Diana princess of hearts

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MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

The Diana Myth

Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2008

Supervisor: Written by:Mgr. Lucie Podroukov, Ph.D. Dana Ebringerov


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

EBRINGEROV, Dana. The Diana Myth; bachelor thesis. Brno: Masaryk University,

Faculty of education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2008 61 pages. Thesupervisor of Bachelor thesis is Mgr. Lucie Podroukov, Ph.D.

ANNOTATION

Princess Diana, the British Heir to the Throne Prince Charless former wife, was a mythi-

cal being and during her life, especially then after her death, there emerged a plethora of

myths both about her personality and her life. This thesis will explain some of them or at

least make an attempt to do it. First, Diana is briefly introduced from her birth to death

while some of discrepancies that had been discussed in the books about her life are already

foreshadowed. Then, of course, plenty of speculations and conspiracy theories appeared in

connection with her death and these ones are also presented in this thesis. Finally, the my-

ths connected with Dianas character are pointed out. For better acquaintance with the

events and for getting some additional information, there is added the appendix at the end

of this thesis. I have paid my attention to the sources that should be reliable and authentic,

compared them and tried to be impartial.

Keywords:

Princess, Queen, King, Viscountess, Earl, Duchess, myth, discrepancy, bulimia, suicide,

conspiracy theory


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BIBLIOGRAFICK ZZNAM

EBRINGEROV, Dana.Mtus Diana; bakalsk prce. Brno: Masarykova univerzita,

Pedagogick fakulta, Katedra anglickho jazyka a literatury, 2008 61 stran. Vedouc baka-lsk prce je Mgr. Lucie Podroukov, Ph.D.

ANOTACE

Princezna Diana, bval manelka britskho nslednka trnu prince Charlese, byla mtic-

kou bytost a bhem jejho ivota, obzvlt pak po jej smrti, se objevila spousta mt jak

o jej osobnosti, tak o jejm ivot. Tato prce vysvtl nkter z nich, nebo se o to pinej-

menm pokus. Nejdve je Diana strun pedstavena od jejho narozen po smrt, zatmco

jsou ji nastnny nkter z nesrovnalost, kter byly diskutovny v dlech o jejm ivot.

V souvislosti s jej smrt se pak samozejm vyrojila spousta spekulac a konspiranch

teori, a tyto jsou v tto prci prezentovny tak. Nakonec je vnovna pozornost mtm

tkajcch se Dianiny povahy. Pro lep obeznmen se s udlostmi a zskn dodatench

informac je na zvr pidn dodatek. Svoji pozornost jsem vnovala pramenm, kter by

mly bt spolehliv a autentick, porovnvala jsem je a pokusila se bt nestrann.

Klov slova:

Princezna, krlovna, krl, vikomtesa, hrab, vvodkyn, mtus, nesrovnalost, bulimie, se-

bevrada, konspiran teorie


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Declaration

I declare that I wrote the bachelor thesis myself and used only the sources listed in the

enclosed bibliography.

Brno, 20 April 2008 -----------------------------------------

Dana Ebringerov


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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Mgr. Lucie Podroukov, Ph.D. for her kind help and valuable ad-

vice, which she provided me with as a supervisor of this bachelor thesis.

Brno, 20 April 2008 Dana Ebringerov


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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 7

1 DIANAS CHILDHOOD ........................................................................................... 91.1 DIANAS BIRTH ...................................................................................................... 9

1.2 THE PARENTS DIVORCE ........................................................................................ 9

1.3 DIANA THE CHILD ................................................................................................ 10

1.4 DIANA THE PUPIL ................................................................................................. 11

2 DIANAS ADULTHOOD ........................................................................................ 12

2.1 WHAT A SAD MAN ........................................................................................... 12

2.2 ENGAGEMENT ...................................................................................................... 13

2.3 WEDDING ............................................................................................................. 15

2.4 MARRIAGE ........................................................................................................... 16

2.5 MORTONS BOOK................................................................................................. 18

2.6 THE DIVORCE ....................................................................................................... 18

3 DIANAS ADULTHOOD ........................................................................................ 22

3.1 DIANASNEW START ........................................................................................... 22

3.2 DODI (EMAD)AL FAYED ..................................................................................... 23

3.3 DIANAS DEATH ................................................................................................... 253.4 DIANAS FUNERAL ............................................................................................... 27

4 MYTH OR REALITY? ........................................................................................... 30

4.1 SEARCHING FOR THE CULPRIT .............................................................................. 30

4.2 COSPIRACY THEORIES .......................................................................................... 35

4.3 MYTH OR REALITY? ............................................................................................. 37

CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 42

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 44

APPENDICES .................................................................................................................... 47


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INTRODUCTION

Princess Diana has her iconic status all over the world and more or less her destiny has

touched all of us. Maybe the reason for that is the fact that her problems were so similar toeach average persons ones. And maybe it is just her ability to present herself in media.

She did not have ambitions to become Queen. She claimed that she would like to become

Queen of Peoples Hearts and she managed. There is often discussed the question about

her influence on monarchy. According to the survey of public opinion which is remembe-

red in Diana. A Princess and Her TroubledMarriageby Nicholas Davies and that was

conducted by Daily Express in January 1992, Dianas popularity raised to 29 per cent,

while Charless decreased to ten per cent. Queen and Princess Ann were both given 15 percent. Diana was also elected to be the most entertaining member of the royal family by 49

per cent, Charles got just six per cent (Davies 14). Nicholas Davies also pointed out that

the royal family had never been so criticized as it was at that time. About one fifth of citi-

zens do not think that they need the monarchy and the youth even wished to end the mo-

narchy. On the other hand, it was just Diana who helped to popularize the monarchy.

Thanks to her indisputable empathy and sympathy for suffering people all over the world

she was worshipped the same as Mother Theresa, whom Diana visited too and who died

five days after Dianas death. She was a patron of plenty of foundations. The photographs

of Diana meeting people suffering from AIDS, shaking hands with them and hugging small

dying children, changed peoples attitude to this illness. Diana encouraged people not to be

afraid of the contact with these seriously ill patients. Also her campaign against land mines

was so successful that after Dianas death, in Ottawa in December 1997, there was conclu-

ded an agreement about the ban on using of land mines that was signed by fourty countries.

Mike Whitlam, the head of British Red Cross, was even persuaded that if Diana had not

visited Angola, the negotiation in Canada, where the agreement was ratified, would not

have taken place at all.In fact, it was the appreciation of her work 1Whitlam is cited in

the book by Rosalind Coward,Diana: The Portrait (Bradford 345).

Unfortunately, during her childhood and her marriage as well, she went through many sad

events that influenced her life. One of the purposes of this thesis is to get closer to Dianas

1Ve skutenosti lo o uznn jej prce.(translated by the author)


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personality. According to given information the reader possibly can find out if without bad

treating, Dianas worse character traits transpired, or if the treating her was really so bad.

And because, as the title hints, the main aim of this thesis is to clarify some myths Dianas

life is shrouded in, her life will be described here in chronological order from her birth to

death. On the basis of comparing of available sources, this work will objectively assess

Dianas person and her surrounding and then also some hazy events connected with her

death as well as discrepancies that appeared during the investigation of the fatal car acci-

dent and conspiracy theories that emerged after including the question whether Diana was

killed being pregnant. Besides the hazy circumstances it was Dianas intuition and her abil-

ity to forecast her death (and there are tangible proofs for it) that became the breeding

ground for conspiracy theories, but partly also the fact that people were not or some still

are not willing to cope with their models death. They simply are not able to admit that life

of their icon could have ended in such a common way. Finally this thesis will briefly sum-

marize her personality and according to the established facts try to find some of reasons

for Dianas behaviour and her psychic instability and disorder, because it is just Dianas

character that indisputably belongs to the most mysterious myths.


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1 DIANAS CHILDHOOD

1.1 Dianas Birth

Viscountess Althorp Gave Birth to the Daughter on Saturday

On the 1st July 1961 at 19.45 Diana Frances Spencer was born as the third daughter of

Lord Edward John Spencer, the late 8th Earl of Spencer, and his wife Frances Ruth Burke

Roche, the daughter of the 4th Lord Fermoy and close friend to the King George VI. She

was born in the bedroom with a bay windows, where also her mother was born, in Park

House on the Royal Estate of Sandringham, Norfolk, England (Bradford 17,

www.princess-diana.com). The Timesdaily announced briefly:Viscountess Althorp gavebirth to the daughter on Saturday2 (Davies 23). She was born into thunderous applause.

The motive for this applause was not her birth, but the end of the anniversary cricket match

hosted by Dianas father. On the contrary, her birth was considered to be a great disap-

pointment, because her parents desperately needed a son for their dynasty. If Diana was a

boy, she would probably be named Charles or John as the boys were traditionally christe-

ned in her family. For girl her parents could not find a name for a week. Finally she was

named Diana after the first Earl Spencers sister who lived her short life from 1735 to 1743(Bradford 17, Stern 33-34, Morton 20).

