French investigators determined that the crash was caused by Henri Paul, who was driving the Mercedes in which Diana and Dodi Fayed were riding. Multiple tests of Paul's blood showed that he was legally drunk and taking antidepressants at the time of the crash. The French courts ruled that the crash was caused by Paul's intoxicated state and the speed at which he was driving.
But even those findings were called into question this week when British police raised doubts about the authenticity of the blood sample used by French investigators to draw their conclusions. In a published report in The Times of London, police expressed "high-level concerns" that Paul's blood could have been mixed up with another sample in a laboratory or at the mortuary where his body was taken.
Police said they were concerned because the sample tested contained extremely high levels of carbon monoxide that could have rendered Paul incapable of walking, much less driving. The Times said police were also concerned that no DNA test was ever conducted to prove that the sample tested was actually Paul's blood.
However, French police inspector Jean-Claude Mules insisted there was no mistake about the blood sample or the tests. "We are very serious people and no errors are allowed," he told reporters. But Fayed's father, Mohammed Al Fayed, and Paul's parents have repeatedly questioned the results of the blood tests, pointing to the high carbon monoxide level.
An expert testified in French court in 1999 that the carbon monoxide level was due to Paul inhaling gas from the car's air bags.
More Conspiracy Theories
But conspiracy theories continue to abound in the case -- with everyone from members of the Royal Family to intelligence agencies being accused of having something to do with the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed.Recently another British newspaper released a letter she wrote to her butler Paul Burrell 10 months before her death in which she accused Prince Charles of plotting her death in a car crash so he could marry his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. This week Charles told aides a fresh probe into Princess Diana's death will clear him entirely and show that she was "potty" to suggest he wanted her killed.
A photo of the letter was printed in The Daily Mirror. It said, "This particular phase of my life is the most dangerous — my husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry." The note was handwritten on Kensington Palace stationery.
Also recently, it was reported that blood tests showed that Diana was pregnant at the time of her death, but a report in the Mirror's "The People" magazine claims a "confidential dossier compiled by five experts" proves blood and urine tests could not be relied upon to determine whether or not Diana was pregnant at the time of her death because her body was "partially embalmed" before her UK post mortem examination, a fact that "contaminated her corpse with chemicals to such an extent that an accurate pregnancy test was impossible," the magazine said.
The report will not stop claims from conspiracy theorists that the Princess was pregnant when she died and was murdered to cover up the scandal. Nor will it stop the British tabloid press from continuing to come up with even more conspiracies.
