her.

I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death.

I share in your determination to cherish her memory and may we, each and every one of us, thank God for someone who made many, many people happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you will ever be queen?

PRINCESS DIANA: No, I don't. No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think that?

DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES: I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts in people's hearts. But I don't see myself being queen of this country.

I don't think many people would want me to be queen, actually. When I say many people, I mean the establishment that I married into because they have decided that I'm a non-starter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We welcome now Ken Wharfe. He was Diana's palace guard at one time, was head of the security detail. He joins us from London.

What were your responsibilities as head of detail for her? KEN WHARFE, DIANA'S FORMER PALACE GUARD: Well, during my time there, Larry, between 1986 and '93, right up until the time when Diana sort of bowed out graciously, albeit somewhat ceremoniously. I organized her day-to-day security, which was both public and private.

And one of the great joys of working with someone like Diana was that she was completely open about what she was doing. So I and the security detail as you put it were in complete control. And completely aware of everything that she was and was about to do. So it was a comprehensive operation, but at the same time, incredibly thorough.

KING: What Ken, do you make of Mohamed al-Fayed's claims of foul play?

WHARFE: Well, I dismiss them and disagree with them entirely. I think that is interesting here that Lord Stevens rightfully in my view concurs and agrees with that of the French magistrate. But just to get back to today's events, Lord Stevens dismissed the conspiracy theories, saying that as a police officer, he was searching for one thing and one thing only and that was evidence.

And Mr. Fayed has not produced one single piece of evidence to support any of the claims that would have everyone believe that this was a conspiracy to assassinate two innocent people. And I think to be honest, I think that it is rather sad now that almost 10 years after, and I appreciate and understand Mr. Fayed's loss of his son, I think there say time now to start making these rumors that really are completely without any evidence whatsoever. I think Lord Stevens is right to conclude this was just simply a tragic accident.

KING:, Ken what could have prevented what happened that night in your opinion?

WHARFE: Well, my views fairly are well known, Larry about this. And as a police officer, as a protection officer of some 16 years standing, and having worked in United States of America with both the Secret Service and the U.S. State Department, we share a very common idea on this.

That I see there are some very basic errors of judgment on the part of the security -- supplied by Mr. Fayed and if we just take the very beginning, for example, we hear about Lord Stevens mentioned the seat belt theory.

The one simple operation would be to have told Diana and Dodi to apply their seat belts. Now when the seat belt legislation came into being here in this country in 1991, every single member of the royal family was given a memorandum to know what the law was.

Diana would have looked for an instruction form at the very least the body guard of that time, Trevor Rees-Jones, who I think should have played a much more fuller role in this by making sure -- this was a part of a protection officer, part of a bodyguard. For some reason, he chose not to do that. It is my belief, I don't think he had that relationship with his employer, Dodi Fayed, to have an exchange which would have insured this would have happened. Now the exchange I had with Diana was one of understanding. She supplied the information. And that information was crucial to guarantee the very best of security. And to conclude, Larry, and sadly, I don't take any enjoyment out of this. I think the security that night was at fault and there should have been an inquiry into why the security failed Dodi Fayed, Diana and indeed Henri Paul that evening.

KING: Why did she not have a palace security guard?

WHARFE: Well, had she had Scotland Yard that night there is no doubt in my mind that we wouldn't be having this conversation tonight because Diana, Dodi and everyone else would have been alive.

The reason being was that in 1993, we saw a very short clip there of an interview with Martin Bashir of Panorama program, that Diana had decided for whatever reason to move away from royal family PLC in that November of 1993. Why? I think she had enough of the royal family. I think it was uncomfortable for her. I think she realized there was a great deal of jealousy there from both within the royal family and beyond and decided to make a break for it.

Sadly she moved into a period of wilderness which -- was mentioned, working with land mines, et cetera, and then really was unprotected, which is a great shame. I think the queen herself should have and could have insisted that Diana retain her protection, but didn't. I wrote an article in an English newspaper soon after Diana left in 1993 suggesting that. And the tragedy here is that after 16 years of being protected by Scotland Yard, she is with Mohamed Fayed and the security there for a period of seven weeks, the end of which, she is dead.