1.2 The Parents Divorce

In fact, the rows between her parents began after the death of her brother John who was

born deformed and unable to breath on 1st January, 1960 and was alive just for ten hours.

Diana was persuaded that if he had survived, she would never have been born (Morton 24).

John Spencer blamed his wife for not being able to give birth to son and although their son

Charles was born three years after Dianas birth, the relationship between them never im-

proved (Bradford 24). John Spencer was said to treat his wife roughly, although inDiana,

Her Marriage Troubles is meantioned that Frances was bored with the life in Norfolk

(Davies 24). In 1969 the marriage was divorced and unluckily for Frances her husband

obtained custody for Diana, her elder sisters Sarah and Jane and the three-year-old

2

,,Vikomtka Althorpov v sobotu pivedla na svt dceru.(translated by the author)


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brother Charles. Even Francess mother, Lady Fermoy, Queen Mothers friend, turned

away from her daughter and Frances was accused of adultery: The reality was more trau-

matic than many have realized. It is significant that at one time in their lives both Sarah

and Diana have suffered from debilitating rating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia

respectively(Morton 18).

But the staffs opinion differs in this case, which is quite surprising. While Mary Clark

whom Dianas father employed in 1971 remembers how wonderfully the life was going

past there in Park House, the children were still smiling and fooling around and Diana li-

ked to tease everyone, the other former unnamed employee sees this household as an

unhappy one (Bradford 30-31).

1.3 Diana the Child

But hardly anybody was able to look into Dianas soul. It is obvious that her father tried

his best to compensate his children for their mothers presence. As a child, Diana was very

quiet and shy, always surrounded by her pets animals and she cared for them really pre-

cisely (Bradford 31). But sometimes her manners were arrogant, obstinate and cunning and

when she wished something, she insisted very emphatically on it and with a convictionthat nobody would oppose her deceitful behaviour 3(Bradford 33-34). She was often fab-

ricating. Mainly, however, she was very tenderhearted and sympathetic with those who

were suffering. She was also used to doing household chores with a great care even for her

sister Sarah and also in her later years. It was her response to the inner need to be useful,

to show off her skillness and to keep clearness that is important to her(Bradford 47-48).

The clich that from an ugly duckling has become a princess how some journalists

entitle their articles about Diana, evidently does not correspond to the facts. It is mademanifest according to the photographs from her childhood, because her father, the 8th Earl

Spencer allowed access to his private family photograph albums to Andrew Morton for his

books Diana, Her True Story and Diana, Her New Life. Diana is said to be her fathers

favourite child, the apple of her daddys eye (Bradford 31- 32):

3 ...kdy si nco pla, domhala se toho velice drazn s jistotou, e se jejmu lstivmu chovn nikdonevzepe.(translated by the author)

Undoubtedly I was the fathers favourite 4(Diana qtd. in Bradford 32).


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Diana was used to posing for photographers from her very childhood, which was a great

advantage for her later, when she became the most photographied woman in the world.

1.4 Diana the Pupil

Diana was first educated at Silfied School in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. From 1969 to 1974 she

attended the public Riddlesworth Hall Preparatory School. Her school results were not

excellent, she was not ambitious enough, so she did not pass the final exams at West

Heath Girls School (near Sevenoaks, Kent, from 1974 to 1977), she did not have any

qualification and was able to do the only thing she enjoyed: to take care of children 5

(Davies 41-42). At the age of 16 she left West Heath for Institut Alpin Videmanette in

Rougemont, Switzerland.

From her childhood she was interested in any kind of sport and was very good at swim-

ming and diving. Had she not grown so tall (177cm), she would probably have become a

ballerina. She played also tennis and later, in 1991, she even had the opportunity to play

tennis with Steffi Graf, whose game she admired.

After her return to London in 1979, Diana lived with three friends in an apartment in Cole-

herne Court in South Kensington and works as a nanny at the Young England School inPimlico, London.

4Bezpochyby jsem byla otcovou oblbenkyn.(translated by the author)

5,,Nemla dnou kvalifikaci a mohla dlat jedin to, co ji bavilo: hldat dti.(translated by the author)


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2 DIANAS ADULTHOOD

2.1 What a Sad Man

For the first time, Diana met Charles when he was dating her elder sister Sarah:

It was during her sisters romance that Diana first came into the path ofthe man considered then to be the worlds most eligible bachelor. Thathistoric meeting in November 1977 was hardly auspicious. Diana, onweekend leave from West Heath school, was indroduced to the Prince inthe middle of the ploughed field near Nobottle Wood on the Althorp esta-te during a days shooting.Diana cut a nondescript figure in her chec-ked shirt, her sisters anorak, cords and wellington boots (Morton, Dia-na: Her True Story, 35)

Sarah, however, was not willing to accomodate Charless behaviour and customs and in

1980 she married the former guard officer Neil Mc Corquodal. Later she even warned Dia-

na to be careful, because Charles was an incurable romantic ( Davies 63). Not only Sarah

was aware of Charless character traits. Hugo Vickers, a skilled royal observer, even bran-

ded him a wimp who in fact does not know what he wants and that he prefers female

company, especially of the older, married ladies (Bradford 91).

After the death of Charless friend and adviser Lord Mountbatten who had been killed by

IRA, and whose sincere advice Charles appreciated, Charles realized how vulnerable the

British monarchy was and that he needed an heir. And although he, an egocentric (Brad-

ford 136) man who was satisfied with his life having Camilla by his side, was not enthusi-

astic about a marriage, he was aware of the fact that he could not marry Camilla who was

living in a loose marrige with Andrew Parker Bowles and had two children.

In the summer holidays of 1980, the Spencers were invited at Balmoral Castle and laterCharles invited Diana to accompany him on a royal yacht Britannia during his one week

holiday and he took great pains6to it (Bradford 79) and asked his personal secretarys

assistant Oliver Everett to take care of her. Charles wanted to avoid the situation when

Diana had refused his invitation to Buckingham Palace (Bradford 79). It was during their

6vyvinul mimodn sil


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meeting in Petworth in July 1980, where Diana was surprised by his intimate behaviour

towards her: Again, he was still tagging along me and it was very strange. I thought:This

is a little bit impertinent7(Diana qtd. in Bradford 78).

As Stephen Barry inDianaremembered , onBritanniathe crew fell in love with Diana the

same as the royal domestic staff who considered Diana to be very suitable for that task

(Bradford 80). Diana won their hearts thanks to her openmindness and sincere treating the

others.

On the contrary, Nicholas Davies describes how the staff hated Diana we knew that some-

times she would appear to be a beast, but we did not know it would be so soon8(Diana. A

Princess and Her Troubled Marriage 108).

2.2 Engagement

Charles was under the increasing pressure to marry not only by his father (his mother has

never interfered in her childrens affairs) but also by Camilla who was persuaded that Di-

ana would not jeopardize her place in Charless heart. In fact she preferred Diana to

Charless other acquaitances.

Also, Diana met all needed qualifications. Legally, the only requirement was that the

Prince could not marry a Roman Catholic; a member of the Church of England was pre-

ferred. In order to gain the approval of Charless family and their advisers, any potential

bride was expected to have a royal or aristocratic background, to be a virgin as well as to

be a Protestant (wikipedia).

It was clear that also the Queen Mother was delighted with her grandsons relationship

with the charming and innocent Diana and during Dianas visit of Birkhall there was no

doubt that she was trying to make Diana comfortable (Bradford 81). She checked the bed-

room and all the things she would not have done for a nineteen-year-old girl. So it was

obvious that there were some plans or hopes (Bradford 81). But it is unbelievable, how

cynical

7Zase se na m lepil bylo to velice divn. Pomyslela jsem si: ,,Tohle je trochu neomalen. (translated by

the author)

8,,Vdli jsme, e se z n nkdy vyklube mrcha, ale nevdli jsme, e to bude tak brzy. (translated by the

author)


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attitude took up Ruth Fermoy, Dianas grandmother and Queen Motherss friend. She en-

couraged this wedding in spite of that she was aware about Charless relationship with

Camilla (Bradford 81).

Nevertheless, Diana adored Charles and in some way also Charles, who called her My

Shy Di (Davies 72), loved Diana, although they differed from each other in many aspects.

For example, part of public did not consider the uneducated Diana to be suitable for him.

They had different taste in friends and Diana hated his spending the leisure time shooting

birds or hunting. Each of them listened to different kind of music and while Charles de-

bated with the philosophers, Diana liked chating with her friends about clothing and hairs-

tyles and watching soap operas. Charles was surprised by Dianas disinterest in politics,

economy, industry and issues connected with the British government (Davies 108).

On 24thFebruary 1981 the engagement between the nineteen-year-old Lady Diana Frances

Spencer and the thirty-two-year-old heir to the British Throne Prince Charles was officially

announced and so Diana could pose for the photographers with her walnut-sized engage-

ment ring. The ring, consisting of 14 diamonds and a sapphire, cost 34000 pounds. But the

Queen would prefer to donate her some time-honoured one from her family jewels (Da-

niels 71).Stephen Barry describes the first months of their romance:

It seemed, because of Charles, Diana was completely nonplussed. Sheadored even the ground under his feet. She was still kissing and touchinghim and repeating how much she loved him. Anytime he had to leave forhis royal duties or just deal with some papers, she was saying good-byeto him, as if he was leaving at least for a year and she could hardly waitfor his return. She still kept asking me, when he would come back andwas nervous until she saw him again. Then she ran after him and started

hugging and kissing him9

(Davies 74-75).

