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Interview With Robert Jobson
Aired January 06, 2004 - 13:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the long overdue British investigation into the crash that killed Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver back in August of 1997. Robert Jobson writes about the royals for "The London Evening Standard" and joins he us with insights and information.
Good evening to you, Robert.
ROBERT JOBSON, "LONDON EVENING STANDARD": Good evening.
SAVIDGE: Let me ask you this. First of all, the inquiry here. Is this a serious inquiry or is this just pretty mush something that is going to begin and end in a hurry?
JOBSON: Well, it's certainly not going to begin and end in a hurry. The inquest was opened and adjourned today with the coroner, Michael Burgess, saying that he was ordered -- Scotland Yard, the commissioner of police, Sir John Stephens (ph) to investigate the circumstances surrounding Princess Diana's death so he can make a proper verdict on that. And that could take up to 15 months.
So it is not going to be a short affair. This is going to be a proper investigation with interviews and complete re-examination of the evidence involved.
SAVIDGE: The same day of this inquisition gets the published letter in which supposedly Principal Charles is named as threatening or apparently going to harm Princess Diana. What is made of that over there?
JOBSON: That is seen really as almost a farcical story really. What's happened here is the Princess of Wales in her current state of mind just when she was writing that letter, was very depressed. She was speaking to a lot of spiritualists, gurus, et cetera, who told her to write her thoughts down. We only have Paul Burrell's word that the letter was given to him as insurance that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
My feeling, this was a letter that Diana was writing. She wrote thousands of notes and often talked about dying in accidents, et cetera. So to blame Prince Charles, to accuse him of some sort of assassination plot against the princess is totally ludicrous. And I think most thinking people would agree with me on that.
SAVIDGE: But there are many conspiracy theories, are there not, as far as what went wrong or what may have contributed to the accident, as it's called? JOBSON: Well, absolutely. I mean, the Princess of Wales like John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, whoever really, anyone in a high- profile position, there will be conspiracy theories, there will be questions that some say are not going to be answered.
Hopefully this inquiry by Scotland Yard and then the final report by the coroner to the royal household will actually dispel a lot of those myths. And I think as you're aware a lot are coming from the camp of Mohammed al Fayed, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Dodi Fayed's father, who's got his axe to grind and we all feel sadness that he's lost his son.
But some of these conspiracy theories are, frankly, farcical, ludicrous and pretty risible.
SAVIDGE: All right, Robert Jobson, thanks for joining us. We'll look to see what the inquiry has to say about 12 to 15 months from now. We appreciate it. Thank you.
JOBSON: Absolutely. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 6, 2004 - 13:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the long overdue British investigation into the crash that killed Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver back in August of 1997. Robert Jobson writes about the royals for "The London Evening Standard" and joins he us with insights and information.
Good evening to you, Robert.
ROBERT JOBSON, "LONDON EVENING STANDARD": Good evening.
SAVIDGE: Let me ask you this. First of all, the inquiry here. Is this a serious inquiry or is this just pretty mush something that is going to begin and end in a hurry?
JOBSON: Well, it's certainly not going to begin and end in a hurry. The inquest was opened and adjourned today with the coroner, Michael Burgess, saying that he was ordered -- Scotland Yard, the commissioner of police, Sir John Stephens (ph) to investigate the circumstances surrounding Princess Diana's death so he can make a proper verdict on that. And that could take up to 15 months.
So it is not going to be a short affair. This is going to be a proper investigation with interviews and complete re-examination of the evidence involved.
SAVIDGE: The same day of this inquisition gets the published letter in which supposedly Principal Charles is named as threatening or apparently going to harm Princess Diana. What is made of that over there?
JOBSON: That is seen really as almost a farcical story really. What's happened here is the Princess of Wales in her current state of mind just when she was writing that letter, was very depressed. She was speaking to a lot of spiritualists, gurus, et cetera, who told her to write her thoughts down. We only have Paul Burrell's word that the letter was given to him as insurance that (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
My feeling, this was a letter that Diana was writing. She wrote thousands of notes and often talked about dying in accidents, et cetera. So to blame Prince Charles, to accuse him of some sort of assassination plot against the princess is totally ludicrous. And I think most thinking people would agree with me on that.
SAVIDGE: But there are many conspiracy theories, are there not, as far as what went wrong or what may have contributed to the accident, as it's called? JOBSON: Well, absolutely. I mean, the Princess of Wales like John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, whoever really, anyone in a high- profile position, there will be conspiracy theories, there will be questions that some say are not going to be answered.
Hopefully this inquiry by Scotland Yard and then the final report by the coroner to the royal household will actually dispel a lot of those myths. And I think as you're aware a lot are coming from the camp of Mohammed al Fayed, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Dodi Fayed's father, who's got his axe to grind and we all feel sadness that he's lost his son.
But some of these conspiracy theories are, frankly, farcical, ludicrous and pretty risible.
SAVIDGE: All right, Robert Jobson, thanks for joining us. We'll look to see what the inquiry has to say about 12 to 15 months from now. We appreciate it. Thank you.
JOBSON: Absolutely. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