KING: Do you think it's going to go away now?

WHARFE: Well, I think it should go away. Both for Mr. Fayed and for everybody involved in this because I think after 10 years, I think the entire world probably had enough of it.

The tragedy is here now, of course, that Mr. Fayed for reasons that Michael Cole has said here, quite lucidly, thinks that there are unanswered questions. I think it is wrong now. I think it should be put to rest and the inquest that will adjourn or reconvene rather in January, next year, will probably go into it much deeper. I don't see any different outcome from the one that we have heard from Lord Stevens this afternoon.

KING: Thanks, Ken -- Ken Wharfe, who was Diana's palace guard at one time and head of her security detail joining us from London. And excellent, excellent reportage.

When we come back, they're looking for those missing mountain climbers. We'll stay on top of that. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: Before we talk with the missing -- with the sister of -- and brother of two of those mountain climbers that are missing, let's check in first with Anderson Cooper, who will host "AC 360" at the top of the hour. Anderson, what's up?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Larry, new hope as you know. In Oregon, searchers saying they have picked up a cell phone signal high in the mountain and that has brought new hope to the families of three men lost in Mt. Hood for almost a week now. We're going to have the latest on the rescue efforts.

We've also sent out Rick Sanchez for mountain rescue school for an up-close look at what it's like to try and survive high in the flanks of a mountain. That, plus the latest on South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson's condition and how the control of your Senate hangs in the balance. All that and more, Larry, at the top of the hour, about 12 minutes from now.

KING: That's Anderson Cooper, coming up at 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific. Thanks, Anderson.

A rescue search continued today for three mountain climbers missing since the weekend on Oregon's Mt. Hood. Weather continues to be a major factor with strong winds hampering rescue efforts. The three missing men are Kelly James, age 48, Brian Hall, age 37 and Jerry Nico Cooke, age 36.

Joining us from Parkdale, Angela Hall. Her brother Brian, one of the three missing climbers and Frank James, he was with us last name. His brother Kelly is also missing.

Angela, what is -- are your hopes raised by this cell phone story?

ANGELA HALL, SISTER OF MISSING CLIMBER: Oh, they certainly are. You know, our hopes have been high during this entire effort due in large part to the tremendous efforts being made by all of the rescue personnel that are here and that are volunteering as well as the planning of this whole operation. And we -- we know that our guys are strong. And today's additional news makes us very hopeful.

KING: Frank, it's your brother's phone, right?

JAMES: That's right. He's made a phone call on Sunday. He talked to his son Jason as well as his wife. And we know that he made another attempted phone call on Monday. And then on Tuesday, we believe he turned on his cell phone. So all of that is very encouraging to us.

KING: But that's two days ago, isn't it, Frank?

JAMES: Yes, it is.

KING: But still encouraging, nevertheless, because it's some sign of -- that he might be in a cave somewhere, right? JAMES: Well, we know he's in a snow cave. That information was communicated on that Sunday afternoon phone call. So we do know he's in a snow cave.

But, again, we know that -- even though the weather has been bad, as Angela said, the efforts of the rescue workers are just tremendous and we're so grateful for what they're doing.

KING: Angela, do we know if all three men are still together?

HALL: We don't know. But we feel that it's entirely possible, and in fact, probable that they're together, given that that would give them the best chance at survival, given the shared heat source that they would share and also the camaraderie that they would give one another and the fact that they would be there together with that cell signal on the mountain.

KING: Frank, what can you tell us about Kelly?

JAMES: Kelly is a great guy. He's one of these wonderful souls, a great spirit of adventure. He's -- he has a great sense of humor. He's a 48 year-old brother, but he has hair down to his shoulders, which tells you something of his spirit. But a great guy and as well, Brian, great, great friends.

KING: Angela, what about your brother?