Before their engagement, on 5th November, when Diana was staying in Sandringham, the

9,,Zdlo se, e Diana je z Charlese pln vyveden z mry. Ona zboovala i pdu pod jeho nohama, po

kter krel. Neustle ho lbala, dotkala se ho a opakovala mu, jak ho miluje. Kdykoliv musel odejt za

svmi krlovskmi povinnostmi, nebo jen vydit njak papry, louila se s nm, jako kdyby odchzel

nejmn na rok a vbec se nemohla dokat jeho nvratu. Pod se m ptala, kdy u se vrt, a byla nervzn,

dokud ho opt nespatila. Potom k nmu pibhla, zaala ho objmat a lbat.(translated by the author).


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scandal of the royal train of love broke out. According to Sunday Mirror Diana slipped

into the royal train that was standing on the siding in Wiltshire and spent a night there with

Charles (Bradford 85). While Davies described this event as a made-up story (69),

Bradfordbrought the evidence, that the woman definitely was not Diana, but Camilla Par-

ker Bowles (85).

There is also some discrepancy in these books connected with the flowers that Charles

should have sent to Diana after her arrival from Australia, where she, according to Char-

less suggestion, spent some time with her mother before their wedding. InDiana.A Prin-

cess andHer Troubled Marriage there is described the event, how romantic Charles sent a

huge bunch of flowers to Diana (Davies 70). In the bookDiana Diana was persuaded that

the malodorous bouquet was not from Charles, it was just a very tactful deep of somebody

from the office, because there was not a message (Bradford 90).

2.3 Wedding

the most emotionally confusing day in my life(Diana qtd. In Morton 65)

During the wedding preparation Charles cautiously controlled all details and also chose

music and singers, what he considered to be the most important. Dianas favourite hymnI

Vow to Thee My Country was included, too (Davies 79). This hymn was heard also during

Dianas funeral ceremony.

On the eve of the wedding, which Diana spent at Clarence House, her mood was much

improved when Charles sent her a signet ring engraved with the Prince of Wales feathers

and an affectionate card which said:Im so proud of you and when you come up Ill be

there at the altar for you tomorrow. Just look em in the eyes and knock em dead(Morton

64-65).

Around 750 million television viewers and 600 thousand onlookers followed the dream

wedding of Charles, who was thirty-three years old, and Diana, who was twenty years old,

routing from Buckingham Palace to Londons St. Pauls Cathedral on 29th July 1981, five

months after their engagement. For the first time in 300 years an English girl is betrothed

to a British Heir to the Throne. The girl,who, when she was nine, bravely declared that she

would marry only once and only for love and never, never divorce (Howard).


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The archbishop of Canterbury, who married this pair in love, declared this wedding to be a

fairy tale (Howard, Bradford 105). Although all those present noticed that Diana left out

the expression to obey her husband from her promise of marriage (Davies 82).

2.4 Marriage

Charles was too old for his age, and Diana in her youth extremely immature 10

(Bradford 112).

Diana was always such a shy girl that during the school performances she was used to

playing just non-speaking parts. Now, she was in the centre of attention and she tried to

hide her real feelings in public. So, her role really was not easy. InDiana, Her True Story

she remembers, how she tried to cope with the journalists: Ive got what my mother has

got. However bloody you are feeling you can put on the most amazing show of happiness.

My mother is an expert at that and Ive picked it up. It kept the wolves from the

door(Morton 76).

Although Diana, from the very beginning, managed to behave perfectly in public, she

often suffered from sickness and she felt uneasily. These feelings got worse during her

pregnancy.

The first son and Heir to the Throne, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born in St.

Marys Hospital in Paddington, London on 21stJune 1982 and his birth was greeted with

fourty-one salvos.The second son of Princess Diana and Charles, Prince Henry Charles

Albert David, named Harry was born at the same hospital on 15thSeptember 1984 (How-

ard).

Diana claimed that the early years of her marriage were lucky. She was really happy to

have her own family and even Charles tried to spend as much time as possible with hissons. But there already appeared quite serious troubles. On the one hand there was still the

shade of Camilla Parker, the woman with whom Charles did not mean to quit his relation-

ship, on the other hand Charles was not able to accept the fact that Diana was so popular

with people that she (unintenionally) put him in the shade (Bradford 138-145).This is also

the period when Diana went through several suicide attempts. One of the first ones ap-

peared in January 1982 when she, three months pregnant, jumped down the staircase.

10,,Charles byl na svj vk star, a Diana ve svm mld mimodn nevyzrl.(translated by the author)

One of the first members of the Royal Family who arrived was the Queen Mother:


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She was horrified, physically shaking with the shock of what she hadwitnessed. A local doctor was summoned while George Pinker, Dianasgyneacologist, travelled from London to visit his royal patient. Her hus-

band simply dismissed her plight and carried on with his plan to go rid-

ing. Fortunately Diana was not seriously hurt by the fall although she didsuffer severe bruising around her stomach. A full check-up revealed thatthe foetus hadnot been injured (Morton,Diana: Her True Story73).

Diana explains her difficult state and termed it as the desperate cries for help. I just

needed time to adjust to my new position (Diana qtd. in Morton 74).

That time Prince Charles held very important conversation with his mother and explained

her that the journalists do not help pregnant Diana to calm down her frame of mind. He

was apprehensive, because Dianas moods could have dire consequences for the unborn

child (Davies 93). The Queen agreed and prepared a plan together with Michael Shea, her

press secretary. On Thuesday, eighteen days before Christmas and four and a half month

after the wedding, the publishers of nationwide newspaper, television and radio were in-

vited in Buckingham Palace. It was the first time in twenty-five years that this kind of

meeting was held (Davies 93-94). Michael Shea depicted the situation and explained the

Queens fears of the haunting of Diana. The short time after this meeting the British press

left Diana alone. But, consequently, she became such a draw that the haunting started

again (Davies 93-94). The book Diana: Her True Story also contains statements about

Dianas bulimia and the explanation by eating-disorders expert that bulimics are always

smiles and they spend their time trying to please others (Morton,Diana: Her True Story

77).

Dianas marital discords with her husband are remembered in the Dianabook. In the in-

terview with her teacher Peter Settel Diana indicated that her sexual relationship withCharles ended before the birth of Harry. She also confided in her new bodyguard and a

detective Ken Wharfe about Camillas presence. She didnt know how to deal with this

fact (Bradford 165).

In 1986 Diana did not manage to pretend in public that she was happy. In Mallorca the

quarrels between Diana and Charles intensified. Charles left his wife, William and Harry

for Britain. There had already been Camilla waiting for him (Odile and Philippe Verdier

46). As a defense, Diana began to use flirtation in public. Charles was disappointed. But


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also some newspapers criticised her undignified behaviour. They spent their sixth wedding

anniversary separately (Bradford 171).

Another desperate situation Diana went through was after Prince Charles had broken his

arm during a polo match. It was not Diana, but Charless frequent visitor, Camilla Parker-

Bowles, who took care of him while recovering from the fracture. Diana felt subjugated,

useless and unloved. (Morton,Diana: Her True Story151).

2.5 Mortons Book

Of course, some of journalists were devoted to Charles and some of them indicated their

sympathy to Diana. And so, as far as tabloids are concerned, while Nigel Dempster fromMail and Ross Benson fromExpressspoke up for Charles,Daily Mail, the one destined for

the middle and upper classes, were devoted to Diana (especially thanks to their editor-in-

chief David English and a royal reporter Richard Kay) as well as the prominent journalist

and biographer Anthony Holden and Andrew Morton, in those days writing favourable

articles abot her for the influential Sunday Times(Bradford 220).

And it was just Andrew Morton, university educated and prominent journalist and writer,

who himself was surprised, when Diana was willing to open her heart just to him and as-ked him to write a book about her life with Charles.An intermediary here was doctor James

Colthurst, Dianas long-standing friend and adviser (Bradford 215).

In the interview with Sarah Bradford (20.3.2001) Morton admits that this Dianas action

was not well-thought-out and that they were Mike (Michael OMara, Mortons publisher),

James Colthurst and him who had to premeditated a lot instead of her. Their idea also was

to keep Diana in background and to involve her friends (Bradford 216).

2.6 The Divorce

Whatever happens, I will always love you 11(Diana to Charles on 28th February 1996

qtd. in Bradford 306-307).

On 29th June 1994 in a television interview Prince Charles acknowledges to Jonathan

Dimbleby his liaison with Camilla Parker-Bowles and his unfaithfuilness to his wife Dia-

na.11,,A se stane cokoli, budu t vdycky milovat.


