Death of a Princess Read online

  DUTTON

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  Previously published as a St. Martin’s hardcover, 1998

  First ebook printing, July 2017

  ISBN: 978-1-5247-4248-5

  Copyright © 1998 by Tom Sancton and Scott MacLeod

  Updated material copyright © 2017 by Tom Sancton

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  Version_1

  For Sylvaine and Susan

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition

  Foreword

  1No Escape

  2Fighting for Life

  3Postmortems

  4Parallel Lives

  5Dodi

  6The Pharaoh of Knightsbridge

  7St. Tropez

  8The Kiss

  9The Last Day

  10The Driver

  11The Paparazzi

  12The Investigators

  13In Search of Lost Memories

  14Skidmarks and Debris

  15Was It Murder?

  Epilogue

  Postscript

  About the Authors

  PREFACE TO THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

  This book, originally published in February 1998, was an instant New York Times and international bestseller. Translated into eleven languages, it was hailed by some as “the definitive book” on Princess Diana’s tragic end. Unlike much of the sensationalist press stories of the time, ours was a methodical and objective reporting job that contained a wealth of information but passed no definitive judgments. Though Scott MacLeod and I made it clear that we did not personally buy into the notion that Diana and Dodi Fayed were the victims of an assassination plot, we laid out the facts and invited the readers to draw their own conclusions.

  Subsequent events and more recent information, including the final reports of the French investigation and the British inquest, have helped complete the picture and led us to modify certain points—particularly concerning Diana’s medical treatment and actual cause of death—as will be detailed in the Postscript. But the original book remains a historical document that is presented here exactly as it was published in 1998. Now that the passions have cooled and the breathless headlines of the moment have receded into the distant past, it is perhaps time to revisit the sad but fascinating story about a beautiful Princess who died too young but will forever remain a legend.

  Tom Sancton, April 2017

  Foreword

  On the Place de l’Alma in Paris, there is a statue of a golden flame. It is a replica of the torch held by the Statue of Liberty. But it has taken on a different and powerful meaning for Parisians since Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed * died in a car crash in the Alma tunnel in the early morning hours of August 31, 1997. The flame is now the focal point of a Diana cult, its base piled high with cellophane-wrapped flowers, and plastered with scrawled messages such as “Farewell, England’s Rose,” and “Diana, you gave meaning to my life.”

  When a princess dies, and an enthralling one at that, the circumstances of her life and death take on a mythical quality in the popular mind. So it has been with Diana, Princess of Wales. Already she has become the stuff of legend. Some conspiracy theorists say she was the victim of a plot by Britain’s MI-6 secret service, destined to prevent the embarrassment of her marriage to an Arab Muslim. Others believe Diana was hounded to her death by a rapacious band of paparazzi, ironically falling victim to the very personality cult she had tried so hard to promote when it suited her needs. Still others say the whole thing was the result of the random chain of improvisations and stupidities that put Diana in the back of a car driven at excessive speed by an improperly licensed driver high on a lethal cocktail of booze and antidepressants.

  Myths don’t interest the hardworking French investigators assigned to the case. Their job is to find the truth in shards of glass, flecks of paint, stacks of depositions, and in the noncommittal physics of trajectory, velocity, and momentum. This book similarly seeks to get at the truth, partly through the same investigative and scientific methods as the French magistrates and detectives, but also by delving into the broader story of how Diana came to be in the car that night with Emad “Dodi” Fayed, sometime Hollywood producer and son of the controversial Egyptian-born tycoon Mohammed Al Fayed.

  The more the authors dug into that side of the story, the more they realized that the caricaturish view of Dodi as a superficial playboy, macho womanizer, and cocaine-sniffing deadbeat had missed the essential fact that drew Diana into his arms: an alluring human warmth and fragility rooted in a childhood filled with vast material wealth but also much loneliness and melancholy.

  And behind Dodi stood Mohammed Al Fayed, the larger-than-life father who deeply loved his son but had often neglected him as a child and dominated him as an adult. Mohammed wanted the best for his son, and actively encouraged his budding romance with Diana. Did he cynically play the matchmaker, as many critics charged, in order to wreak his revenge on the British Establishment that had snubbed him? Or did he merely promote his son’s pursuit of happiness at the side of a young woman with whom he had maintained an avuncular relationship and whose late father had counted among his friends.

