- Title: The Diana Conspiracy
- Date: 5th February 2004
- Summary: Ever since her death in 1997, conspiracy theorists have sought to prove that Princess Diana was murdered. One of the most vocal advocates of foul play has been Mohammed Fayed, whose son Dodi died alongside Diana on that fateful day. Fayed said last month he believed the lovers were the victims of an 'absolutely black and white, horrendous murder' and a growing number of the British public seem to agree. Recent polls have indicted that 27% of the population and 85% of readers of a national tabloid believe Diana was murdered. Now, as the inquiry into her death is opened and adjourned, Channel 4's award-winning investigative journalist Martyn Gregory forensically examines the Diana conspiracy. Gregory has obtained new documents from the secretive Paris crash investigation and secured an exclusive TV interview with the head of the French police inquiry. The film also includes an exclusive interview with Diana's close friend Rosa Monckton, investigates the various conspiracy theories and looks at who stands to gain from the perpetuation of certain myths. The myths started even before Diana's funeral. Two days after the crash, French police released blood tests showing Diana's driver, Henri Paul, had been three times over the drink drive limit. Four days later Fayed released video footage that his spokesman claimed showed Paul to be in control of his actions. As one journalist comments, 'In a way, everything you read since does come from that press conference because that was when the Al Fayed version of events was set out. And what he has said subsequently has all been based very much on those key beliefs.' Central to Fayed's version of events was the notion that Diana and Dodi were about to get engaged, that Diana was pregnant with Dodi's child and that the couple had found a suitable place to set up home together. According to Fayed, none of this was tolerable to the Royal family and provided a motive for murder. But Diana's friends recall the days before her death rather differently. One says Diana had 'absolutely no thoughts' of engagement, while another remembers a conversation in which Diana denied she was moving into a house she had viewed with Dodi. As for the alleged pregnancy, Rosa Monckton says 'I know for an absolute fact that she could not have been pregnant' while the mortuary manager present at her post-mortem, speaking for the first time on British TV confirms that Diana was not pregnant. But what of allegations that the crash itself was 'no accident'? The head of the French police investigation dismisses claims from one witness of a mysterious 'flash' before the crash as 'nonsense' while expert opinion sheds new light on the role of the infamous white Fiat Uno. Charges that the French emergency services were somehow deliberately incompetent, both in transferring Diana to hospital and in securing the crash scene are also refuted by expert opinion. Equally, suspicions about a mix-up of the samples taken from Henri Paul's corpse at the French autopsy are robustly refuted. So why have the conspiracy theories persisted? Certainly, as Piers Morgan, editor of The Mirror , puts it 'in terms of circulation, Diana is twice as big since she died as when she was alive'. Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of Al-Quds , recalls that his paper's circulation increased by '25% to 30%' when he ran a story about the allegations of the British Royal Family's plot to murder Diana's unborn Muslim child. But for one man it has become far more personal. Author Tom Bower says this of Mohammed Fayed: 'He had to explain how he had agreed late at night to this madcap scheme to take her out the back door with a drunken driver in a rented car at ludicrous speed across Paris. There's so much for him to explain...' At the heart of the film is a revelation about the security lapses, that allowed Princess Diana to be driven to a high-speed death by a driver unqualified to be a chauffeur who turned out to be taking prescription drugs.
- Description:Uncovering the final truth about the circumstances of Diana's death and revealing the way in which certain myths surrounding her death have been constructed along the way. Pegged to her inquest?
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Mentorn Media Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:05/02/2004
- Rights:Worldwide
- Decade: 2000s