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He explains his adultery by saying that he already saw his marriage as being

over(www.princess-diana.com). This interview took place after Prince Charless biogra-

phy by Jonathan Dimbleby had been written. Princes biography was considered to be his

defence, the same as Mortons book was Dianas one. In January 1995 Andrew and Camil-

la Parker Bowles divorced (Bradford 269,272).

In the autumn of 1995 Dianas psychological state of mind was unsatisfactory. Her roman-

ce with James Hewitt was disclosed, when the book Princess in Love by Anna Pasternak

was published based on her letters to him to the Gulf in October 1994 (www.princess-

diana.com, Bradford 270). As Hewitt claimed, the initial aim of this book was something

like precautionary measure 12 (Hewitt qtd. in Bradford 270), but later he was marked as

a spurned lout and nark 13 (daily Sun qtd. in Bradford 271), although Diana had agreed

with publishing this kind of book. She had only prefered the interview with Andrew Mor-

ton to Anna Pasternak. Then she broke up and began her relationship with Oliver Hoar

(Bradford 271, Hrom 13).

She was also persuaded about being tapped, dismissed several employees of hers and she

even wrote a letter, where she mentioned Charless intence to kill her: My husband is

planning an accident of my car, a brake failure and a serious damage of my head, so as tofree himself and could marry 14 (Diana qtd. in Bradford 292).

Her behaviour called forth a response. In the article by Dempster inMail on Sundaythere

are described eight typical syndroms of BPD, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Demb-

ster claims that most of them fit Dianas behaviour (Bradford 289).

Dianas response to Charless interview came several months later during the BBC pro-

grammePanoramawith the journalist Martin Bashir on 24th November 1995. She admited

her affair with James Hewitt and spoke about her psychological desperation, eating disor-

ders and her attempts to commit suicide. But she also mentioned her mistrust of the Royal

Family and doubts that her husband, Prince Charles, will ever become king

12 ,,preventivn opaten13,,zhrzen hulvt a prska

14,,Mj manel plnuje nehodu v mm aut, selhn brzd a vn porann hlavy, jen aby ml Charlesvolnou cestu a mohl se oenit.

(translated by the author)


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(www.princess-diana.com, Bradford 269). In the bookLady Di et Dodi Destins Croises it

is published that she definitely betrayed the rule of the Royal Protocol never explain, ne-

ver complain (Verdier Odile, and Philippe 98), which is the truth. But definitely is not the

truth that the only Princesss performance in public fulfilled its task and the divorce proce-

dure increased (Verdier Odile, and Philippe 100). Because it is obvious that Diana did not

want to divorce ( Bradford 305, Howard). The Royal Family were shocked with Dianas

performance and so were her friends. Her press officer, Geoff Crawford, resigned from his

post immediately, although it was a success with the public, who was touched with this

interview (Bradford 298-299).

Sir Robert Fellowes, Dianas brother-in-law who belonged to the high-ranking palace offi-

cials, remembered in the book by Brian Mac Arthur: Much as good will towards her per-

sonality was there from Buckingham Palace, the misdemeanour she perpetrated over-

stepped the mark. It was a classical case of love for the sinner and hate for the sin 15

(Diana, Princess of Wales 1961-199796, qtd. in Bradford 300).

When Queen Elizabeth II asked her son Prince Charles and Princess Diana to end their

marriage on 18thDecember 1995, Charles agreed immediately, but Diana postponed her

decision for three months. The Queens hand-written letter to Diana was addressed Dear-est Diana and ended with love mummy(Bradford 302, www.princess-diana.com). On

28thFebruary 1996, although in the bookLady Di et Dodi Destins croisesthe date of 26th

February is written, Princess Diana agreed to the wish of Prince Charles and his mother to

end the marriage (www.princess-diana.com). Diana considered this date to be the worst

day in my life (Diana qtd. in Verdier Odile,and Philippe 91). On the contrary, in the book

Diana. HerNew Life we can read about Diana who confided in her friends during the

summer of 1993 that she would like to divorce, but that the resolution has to come from

Charles (Morton 182). Nevertheless,on 28thFebruary 1996 Princess Diana agrees to the

wish of Prince Charles and his mother Queen Elizabeth II to end the mar-

riage(www.princess-diana.com). On 15thJuly Princess Diana became divorced after fif-

teen years of marriage to the British Heir to the Throne Prince Charles and after six

15,,Jakkoli byla ze strany Buckinghamskho palce vi jej osob dobr vle, pein, jeho se dopustila,

pekroil meze. lo o klasick ppad lsky k hnkovi a nenvisti k hchu. (translated by the author)


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21

weeks, on 28thAugust 1996 the divorce became legal (www.princess-diana.com, Dobro-

volny 102, Bradford).

Although inLady Di at Dodi... is published that she kept her title Royal Highness (Ver-

dier Odile, and Philippe 91) in fact she lost it. She could only call herself Princess of

Wales(www.princess-diana.com). The Palace later insisted that it was Diana herself who

suggested to renounce the title Her Royal Highness (Bradford 305-306), but maybe later

she bemoaned that, because she, via Richard Kay, published an allegation that she was

forced by the Queen and Prince Charles to do it. At the end of June, through Richard Kay

again, she did her last attempt to get her title back, when she proclaimed that the Palace

then insisted that she should keep her title as the future kings mother. But this was not the

truth at all (Bradford 307).

After Dianas funeral, Prince Charles, William and Harry and also Dianas butlers Paul

Burrel and Colin Tebbutt set off the royal train journey from London to Northamptonshire,

because they were invited to dinner at Althorp. During this journey someone from the roy-

al family suggested returning this title to Diana. Her brother Charles Spencer refused it,

because he considered it to be an insignificant gesture (Bradford 385).


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3 DIANAS ADULTHOOD

3.1 Dianas New Start

The third stage of her life was the period between the divorce and the death 16 (one of

Dianas friends qtd. in Bradford 337).

After the divorce, the Princess was reserved a permanent right to live in Kensington Pa-

lace and she remained a member of the Royal Family. The custody of her sons was shared

by both parents equally(www.princess-diana.com., Bradford).

In the book Diana: The Portraitby Rosalind Coward Dianas situation is fully compre-

hended by William Rees-Mogg:

Diana tried to arrange her own independent life. As a single woman shecould enjoy much bigger social freedom, as a famous personality shetook advantage of her empathy for practical purposes, and she was stillan excellent mother.Everything began to fit together perfectly. 17(Brad-ford 337)

In this period Diana travelled all over the world and devoted herself to charity, to ill

people, especially the ones suffering from AIDS and she fought against the land-mines.

According to Richard Kay that was the time when she became that great personality she

was 18 (Bradford 337). Meanwhile, she lived also her personal life, although it was not

easy, because she was still haunted by sensation-seeking paparazzi (see appendix A7).

Like Charles, also Diana went through several love affairs. Some of them already during

her marriage to Charles after she had learnt of his relationship to Camilla and felt lonely. I

want to find somebody who would requite my affection19 (Diana qtd. in Hrom, 23rd Sep-

tember 1997).

16,Tetm stadiem jejho ivota bylo obdob mezi rozvodem a smrt.

17,,Diana se snaila zadit si vlastn samostatn ivot. Jako svobodn ena se mohla tit z mnohem vtspoleensk volnosti, jako znm osobnost vyuvala svho soucitu pro praktick ely, a nadle byla vyni-kajc matkou. Vechno do sebe zanalo hezky zapadat.

18,,Tehdy se stala tou velkou osobnost, kterou byla.

19,,Chci najt nkoho, kdo by optoval m city.

(translated by the author)


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But, as one of Dianas friends judged her situation, Dianas love life was a long run of

misfortune. The men exploited her. She put too much in liaison 20 (Bartholomew qtd. in

Hrom, 23rd September 1997). Unfortunately, among her men there were also some mar-

ried ones, for example Oliver Hoare and Will Carling, which caused her troubles. In 1985

the rumour said that she was in love with her bodyguard Barry Manakee. Later he died in

a motorcycle crash that was said to have been planned. James Gilbeys passionate phone

calls with Diana were also disclosed. The Pakistani cardio-surgeon Hasnat Khans parents

did not agree with his relationship to Diana (Hrom, 23rd September 1997).

3.2 Dodi (Emad) Al Fayed

Dodi is the love of my life. I will never let him go 21(Diana to her friend, qtd. in Hrom).

Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed, better known as Dodi Al-Fayed, was the son of the Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed,owner of British department store Harrods, Fulham Football Club andthe Htel Ritz Paris. His mother was Samira Kashoggi, sister of thenotorious weapons dealer, Adnan Khashoggi.Born in Alexandria, Egypt,Fayed was a student at Collge Saint Marc before attending the InstitutLe Rosey in Switzerland. His occupation was often given as film

producer; he helped make Breaking Glass (1980) and Chariots of Fire(1981), as well as the movie F/X and its sequel. He also served as theExecutive Creative Consultant for the television series.Dodi was anexecutive producer for the 1991 movie Hook starring Robin Williamsand Dustin Hoffman. In addition he was the executive producer of the1995 film adaptation of The Scarlet Letter.(wikipedia)

Diana met Dodi already about ten years earlier while he was playing polo against her

husbands team, but did not pay much attention to him (Stern 8). The fact that Diana

accepted Fayeds father invitation to spend holiday with her sons near St.Tropez surprised

her friends. But that time, in July 1997, when TV Channel 5 was interested in the

adaptation of Camilla Parkers biography, Diana got nervous. Moreover, Prince Charles,

via Michael Fawcett, was preparing the ball in Highgrove on the ocassion of Camillas

fiftieth birthday. (Bradford 359). So, her decision to accept this invitation could be seen as

20 ,,Dianin milostn ivot byl dlouhou rou netst. Mui ji vyuvali. Dvala do vztahu pli mnoho.

