After a decade of rampant speculation and a sensational court case, the judge appointed to the inquest into Diana, Princess of Wales' shocking death will wrap-up everything on Monday and send the jury to decide.
On August 31st, 1997, the world woke up to the devastating news that Britain's Princess Diana was killed in a car crash alongside her love Dodi Al Fayed. What followed was an unprecedented display of worldwide grief. Her funeral was watched by 1/3 of the world's population, her charity single performed by Elton John is the second highest-selling single in world history. Millions of dollars were made off of her image; from random memorabilia to tell-all books by those who knew her best.
Her death was so sudden and shocking, many found a simple car crash too easy to reconcile. She was, of course, the most photographed woman in the world. She had to have been involved in some elaborate scheme that took her life, right?
That was the argument of Mohammed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Al Fayed. He insisted that she was killed by MI5 in an attempt to keep from marrying a Muslim man. Behind the supposed hit? Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen's husband. Along with those allegations, Al Fayed claimed that Diana and Dodi were engaged and she was pregnant.
His allegations along with morbid public curiosity led to an inquest being called two weeks after the Princess's 46th birthday. Led by Lord Scott Baker, the inquest cost about 10 million pounds and has lasted about 9 months. Over 250 witness were called, including Diana's stepmother Raine Spencer, her butler Paul Burrell, and of course, Al Fayed.
What followed was more of a tell-all book than a serious investigation into the loss of one of the most influential women of the 20th century. Details about Diana's love life were revealed in court and splashed across British newspapers, as they were ten years ago. The most scandalous of the testimonies was that of Al Fayed, who raged against the British Royal Family and called Prince Philip a racist Nazi.
Paul Burrell, who released a book in 2002 that blew the lid off of Diana's life, was revealed as a perjurer when The Sun uncovered a video of him admitting to lying. It was also revealed that Burrell took a ring off of her corpse.
After all of the drama, the testimonies have ended and now, the judge will call for the jury to decide: was Diana murdered or was it an accident? After nearly 11 years, it will all come down to this verdict; there will never be an investigation or inquest of this scale, unless someone confesses.
When the jury delivers their verdict, it will hopefully mean that Diana, Princess of Wales will finally receive the peace that has eluded her in both life and death.
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