HALL: Oh, very similar to Kelly in the adventurous spirit and the humor that he has. And just a great lover of children and animals and, you know, donates and volunteers a lot of his time to the community and just generally loves life. And when you're around him, you can't help but feel the same way.

KING: How bad, Angela, is the weather now?

HALL: As far as the latest reports that we have received, you know, the winds are really picking up. You're probably noticing a little bit of that here.

And so I don't know about anything of that sort. But we know the winds -- the winds are high. And so -- but we're hopeful that that is simply -- that that's an indication that the front -- any weather front that's moving through is actually moving through quickly. And that's another hopeful sign for us.

KING: We'll take a break and be back with more of Angela Hall and Frank Kelly. They have the prayers and thoughts of millions with them.

Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Angela Hall -- her brother, Brian one of three missing mountain climbers -- and Frank Kelly -- Frank James, his brother Kelly, one of the three missing there -- was he -- Angela, is he is very careful, Brian, about climbing? In other words, was he properly equipped? Did he have all of his proper stuff with him?

HALL: You know, I would say that's an understatement. The time and planning that all three of these men put into any of their expeditions is very extensive.

And, you know, the e-mail -- the e-mail chains going back and forth between these guys as they're planning every meticulous detail for the route itself and for the climb -- yes, I mean, he plans these things extremely carefully. Every single mission.

KING: So, Frank, they're adventuresome but not foolish, right?

JAMES: Could you say that again, Larry? I didn't hear you.

KING: Could we say they're adventuresome but not foolish?

JAMES: That's right. I think -- I want to -- I think that's very important to say. Nikko, for example, Nikko Cooke is a lawyer from Brooklyn. And some of the e-mails indicate that he's exceedingly meticulous in planning. So these are three very careful, professional guys.

KING: And also, Angela, Brian, a professional soccer player, we can assume must have been very fit.

HALL: Oh, very fit. Actually, he's currently a professional personal trainer. And so it's his job to not only keep himself really fit for all of these clients that he does all around the world, but to, you know, help other people get fit and stay fit. And, yes, his soccer background as well, he's been an athlete his entire life. He's a very strong, strong man.

KING: So all this -- a lot of these points, Frank, would tell us that if everything breaks, everything could go their way?

JAMES: We have every reason to hope that things will break. We're thinking the weather could break tomorrow or later tomorrow or perhaps Saturday. We talked to the sheriff's office and they are well prepared and ready to make an assault on the mountain again. So we're very pleased with the efforts that are being made.

KING: Is the weather supposed to clear by Saturday, Angela?

HALL: That's my understanding, that they really feel like these fronts will have moved through by Saturday. And, you know, they'll be ready to go. But I really want to emphasize that this rescue effort has been -- it's been so tremendous and constant that if the weather were to break before then, I mean, these teams are ready to go and attack the summit and attack right up the mountain pretty much on a moment's notice.

KING: Wow. We're with you. Angela Hall and Frank Kelly, we'll keep staying on top of this.

HALL: Thank you.

JAMES: Thank you.

KING: And much, much good luck.

It has been a rough week behind the scenes here at CNN's L.A. bureau. Last week got word that one of the people who had worked in our control room here had passed away after a long illness.

Sonya Johnson was just 42 years old. It was less than two years ago that she gave birth to her first child, a little boy named Zion. Sonya's job here was to make sure that you, the viewer, were able to hear everything that was said on LARRY KING LIVE and a lot of other shows.

Tonight, there's someone else at the audio controls. Still, there is an odd silence a lot of hearts that will always probably remain that way.

Tonight, Sonya's husband Gill can rest in the knowledge and the consolation that Sonya, a woman of great of faith, is looking after him and little Zion from above. And our thoughts and prayers are with the entire family.

That's our show for tonight.

One reminder, Monday night, Angelina Jolie will be joining us, Matt Damon and Robert de Niro.

Anderson Cooper stands by to host "AC 360" next from New York -- Anderson.

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