21 ,,Dodi je lskou mho ivota. Nikdy mu nedovolm odejt. (translated by the author)


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a revenge. Diana, Dodi and her sons were having a great time on his yachtJonikal, which

Dodi had bought just because of Diana (Bradford 362). Diana provoked the photographers

and on 18thJuly, just on the day of Camillas celebration in Highgrove, the tabloids were

full of photos of Diana in her swimsuit, exactly as she had apparently intended (Bradford

360-361). Diana was deeply touched by the relationship that emerged betweeen her sons

and Dodi (Verdier Odile, and Philippe 132-133). On the other hand, in the book The Death

of Princess is mentioned an article for tabloid News of the World, in which William

showed his antipathy to the Egyptian multimillionaire and a playboy who was not,

according to William, a suitable partner for his mother and William was prepared to

discuss this topic with Diana just after her arrival from Paris. And so happened that this

article was published on Sunday of 31stAugust, when both Diana and Dodi were no longer

alive (Dobrovoln 108-109).

Would Dodi have become Dianas husband, had not they died in a car crash? Not all

sources agree. Adam Cohen in his articleDianas Unlikely Suitor does not consider him to

be a suitable husband for her, because this unreconstructed playboy known for his rom-

ances with such women as Brooke Shields and Tawny Kitaen is not used to reading books

and whats more,his character is not unimpeachable:

Dodi Al Fayed, the rakish Egyptian-born heir to the billion-dollar Har-rods fortune, seemed an unlikely consort for Britains fairy princess...His past was littered with women he had romanced and rejected, as wellas with creditors still hoping to be paid for meals consumed and lodgingused long ago(www.time.com).

As far as reading books is concerned, it should not have been the main problem here as

among Dianas favourite ways of spending her leisure time was to bury herself in the

romantic world of novels by Barbara Cartland, where strong men court virgin brides and

love prevails over everything 22(Bradford 41), so she probably was not a kind of discri-

minating reader. More problematic would be the situation that a writer for Londons Daily

Mail sees and warns that Diana by marrying into the clan of Al Fayeds would be trading

in one prison, the life-style of the royal family, for something worse, an Arab one

(www.time.com).

22 ,,...romantickho svta v romnech Barbary Cartlandov, v nm se siln muov dvo panenskm

nevstm a lska vtz nade vm. (translated by the author)


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The matter of religion might have become slightly problematic. There appeared some

speculation that, after meeting Dodi, Diana wanted to become a Muslim. But the majority

of experts on Dianas life do not consider this presumable, because a step like this would

not be popular with the British (Dobrovoln 105).

3.3 Dianas Death

That evening she was so happy as I have never seen her before 23 (Richard Kay qtd. in

Bradford 368).

On 20th July Diana returned to London where she met Hasnat Khan to clarify their

situation as far as their relationship was concerned. They really loved each other, but he

was aware of the fact that as Dianas husband he would not be able to reach a high rank in

his occupation and to make his wife financially secure. Two days later Diana left for

Gianni Versaces funeral in Milan, where she comforted her friend Elton John (Bradford

362, Stern 90,Hrom). On 26thJuly she met Dodi in Paris and on 31stJuly they were aboard

Jonikal again and set out for voyage round Corsica and Sardinia (Bradford 363). From 8th

to 11thAugust Diana managed to lead the campaign against the land mines in Bosnia with

Bill Deeds. It was her last trip as Charity Queen and Queen of Hearts (www.princess-

diana.com). When she returned to Dodi, they were still disturbed by paparazzi. But in

some cases they were Diana and Dodi themselves who informed them.(Bradford 364-365)

During the trip to Monte Carlo they visited the jewellery Repossi, where they chose a ring

from the set called Tell Me Yes. According to Mohamed Fayed, Dodi gave Diana this

engagement ring after. From that time, the whole flotilla of boats with paparazzi was

chasing them, some of them even in helicopters. They were still trying to get aboard,

which perturbed Diana and especially Dodi, who was not used to such a situation

(Bradford 366). When they got to Paris, paparazzi on their motorcycles had already been

waiting for them, shouting, so Dodi decided not to visit the Chez Benoit restaurant, where

they had already booked the table. Instead they had their dinner at the Ritz hotel.

Nevertheless, the paparazzi had been waiting there as well (Bradford 368).

23,,V ten veer byla tak astn, jak jsem ji jet nikdy nevidl.(translated by the author)


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They wanted to spend the night in the flat in Rue Arsene Houssaye, so, after dinner Dodi,in

his effort to confuse the paparazzi, arranged evading tactics with the hotel staff (see

appendix A1):

...a chauffeur drove his limousine from the main entrance, turned roundafter a few kilometres and returned back to the hotel. And yes, the

photographers followed on their motorbikes. Yet they soon realised thatsomething was afoot, and remained on the hotel forecourt. At 19 minutes

past midnight Diana and Dodi were ready to go. They chose the back exitwhich led out on to the narrow street Rue Cambon (www.princess-diana.com).

Dodi manifestly wished Henri Paul, the second security man at the hotel, for a driver,although his regular chauffeur was Philippe Dourneau (www.princess-diana.com, Bradford

369). Dodi trusted him (www.coverups.com/diana), but as the Ritz staff members

suggest, it was Paul who persuaded Dodi to let him drive and do what he thought he did

best: to shield the couple from the paparazzi(www.coverups.com/diana). But there is also

some unnamed witnesses evidence, who, according to France-Soir daily, claimed that it

was Henri Paul who forced the original driver out in the last moment (Dobrovolny 86).

Dodis bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones sat in the front seat, Diana behind him and Dodi next

to her:

He wanted to outdrive the paparazzi under all conditions...He drovefaster and faster. Henri Paul took the fast road at the harbour of the riverSeine, raced then into the tunnel under the Place de Alma. The speedlimit is 80 kilometres, he drove a full 180. Shortly after the entrance tothe tunnel he completely lost the control of the heavy car. The carskidded, lurched from side to side and finally crashed at high speed into

the 13th

concrete post! An explosion happened on impact. It was exactly0:25. The driver was dead at the scene (www.princess-diana.com).

And so was Dodi. Diana was still breathing when Dr. Frdric Maillez,who was by chance

driving on the opposite traffic lane, saw the car accident and stopped his car:

I went to the wreckage to see what was going on inside, says Maillez,who tended to the seriously injured princess after the crash.I can tell youher face was still beautiful. She didnt have any injuries, main injury on

her face. She was unconscious. She didnt speak at all(www.cbsnews.com).


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The last Dr. Maillezs sentence does not correspond with the information that appeared in

Le Parisien daily. According to this newspaper, dying Diana still repeated her last words

Leave me alone and Oh, my God(Dobrovoln 82).

Dr. Maillez laid an oxygen mask over the unconscious Princesss mouth and tried to free

her air passages. After arrival of the ambulance, Dr. Jan-Marc Martino took care of her.

But the car had to be first cut open using metal shears, so it took almost an hour to get

victims out of the wreck.(Bradford 372, www.princess-diana.com) During the way to the

hospital La Piti-Salpetrire the ambulance had to stop because of Dianas condition. She

went through two heart attacks, her blood pressure dropped dangerously. Daniel Eyraud,

member of the vascular surgery team, explained:Her blood pressure was very low, but herheart was still beating.( In Gregory, MartynDiana: The Last Days, 74 In: Bradford 373).

At half past one in the morning Diana came into the La Piti-Salpetrire hospital:

emergency operation. The surgeons opened her ribcage and discovered a torn vein.

Massive inner bleeding! They managed to close the vein. But suddenly her heart stopped.

The medics tried to bring the Princess back to life using heart massage. The fight lasted

until shortly before four oclock in the morning. Then the doctors had to agree that they

had lost the fight (www.princess-diana.com).

3.4 Dianas Funeral

After Prince Charles and Dianas sisters reached Paris, they found Diana in her death to be

calm and serene. She had a black dress on and the shoes from Lady Jay, her hair freshly

neated with a hair dryer and in her hand the rosary that Mother Theresa had donated

her.(Bradford 377)In the interview with the author on 3rdMarch 2004 Colin Tebbut whoaccompanied them together with Paul Burrell remembered that Dianas sister, Lady Sarah

McCorquodal had intended to organize just a modest private funeral in Althorp. But then

while accompaning Dianas coffin on A40 they saw thousands of people along the road

clapping their hands and Sarah shouted:This will not be a quiet funeral!(Bradford 377)

Meanwhile, Dianas body is expected at home:

In the afternoon of 31st

August 1997 a BA146 from the Royal Squadronbrought Dianas corpse back to Great Britain: The aircraft lands at Nor-folk airport. Prime minister Tony Blair is among those who are waiting.


