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The eleven jurors in the inquest into Pricess Diana's death are in Paris to see for themselves the places she last visited and, finally, the scene of the tragic accident at the Pont de l'Alma underpass.
First, they went to the Ritz Hotel, from where the couple set out for their fatal journey just after midnight on August 31, 1997. The Ritz is owned by Mohammed al-Fayed, the father of Diana's last lover Dodi and owner of Harrod's department store in London.
The jurors are to make the journey twice from the hotel to the crash site, once in daylight and once after dark to familiarize themselves with the location and the circumstances of the accident. Traffic through the busy underpass may be temporarily be stopped to enable the jury to walk to the spot where the Mercedes crashed.
Diana’s former bodyguard from 1986 to 1993, Ken Wharfe, said Monday on TODAY that the official inquest into Princess Diana’s death will find no conspiracy as it was all the fault of the couple's security. "These games are the sort that never work," Wharfe said of the security team's attempt to sneak away through the back exit. "What was wrong was the bodyguards failed to communicate with the paparazzi to strike a deal," Wharfe said. "All they wanted was a picture." Wharfe says that it was foolish to try to outrun the paparazzi. Their drunken driver, Henri Paul, who was found to have a blood alcohol content twice the legal limit, eventually crashed the Mercedes into a pillar.
The jurors, who are members of the "ordinary public," and who have vowed not to allow themselves to be influenced by media reports on the case, will also visit the hospital where Diana died in the early hours of August 31, 1997. The inquest is expected to last nearly half a year, during which up to 70 witnesses will be heard. Media speculated that Prince Philip and Diana’s former husband, Prince Charles, are going to be called to testify.
Diana, her lover Dodi al-Fayed and their driver Henri Paul died after the car they were in smashed at high speed into a pillar of the Pont d'Alma tunnel on August 31, 1997. The only survivor of the tragic accident was the couple’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones.
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