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Coroner Looks Into Death of Princess Diana
Aired January 06, 2004 - 15:03 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: Well, now a cold case that has taken on, well, a life of its own. Britain's royal coroner today began an inquest into the 1997 car crash that killed Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, and the man who was driving them through a Paris tunnel, with paparazzi in hot pursuit. But it's a front-page tabloid report that is making headlines around the world.
And CNN's Sheila MacVicar has the details -- Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martin, that corner opened the inquest today and promptly adjourned them, saying he will see them again in 12 to 15 months, after he has time to digest the 6,000 pages of the French judicial investigation which concluded that the crash that killed Princess Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul, was in fact a car accident caused by a drunk driver. That would be Henri Paul, their chauffeur.
Now, as you have mentioned, this has been a story that seems to go on and on. There are many people who have not accepted, in fact, that their deaths were the results of a relatively straightforward, but tragic car accident. One of them, of course, is Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed. He said again outside the Surrey courtroom where his son's inquest was opened that he believes that there is nefarious work here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED AL FAYED, FATHER OF DODI FAYED: I already mentioned and I am mentioning it all of the time. It is absolute black and white, horrendous murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR; Now, Mr. Al Fayed is of the view that their deaths were the result of an elaborate plot by intelligence services.
The coroner nodded towards that today, saying he was aware of speculation and saying that he had asked Britain's Metropolitan Police to investigate and to report back to him if there were anything, any other suspicious acts which he needed to take a look at.
Now, in terms of the tabloid story you're talking about, it's a story that appeared in "The Daily Mirror" today. It republished a letter which Princess Diana had written 10 months before her death and given to her then butler, Paul Burrell. In that letter, Princess Diana wrote that she believed that her ex-husband, Prince Charles, was planning a car accident to kill her in order that he might marry his longtime lover, Camilla Parker Bowles.
That is a suggestion which has been dismissed as preposterous and which Paul Burrell says he never intended to have made public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BURRELL, FORMER BUTLER OF PRINCESS DIANA: I'm not happy about it. I only learned about it late last night. And it was always my intention never to publish that name. I never, ever wanted it to be known.
QUESTION: Are you angry towards "The Daily Mirror," Mr. Burrell?
BURRELL: I'm not very happy.
QUESTION: What do you plan to do now?
BURRELL: I'm going to speak to my lawyer and my agent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR; Now, that story, of course, yet another bonanza for conspiracy theorists out there.
It's hope that, after all of this, after all this time and after the work of the corner, who will be very, very thorough -- he knows what is at stake here; he knows the kinds of suspicions many people hold -- that they will be able to draw a line under these deaths and to say with certainly what happened that night in that tunnel in Paris -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Sheila MacVicar, thank you very much, reporting live from London.
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 - 15:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now a cold case that has taken on, well, a life of its own. Britain's royal coroner today began an inquest into the 1997 car crash that killed Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, and the man who was driving them through a Paris tunnel, with paparazzi in hot pursuit. But it's a front-page tabloid report that is making headlines around the world.
And CNN's Sheila MacVicar has the details -- Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martin, that corner opened the inquest today and promptly adjourned them, saying he will see them again in 12 to 15 months, after he has time to digest the 6,000 pages of the French judicial investigation which concluded that the crash that killed Princess Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul, was in fact a car accident caused by a drunk driver. That would be Henri Paul, their chauffeur.
Now, as you have mentioned, this has been a story that seems to go on and on. There are many people who have not accepted, in fact, that their deaths were the results of a relatively straightforward, but tragic car accident. One of them, of course, is Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed. He said again outside the Surrey courtroom where his son's inquest was opened that he believes that there is nefarious work here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED AL FAYED, FATHER OF DODI FAYED: I already mentioned and I am mentioning it all of the time. It is absolute black and white, horrendous murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR; Now, Mr. Al Fayed is of the view that their deaths were the result of an elaborate plot by intelligence services.
The coroner nodded towards that today, saying he was aware of speculation and saying that he had asked Britain's Metropolitan Police to investigate and to report back to him if there were anything, any other suspicious acts which he needed to take a look at.
Now, in terms of the tabloid story you're talking about, it's a story that appeared in "The Daily Mirror" today. It republished a letter which Princess Diana had written 10 months before her death and given to her then butler, Paul Burrell. In that letter, Princess Diana wrote that she believed that her ex-husband, Prince Charles, was planning a car accident to kill her in order that he might marry his longtime lover, Camilla Parker Bowles.
That is a suggestion which has been dismissed as preposterous and which Paul Burrell says he never intended to have made public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BURRELL, FORMER BUTLER OF PRINCESS DIANA: I'm not happy about it. I only learned about it late last night. And it was always my intention never to publish that name. I never, ever wanted it to be known.
QUESTION: Are you angry towards "The Daily Mirror," Mr. Burrell?
BURRELL: I'm not very happy.
QUESTION: What do you plan to do now?
BURRELL: I'm going to speak to my lawyer and my agent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACVICAR; Now, that story, of course, yet another bonanza for conspiracy theorists out there.
It's hope that, after all of this, after all this time and after the work of the corner, who will be very, very thorough -- he knows what is at stake here; he knows the kinds of suspicions many people hold -- that they will be able to draw a line under these deaths and to say with certainly what happened that night in that tunnel in Paris -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Sheila MacVicar, thank you very much, reporting live from London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