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The coffin is draped with the royal flag. At midnight the coffin lays instate in the Royal Chapel in St. James Palace (www.princess-diana.com).

And the Dianas funeral really was not a modest one. It became the best exhibition of thesolemn royal ceremony(Bradford 381) It was precisely organized from the very beginning

to the end by the Palace. The whole arrangement proceeded from the preliminary proposi-

tion of the official funeral for Queen Mother. According to the polices advice, the route of

the funeral had to be lenghtened because of the amount of the onlooking people (Bradford

381).

At 6.00 p.m. on Friday, 5thSeptember, the Queen Elizabeth spoke to the nation live from

the Chinese Dining Room at Buckingham Palace (see appendix A2).This funeral speech is

maybe the most personal one the Queen gave. It was written by Dianas brother-in-law, Sir

Robert Fellowes. Downing Street just added the formulation what I say to you now as a

grandmother (Bradford 381).

On Saturday of 6th August 1997 more than one million people came to London to say go-

odbye to their adored Princess Diana:

When at 9.08 the bells of Westminster Abbey chimed, Dianas coffin onthe horse-drawned carriage left the gates of Kensington Palace. The cof-fin was covered with the royal standard and up there were three

bouquets:white tulips from William, the bunch of lilies from CharlesSpencer and the most touchy bouquet of Dianas favourite white roseswith a simple label entitled by Harrys twelve-year handwriting tomummy 24(Bradford 382).

The burial service (see appendix A3) was held in Westminster Abbey where about two

thousand people gathered. Not only the statesmen and celebrities, but many of them con-

nected with Dianas charitable activity. As Richard Kay noticed, Dianas life was so im-

mensely divided that these people did not know each other (Bradford 382).

24,,Kdy se v 9.08 rozezvuely zvony Westminsterskho opatstv, vyjela z bran Kensingtonskho palce

Dianina rakev na voze taenm komi. Zahalili ji do krlovsk standarty a nahoru poloili ti kytice: bl

tulipny od Williama, kvtenstv lili od Charlese Spencera a ze veho nejdojemnj pugt Dianinch obl-

bench blch r s prostm lstkem, na nj Harry nadepsal svou dvanctiletou rukou mamin-

ce.(translated by the author)

But maybe the most moving was Charles Spencers funeral oration (see appendix A4),

where he accused the journalists of having blood on their hands, and the song Goodbye


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Englands rose by Elton John that was in fact new arrangement of the original requiem

Candle in the Wind written for Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) whom Diana had admi-

red and who died at the same age as Diana did.


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4 MYTH OR REALITY?

4.1 Searching for the Culprit

In the book Diana,In Pursuit of Loveby Andrew Morton Prince Charles quite accurately

summed up the situation when he said:Everyone will blame myself for it, wont they? 25

(Bradford 375)

Because people did not want to reconcile with Dianas death, quite logically, since her

death many questions have been asked. Some of them apparently pointless, some of them

fundamental ones. There were also discrepancies, which became the breeding ground for

distrust, suspicion and conspiracy theories.

To start from technical issues, there were some inaccuracies as far as the type of the win-

dows of the car and its speed are concerned. The speed of the Mercedes entering the tunnel

was too high. But it is quite surprising, how the sources differ:

180 kmph(www.princess-diana.com)

118-155 kmph(Bradford 370)

100 kmph(www.princess-diana.com)

196 kmph(Dobrovolny 82)

160-180 kmph(Hrom)

121 mph(www.londonnet.co.uk)

60-80 mph(www.coverups.com/diana)

Instead of Mercedes 600, the second-hand one S-280 without smoke-tinted windows was

chosen, although some of press photographers used just smoke-tinted windows as an

excuse, because to take photos through this type of glass is practically impossible

(Dobrovolny 81). This information is in tune with the Internet source:the windows of

Mercedes were heavily tinted(www.coverups.com/diana).

25Vichni to budou vytat mn, e ano? (translated by the author)


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While the Diana book is not in tune with paparazzi:

Now came the fatal decision not to turn right to Champs lyses, themost direct way to the flat, they would have to stop at the lights at seve-

ral crossroads and so enabled paparazzi to catch up with them and takephotos of the couple through nontinted windows. 26(Bradford 370)

Also the seat belts were dicussed: What saved Trevor Rees-Joness life except of the air-

bag, is the fact that he, as the only one, was wearing seat belts.According to some opi-

nions, those ones could safe also Princess Dianas life 27(Richard Cuerden, professor of

Birmingham University qtd. in Dobrovoln 84).

InDianabook there is the information that none of them had fastened the seat belts (Brad-

ford 370) and in Hrom magazine that Trevor Rees-Jones was miracuously saved thanks to

airbag at the front seat and the fastened seat belts (Hrom, 23rdSeptember 1997).

Recently, on TV channels and on internet pages results from French investigators have

been published, even the interview with Rees-Jones. Here are some of them:

LONDON (CNN) The bodyguard who survived the crash that killedPrincess Diana and two others strapped on his seat belt moments beforethe accident, French investigators said....A study of pictures taken by

photographers during the course of the night showed that Trevor Rees-Jones did not wear seat belts when the Mercedes left the Paris Ritz hotelon the night in question. But later pictures showed Rees-Jones wearingthe belts shortly before the August 31 crash, which also killed Dianascompanion Dodi Fayed and the driver of the car. Police believe the last-minute action saved his life. None of the other occupants of the car werewearing seat belts.(www.cnn.com)

But quite different is the Operation Pagets view:

None of the seat belts were being worn at the time of the impact, includ-

ing that of Trevor Rees-Jones. From the nature of marks found on hisseat belt, it is considered unlikely that he was even in the process of at-tempting to put it on at all at time of the crash.( Operation Paget Reportqtd. in en.wikipedia.org).

26,,Nyn pilo osudn rozhodnut neodboit doprava na Champs lyses, nejpmj cestu k bytu;museli by toti zastavit na nkolika svtelnch kiovatkch, m by paparazzim vzaduumonili, aby je dojeli a fotografovali dvojici pes netnovan skla.(translated by the author)

27,,Trevora Rees-Jonese zachrnila krom airbagu skutenost, e jako jedin ml zapnut bezpenostnpsy. Ty podle nkterch nzor mohly zachrnit ivot i Dian.(translated by the author)


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Finally also Trevor Rees-Jones via his book:I think Ive been told that I wasnt wearing a

seatbelt. I assume thats been misreported, that the airbag must have saved me on the ini-

tial impact, but then my face and chest hit the dashboard when the car was pushed

around.(Trevor Rees-Jones Tells The Bodyguards Story qtd. in http://en.wikipedia.org)

Armouring of the car was also discussed, because the opinions on this matter differ.On the

basis of compurer reconstruction, professor Cuerden is persuaded, on the contrary of the

declaration of the Ritz, that Mercedes was not armoured (Dobrovolny 84). But in the ar-

ticle Diana was fighting for her life..it says that the irony is that the armoured bonnet,

which should have saved travellers in the car, became a prison instead, where Diana was

kept more than an hour (Hrom, Sept 23rd).

Finally, on the Internet pages there appeared a report about the examining of the car:

48 Hours took a similar model Mercedes and the analysis contained inthe French report to Murray MacKay, one of Europes most prominentvehicle-safety experts. MacKay says French investigators examined eve-ry component of the crashed Mercedes, particularly the brakes, to deter-mine if either a mechanical failure or deadly tampering caused the acci-dent. I think they did a very thorough job, says MacKay. There wasnothing wrong with the car at all the driver was drunk. He was goingexcessively fast and couldnt cope. (www.cbsnews.com,8.4.2008)

It is obvious that just before the car crash there must have been present another car, which

the Mercedes were overtaking. In the book The Death of Princessit was not clear yet, what

type of car was present there in the tunnel just before the car crash:According to the last

police report , Paul did not manage the high speed while trying to overtake a slowly driv-

ing Peugeot 205.(Dobrovolny 86) While in Dianais already mentioned Fiat Uno:...Paul

was overtaking the white Fiat Uno, driving much more slowly in the right taffic

lane(Bradford 370).

And also in The Final Reportfrom 26thOctober 1998 is mentioned this type of car:

The investigators also discovered the remains of an indicator cover. Theanalysis of this, just like that of the traces of paint on the Mercedes re-vealed that the car in question was a white Fiat built between 1983 and1987. Eyewitnesses had also mentioned this vehicle. Although 3000 Unodrivers were laboriously scrutinized the car to this day has still not beenfound. The driver was primarily sought as a witness, but he would also

have to explain his reasons for leaving the scene of an acci-dent.(www.princess-diana.com)


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In CBS News edition of 48 Hours Investigates in April 2004 there was broadcast a one-

hour report on Princess Diana that addresses the circumstances surrounding her death al-

most seven years ago. Identity of Fiat Uno was discussed, too:

Was this the same Fiat Uno that was sideswiped by the Mercedes in thetunnel the night Diana died?

