Mohamed Al-Fayed, Diana, and the need for a conspiracy

A new inquest into the death of Princess Diana officially began this month. If you are in the UK, you know all about this - it's in every tabloid. For anyone else, it's barely mentioned in the media.

I promised myself once that I would never waste my time writing about Princess Diana. This is sort of bending that rule, but not precisely. The issue here is not really the former Princess but the wasteful and ludicrious inquest of her death, and the entertainment of conspiracy theories, all due to the pressure of a sad and obsessed Egyptian millionaire named Mohammed Al-Fayed. It's even all the more ridiculous since both the British and the French have completed their separate investigations, and found nothing other than an accident caused by drunk driving.

If I were a taxpayer in the UK, I would be pretty angry right now. What is the purpose? Who knows? We already know how, where, and why she died. She was riding in a Mercedes limosine with her date Dodi Al-Fayed, when the driver, Henri Paul, crashed into a tunnel support pillar at 110 kph (70 mph) while trying to get away from the papparazzi. Unfortunately, Mr. Paul was under the influence of a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol. His blood alcohol content was 1.74 g/L (.17% BAC), which is more than three times the legal limit in France (and more than double the US limit). He was in no condition to drive a golf cart, not to mention a speeding limosine through the streets of Paris.

But unfortunately, that's not enough explanation for people with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Dodi and the owner of Harrod's Department store in London (the most ridiculously overpriced place I've ever been in my life), has a fortune which is estimated anywhere between $800 million and $3 billion US dollars. And apparently the money is not enough for him - he also wants to imagine that his son was on the verge of marrying into British Royalty (or former royalty).

Maybe then, he felt, he might be accepted into society and become a UK citizen at last (Twice his application was blocked because the crown felt he lacked "good character", and one minister wanted him deported). The Independent ran an article recently about this long quest for acceptance, and ExPat Yank had a good observation on how unrealistic his goals may have been:

one must also never forget that most Christian British are not hugglingly accepted into the exceedingly small world [of Britain's upper society] either.

For years he has loudly proclaimed that: 1) Diana was pregnant with Dodi's child, 2) They were planning to get married, 3) Henri Paul was not drunk - the blood test results were switched with someone else, 4) The royal family, specifically Prince Philip, out of racism, ordered their deaths to stop the wedding, 5) the actual assassination was carried out by MI6 (The UK's intelligence agency) and the CIA. For more of this outlandish theories in his own words, you can check his own web site. I find it very strange though, that MI6 or the CIA would have the clairvoyance to know that they were getting married when they hadn't even told anyone about it. But if you believe some of these theories, then I guess you can believe in mind-reading spy drones.

I should mention that Mr. Al-Fayed also has a financial motive for claiming the couple were assassinated. The drunk driver, Henri Paul, was employed by the Ritz Paris Hotel, which is owned by Mr. Fayed. In a lawsuit, any liability from deaths caused by his negligence could ultimately be borne by Mr. Fayed. This is even more true since Mr. Paul died in the crash and is essentially beyond the reach of a lawsuit.

Elsewhere on his web site, he pours out his own fantasy about their relationship. Here is a sample:

It was a love affair. Two people who had known each other for years but then came together during a summer that was all too brief.

A little misleading - they had known each other for years, yes, but they only dated for a month.

On the day before they would have announced their engagement to marry, they were brutally killed in a tunnel beside the River Seine.

Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales, were on their way from L’Hotel Ritz to his apartment, just off the Champs d’Elysses, near the Arc de Triomphe. Dodi’s butler had put a bottle of vintage Champagne on ice.

On their bedside table was the engagement ring they had selected. Dodi had collected it from the jeweller during the afternoon, whilst Diana had her hair done at the Ritz salon. The ring was called “Dit moi oui”, “Tell me yes”.

Whether he planned to give it to her, was greatly disputed by the French (Paget) investigation, but if it was for Diana, she might not have given him the answer he was looking for (see below).

He [Dodi] told friends that she was the love of his life and, despite the relentless media pressure, he had never been happier. The Princess confided in a woman, who knew her better than almost anyone, that in Dodi she had found the man she had always been seeking but never found: a strong, kind and loving man who fulfilled her completely.

According to an official investigation:

"We have spoken to many of her family and closest friends and none of them have indicated to us that she was either about to or wished to get engaged," he said.

"Prince William has confirmed to me that his mother had not given him the slightest indication about such plans for the future."

But the Fayeds go on:

It is inconceivable that the Princess would have continued with her love affair with Dodi had she not intended their relationship to become a permanent one.

This is actually a common belief in Islamic society, that a woman never has a relationship with a man unless she intends marriage. The idea of a woman simply dating just for fun is inconceivable.

In fact, the elder Mr. Fayed was so confident of Diana and Dodi's pregnancy and their inevitable engagement, that he falsely claimed the couple was looking to buy a house with a room "for the baby", and instructed his staff to lie about it as well. When photos were leaked to The Sun newspaper proving otherwise, he retaliated by suing for copyright infringement.

So in spite of no evidence at all for any of these conspiracy theories, the current inquest is entertaining them. Mr. Fayed describes his struggle thus:

I have had to fight for this to happen. So many people in the British Establishment never wanted the inquests, because they were afraid of what would be revealed in court. They were afraid that the cover-up would be exposed, that the truth of the circumstances of their deaths would emerge, embarrassing and humiliating them all over the world.

Maybe they were just afraid another investigation would be a big waste of time and of the UK's treasury.

Here is just a sample of the importance of the inquest, and the progress of their current professional "investigation":

2 OCTOBER 2007

The jury was shown a picture of the princess in a leopard-print swimsuit taken in the summer of 1997, often cited as evidence that she was pregnant with Dodi's child. But Lord Justice Baker pointed out that the photograph had been taken shortly before Princess Diana met Dodi.
...
8 OCTOBER 2007

The jurors were flown to Paris to retrace the final movements of Diana and Mr Al Fayed. They were driven by coach along the route the couple took from the Ritz Hotel, and through the Pont de l'Alma tunnel where their car crashed.

9 OCTOBER 2007

At the beginning of the second day of their two-day trip to Paris to retrace the final movements of Princess Diana and Mr Al Fayed, jurors were taken on a tour of the rooms of the Ritz Hotel where the couple spent their final evening together.

They saw the rooms where the couple and their body guards were caught by the hotel's CCTV, and visited the hotel bar where driver Henri Paul bought two alcoholic drinks.

They were then driven along a number of alternative routes to Mr Al Fayed's apartment, the destination the couple were driving towards at the time of the crash.

I think that nonsense speaks pretty plainly for itself.

Now, after having said all this, I do feel some sympathy for Mr. Fayed. This is a man who lost his beloved son in a terrible accident. But it is improper for the public sympathy to translate into taxpayer-funded indulgements for his pet theories. Two other people died in the crash, and their families have not made such demands. Finally, it's also worth asking if any non-celebrity British, French, or Egyptian citizen would have had such a thorough investigation of their death (three times over). The British should have given Mr. Fayed a very polite, but very firm "No" for an answer.





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