It was our investigators, not the French police, who found the Fiat Uno.It was found in a garage in Paris and traced to paparazzi named JamesAndanson, says John McNamara, Al Fayeds former security chief, onthe Al Fayed documentary.Al Fayed and McNamara are convinced thatsome of the paparazzi, and possibly the driver of the white Fiat Uno,were MI-6 agents whose mission was to stop the announcement of the

forthcoming engagement.(www.cbsnews.com)

But maybe the most arguable question remains the presence of 41 years old Henri Paul as a

driver. A former officer, owner of the pilot licence, in whose blood there was found from

1.74 to 1.87 grams of alcohol per litre. One of the investigators later gave an account of

Henris drunkenness:he was so drunk, that it must be taken our hat off to him, that he was

actually able to hit the right tunnel, because he had to see several ones 28(Dobrovoln

82).

In the article Diana:Secret Documents Revealed we can find some information that

appeared during the investigation of this case:

One claim that Al Fayed has made is that Paul wasnt drunk at all that night but that the

French switched the blood samples either by accident or on purpose..

48 Hoursprovided the forensic data from the French dossier to Dr. Robert Forrest, one of

Englands leading forensic toxicologists, to see if he could find any evidence of a mistake

or a cover-up:This is the first time I have seen these data and it has been absolutely-

fascinating,saysForrestThe dossier documents that multiple tests were conducted on blood, hairand tissue. Pauls body was also photographed and identified by an ankletag, #2147 the same number listed on the samples.

28Byl tak opil, e je ped nm teba smeknout, e se vbec trefil do sprvnho tunelu, protoe jich muselvidt nkolik.(translated by the author)

There is nothing in the trail of evidence, which suggests there is any-thing funny about the way in which the samples have been taken, says


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Forrest, who adds he didnt see any sign of a conspiracy.

Not only do the tests indicate three times the legal limit of alcohol inPauls system at the time of the accident, Forrest says, they also indicate

an alarming amount of various prescription drugs: Let me put it thisway. If I knew that I was going to be driven by someone in that conditi-on, I would not get into the car with them. No way.(http://www.cbsnews.com)

Such amount of alcohol means, that he must have drunk either eight snorters of hard al-

cohol or one and a half liter of wine (Dobrovoln 82). According to safety camera record,

Paul did not look like a drunker, although this record could have been rearranged. And

whats more, Dodis personal bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who had dinner commonly

with Paul, would not let him drive a car, if he was in such a state (Dobrovoln 84-86).

And the opinions about Pauls state differ again:

One of the last things that Trevor Rees-Jones, the bodyguard who survi-ved the tunnel crash, remembers, is that he, too, considered Paul to be

perfectly sober and fit to drive. Paul was qualified to drive the Mercedes280-S. He had been to Germany on two occasions, taking the DaimlerBenz special driving courses, which he passed with flying colors.Friends, co-workers, and relatives universally disputed the media at-tempts to portray Paul as a sullen, depressed alcoholic: Further, Paul had

gone for his annual physical exam, to qualify for renewal of his pilot's li-cense 48 hours before the crash. He not only passed the physical exam.According to the Doctor who administered the exam, there were no signsof any damage to Paul's liver, a usual sure-fire sign of alcoholism. TheFrench autopsy report also confirmed that Paul's liver was healthy at thetime of his death. (nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com, 8.4.2008)

Anyway, even if Paul was sober, in spite of the medical tests, the speed of the car was too

high. So, why Dodid bodyguard did not order him to slow down? If he did it, just Dodi

alone could upset his order, which could explain the fact, that Rees-Jones fastened his se-atbelts. For bodyguards usually are not used to do it, in case that something wrong happe-

ned (Dobrovoln 86).

In Bleskmagazine from 16thJune 2005 was published, which says according to British

Daily Expressthe investigators found out, that a week before this tragical accident in cor-

version almost four million crowns were credited to Pauls account....and that at the end of

the year 2004, the former agent of British security service MI6 admitted, that Henri Paul

in fact was a member of the security service, too( The Death of Lady Di).


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The question remains whether Paul was really given some money and whether he had any-

thing in common with the security service:

But the French dossier still raises questions, especially about Paul, thedriver who was also chief of security for Mohamed Al Fayeds Ritz Ho-tel. We found documents that reveal a number of significant bank depo-sits in French francs made by Paul, beginning nine months before thecrash. French investigators were unable to pinpoint the exact source ofthe mysterious money, but the dossier reveals that they searched Paulshome and office, interviewed his friends and associates, and analyzed his

phone records. They found no evidence of a conspiracy even thoughthere was a theory that Paul was a security services informant

(www.cbsnews.com, 8.4.2008).

Another arguable question is the fault of paparazzi:

After their arrival, the police supposed that the photographers chasing thecar became the direct cause of the tragical accident; they arrested sevenof them and finally accused them of manslaughter and of failure to renderassistance. They confiscated their cameras, but after processing film be-came apparent, that paparazzi had not taken any of the photographs befo-re the arrival at the place where the accident happened 29( Bradford 373).

But on 8th April 2008, there was printed a photograph on the internet pages

http://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com, which demonstrates that the driver was dazzled

(see appendix A5).

On The Timesinternet pages there is released the evidence of the arrested paparazzi in the

article Paparazzi questioned after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. (see appendix

A6).

29,,Policie po pjezdu pedpokldala, e se fotografov pi pronsledovn vozu stali pmou pinou tra-

gick nehody. Sedm z nich zatkli a poslze je obvinili z nemyslnho zabit a neposkytnut pomoci. Zkon-

fiskovali mum fotoaparty, ale po vyvoln film vylo najevo, e paparazziov nepodili dnou z foto-

grafi ped pjezdem na msto, kde dolo k havrii. (translated by the author)

4.2 Cospiracy Theories

Princess Dianas letter, where she accused Charles of his intention to kill her, has becomethe basis of many conspiracy theories. Diana wrote it several weeks before her death.


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On the basis of this information Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodis father, is persuaded that his

son and Princess Diana were murdered by MI6 on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh,

Dianas former father in law, Prince Philip. In this connection, also Prince Charles was

named and was questioned by the Metropolitan Police in 2005 (www.timesonline.co.uk,

en.wikipedia.org). And whats more, Mohamed Al Fayed claims, that Diana was killed

being pregnant and he considers this fact to be one of the main reasons for her murder,

because the royal family would allegedly not admit to accept a Muslim as the future

Kings stepbrother or stepsister. He even gave evidence in court that he is the only one

who knows this information, because it was Diana herself who familiarized him with this

shortly before her death (www.timesonline.co.uk, www.novinky.cz).

The tabloid article The last secret of Lady Dianainformed about Dianas pregnancy, too. It

said that on the official paper entitled Assistence Publique-Hopitaux de Paris by profes-

sor Pierre Coriat, who took part in Dianas operation, adressed to the British Home Secre-

tary Jean-Pierre Chevnement was confirmed that according to the blood tests of Diana

Frances Spencer and also her postmortem examination is clear that she was in the ninth or

tenth week of pregnancy (Blesk,16.2.1998).

But not only Mohamed Al Fayed is the source of the conspiracy theories.

There has also appeared the statement by the former secret MI6 agent Richard Tomlison

who gave evidence that he had seen the plans that described intentional causing of the

crash in tunnel. Those were plans according to former Yugoslavian president Slobodan

Milosevic should have been murdered in the one of tunnels in Geneva in

1992(www.novinky.cz).The way MI6 is alleged to have planned to kill him in 1992, was

the same way as Princess Diana died in 1997(www.fantompowa.net).

This theory could have emerged in connection with Dianas activity as far as the abolition

of land mines is concerned. But there are still some theories that seemed to be quite ab-

surd:

The first Diana conspiracy site appeared on the Internet in Australia onlyhours after her death on August 31st, 1997. Since then an estimated36,000 Diana conspiracy websites have been set up breathtaking byanyones standards. Hypotheses range from pure James Bond (it was all

an MI6 plot to protect the monarchy) to farce (it was fiendish murderplot thought up by the worlds florists to sell lots of flowers). And mostpopular of all, Diana, Princess of Wales, isnt dead after all that terrible


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car crash in Paris was an elaborate hoax to enable the Princess and herboyfriend, Dodi Fayed, to fake their own deaths so that they could live inblissful isolation for the rest of their lives (New Headway, Upper-Intermediate, Students Book, Oxford 2005).

In the article 12 things weve learnt from the Diana inquestpublished in The Timeson

March 19th, 2008 there are answered some of the questions (see appendix A7).

And finally in the article Diana death conspiracy thrown out by coroner by AlanHamilton in The Timesfrom April 1st,2008 is affirmed:

The decade-long conspiracy theory that Diana, Princess of Wales, andDodi Fayed were murdered by MI6 on the orders of the Duke ofEdinburgh was finally and comprehensively dismissed yesterday. In alandmark day in the six-month inquests, the coroner told the jury that

there was no evidence to support claims by Mohamed Al Fayed that thecouple were killed in an Establishment plot. Summing up after hearingmore than 250 witnesses, Lord Justice Scott Baker said that the Harrodsowners claims were so manifestly without foundation that even hislawyer was no longer pursuing them. The hearings had heard not a shredof evidence to support them, he added. The coroner ruled that it was notopen to the jury to find that the deaths were the result of an unlawfulkilling by the Duke of Edinburgh or anyone else in a staged accident.Their options for verdicts were unlawful killing by the gross negligenceof Henri Paul, the driver, the negligent driving of pursuing vehicles, acombination of both, accidental death, or an open verdict(www.timesonline.co.uk)

4.3 Myth or Reality?

If anybody dies, there is always the tendency to present him or her to his or her best

advantage.

But still there was something about Diana that the reporter of Sunday Times, Christina

Lamb, in the book by Brian Mac ArthurRequiem:Diana, Princess ofWales called aura.

She accompanied Diana during their journey in Angola with the Red Cross organization,

where they were attending the patients who were suffering from very serious injuries

because of land mines:

But Diana never turned her head away. Actualy, she was surrounded bysomething that I had seen about Nelson Mandela before a kind of aura,thanks to one people wanted to be with her. She had entirely sincere gift,the ability coming from heart: she managed to bring the will to the

people who, from our point of view, were left just a few reasons forliving30 (Bradford 341-342).


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Sometimes there were some doubts and speculations about Dianas behaviour in public,

especially when the media were present. Now here is the tangible evidence of her sincere

attitude and empathy.What this lady was performing, was not determined just for

cameras says Christina Lamb and remembers the situation, when, while attending another

hospital and at the time when all the photographers had already left for their air-

conditioned hotel rooms, she was watching Diana who did not notice at all if somebody

connected with newspaper was present. Diana was sitting by the small girl who had

suffered serious injury of digestive tract.She was sitting by her the lifetime. When Diana

finally left, this small girl suffering from acute pain, asked me if that beautiful lady had

been an angel(Bradford 343).

Maybe the reason for Dianas empathy and sympathetic feeling was her experience when

she, just six years old, took care of her three-year-old brother at the time when their mother

was forced to leave them and the children stayed by their father. Andrew Morton describes

one of the saddest Dianas experiences:

Diana Spencer sat quietly at the bottom of the cold stone stairs at herNorfolk home, clutching the wrought-iron banisters while all around herthere was a determined bustle. She could hear her father loading

suitcases into the boot of a car, then Frances, her mother, crunchingacross the gravel forecourt, the clunk of the car door being shut and thesound of a car engine starting up and then slowly fading as her motherdrove through the gates of Park House and out of her life. Diana was sixyears old (Diana: Her True Story 9).

According to the fact that Diana was able to revive her feelings after twenty-five years this

experience really could influence the whole her life, the same as her feeling of a spare

child:I was supposed to be a boy (Diana qtd. in Morton 9) she formulated her parents

30Ale Diana nikdy neodvrtila hlavu. Vlastn ji obklopovalo nco, co jsem ped tm vidla jen u Nelsona

Mandely jaksi aura, dky n s n lid chlli bt. Mla naprosto pirozen dar, schopnost pramenc od

srdce: dokzala pinet nadji lidem, kterm z naeho pohledu zbvalo jen mlo dvod k it.(translated

by the author)

dissapointment. But also she held herself responsible for her mothers leaving them. An-

drew Morton explains:Diana certainly caught the pitch of the familys frustration, and,

believing that she was a nuisance, she accepted a corresponding load of guilt and failure

for disappointing her parents and family, feeling she has now learned to accept and reco-

gnize (Diana:Her True Story10).


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In Diana: Her True Story Morton also remembers Dianas sad experience that she had to

go through quite often at that time:

Every night as she lay in her bed, surrounded by her cuddly toys, shecould hear her brother sobbing, crying for his mother. Sometimes shewent to him, sometimes her fear of the dark overcame her maternal in-stincts and she stayed in her room listening as Charles wailed:I want mymummy, I want my mummy.Then she too would bury her head in the

pillow and weep.I just couldnt bear it, she recalls.I could never pluckup enough courage to get out of bed. I remember it to this day(Dianaqtd. in Morton 19).

The behaviour of her parents has contributed to Dianas behaviour to a large extent.

Maybe that is why she was also supercilious, crafty and deceitful. There must have beenreason for her nickname Duchess. It was her mothers husband, Peter Shand Kydd who

christianed Diana this nickname for the first time. It was for her sometimes patronizing

attitude (Bradford 36). Later her brother Charles confirmed that Diana as a child had

propensity for lying (Bradford 28). During her adulthood this characteristics emerged in

the situation when she insisted that she had nothing in common with Mortons book. In

this case she even betrayed her brother in law, Sir Robert Fellowess, trust, which

disappointed him and his wife, Dianas sister Jane, because as a consequence of it heexposed himself to ridicule in front of his colleagues and superiors (Bradford 231).

Both parents were so traumatized by a sense of guilt that they were used to spoil their chil-

dren and they did not guide them at all. It was especially Diana who has managed to take

advantage of it and has learned to manipulate with people (Bradford 33).

In the book by Mary ClarkeLittle girl lost: The Troubled Childhood of Princess Diana by

the Woman who Raised Herthe author, who took care of small Diana and her younger bro-

ther describes the situation when Diana refused to visit Prince Andrew and Edward in San-dringham:She asserted that she had a headache and by summoning up an unbending will,

that was characteristic of her, she braved all fathers attempts to persuade her 31 (Bradford

35). Similar incidents happened also later, when she treated her husband the same way

(Bradford 35).

While in Diana we can learn how friendly and close relationship with Charless main

personal secretary Edward Adeane as well as with the others Diana had (Bradford 93),

Nicholas Davies described relationship between Diana and Charless employees in a com-

pletely different way. According to Davies she was able to get rid of the Charless most


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efficient people (Davis 98-113). The interesting thing is that all these people stayed de-

voted to her (Bradford 304). And to introduce more Dianas character features, Davies

describes the situation where Diana used vulgar invectives that she cried at Charles from a

balcony using a scurrilous language. The reason was his hunting that Diana hated.

Charless parents were just waiting for him and he wished Diana to follow him. But she,

already pregnant, desperately wanted him to stay with her (Diana.A Princess and Her

Troubled Marriage 90-95). This information does not correspond with Dianas state-

ment:I remember that I did not want to do anything my own way. Everything was terrify-

ing me. So I did it like Charles did 32(Bradford 93). More likely seems her fathers reac-

tion that Diana always does everything her way (Davies 113).

According to the balcony scene and some of Prince Charless close employees state-

ment Diana seems to have been an unbalanced person. On the other hand, as far as her re-

lationship to her sons and the way she guided them, as well as her foresight and ability to

prepare William for the role of King are considered, she looks like an unbelievably

bright and reasonable woman. Dianas former employee, Meredith Ethering-Smith, in the

interview with the author in the book Diana is admiring Dianas circumspection and is

pointing out that it does not happen too often so that accidentaly taken Williams Photo-graphs appeared somewhere. This is because his friends do not betray him, just

31Tvrdila, e ji bol hlava, a s vynaloenm velice siln vle, kter pro ni byla charakteristick, vzdorovala

vem otcovm pokusm pemluvit ji. (translated by the author)

32

Vzpomnm si, e jsem nechtla dlat vbec nic podle svho. Vechno m hrozn dsilo. Tak jsem todlala jako Charles. (translated by author)

according to Dianas opinion:I think their friends will guard them as well. They will grow

up together and guard each other 33(Diana qtd. in Bradford 347).


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33Myslm, e je ptel budou taky chrnit. Budou spolu vyrstat a navzjem se ochraovat. (transtated by

the author)


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CONCLUSION

Without any doubt, Diana was a controversial and unbalanced figure. Only though we ad-

mit that from her twenty she was under such a pressure that hardly anybody can imagineher situation, nothing can be changed about this fact. On the other hand, her post enabled

her to choose from different possibilities. Fortunately, she, thanks to her strong empathy

and sympathy for those in need, was able to guide her activities the right way, there,

where her help was needed the most. Also, the way she prepared her son for his future

Kings role and how she humanized the Royal Family in front of public is the undenia-

ble contribution, for the Royal Family as well. And when we add the fact that thanks to

media people considered her almost a member of their families with her pros and cons, nowonder all these are satisfactory reasons for worshipping her as an icon. Unfortunately,

because of her husbands character, Dianas worshipping became counter-productive. The

question whether her worse character traits emerged not being treated badly, still remains

unanswered. According to the available sources, Dianas problems with bulimia ended,

when she felt comfortably in her relationship with Dodi. This thesis has also followed in-

vestigations relevant to clarification of the cause of Dianas death and also some conspira-

cy theories. Although, there are many questionable affairs and unnamed witnesses as well

as lies connected with this case, the car crash was officially judged as a banal one.

Not all so