  All those questions mesh with the grittier police-blotter aspects of the case to produce an investigation, in the broadest sense of the term, into the circumstances that led to the death of a princess in the Alma tunnel. Working in parallel—with Sancton reporting the French side and MacLeod focusing on the Fayed aspects—the authors have sought to weave their findings into a single, coherent work.

  Both authors had been following the case virtually nonstop since 1:30 A.M. on August 31, when MacLeod, who lives only blocks away from the accident site, arrived on the scene with a notebook and a pair of binoculars. Sancton, woken up at 2:00 A.M. by a call from Time’s newsdesk in New York, worked the phones from his suburban Paris home. The results of that reporting went into the crash cover story that the magazine’s far-flung staff produced in a mere twelve hours for an edition that hit the streets on Monday, September 1.

  Over the next few weeks, the authors teamed up on several major follow-up stories in Time, then embarked on this independent book project in early October. The authors consulted thousands of pages of documents, books, and press stories, and interviewed scores of witnesses, lawyers, medical experts, automotive engineers, investigators, and associates of Dodi and Diana in Britain, France, Egypt, and the U.S. It is thus hoped that the book you are holding in your hands is the most authoritative account to date of the events surrounding the tragedy.

  * * *

  As far as possible, we have identified our sources directly in the text, using footnotes to amplify on certain points or add explanatory information. Inevitabl
y, on a story like this one, many people requested anonymity and have therefore not been named. A number of eyewitnesses who gave their accounts to investigators are identified only by their first names and last initial. Despite a conscientious effort to contact all these witnesses directly, only a relatively small number accepted to be interviewed and quoted by name.

  French medical sources presented a special problem: it is against French law, and rigorously prohibited by the Ordre des Médecins, the powerful professional association, for any physician to discuss details of doctor-patient relationships—even where the patient is not his own. As a result, it was impossible to find a single French doctor who would accept to go on the record discussing any aspect of Diana’s treatment, or even to discuss in general terms the nature of the internal injuries that ultimately killed her. So strict is the gag rule on publishing medical details that the Ordre des Médecins even sent a stern letter of reprimand to the director of Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital for issuing a terse, five-sentence communiqué on Diana’s cause of death!

  Several French doctors were extremely helpful in elucidating these matters, and the details of French emergency medical procedures, but would only do so under the cloak of anonymity for fear of legal and professional sanctions. For this reason, the only medical experts who would go on the record were American physicians, whose information, combined with the anonymous French medical input, led to some stunning conclusions about Diana’s treatment and raised the explosive question of whether her life could have been saved.

  The book’s medical findings may be shocking to many readers, and can be expected to unleash heated polemics in France. It was not the authors’ purpose to open a finger-pointing debate or attack the excellent French medical system. Lest any French medical professional take umbrage at our conclusions, and suspect they are motivated by some nationalistic crusade against procedures that differ from standard American practice, it must be stressed here that such was not the authors’ intention. If no French voices were willing to speak up in defense of French emergency medicine, it is not the fault of the journalists who wrote this book and made every conscientious effort to include those voices.

  * * *

  A few practical words are in order about the presentation of measurements, currencies, and hours. In many cases, measures have been converted from the metric system to the English system for the benefit of English-language readers. This has not been done in the case of precise scientific or technical measurements, but the reader who is so inclined can easily make the conversions himself (1 km.=0.62 miles; 1 m.=39.37 in.; 1 cm.=0.39 in.; 1 kg.=2.2 lb.; 1 g.=0.035 oz.; 1 liter=1.057 quarts; 1 cl.=0.338 fl. oz.; 1 metric ton=1.1 U.S./U.K. tons, etc.). Monetary amounts have been given variously in dollars, pounds sterling, and French francs, using the rough conversion rate of $1=£0.62=FF 5.5. Times have mostly been given using the French hour, which is one hour ahead of British standard time and, during the summer season when the accident took place, two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

  * * *

  In addition to the sources named (and unnamed) in the text, the authors wish to extend their thanks to the many people who contributed in various ways to make this project possible. Thanks first of all to Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief Norman Pearlstine, Time Managing Editor Walter Isaacson, and Deputy Managing Editor James Kelly for their encouragement and for granting us the time to undertake this book.

  Particular thanks are owed to our research assistants in France, Elizabeth Angell and Elisa Dethomas, whose hard work in helping report and fact-check was invaluable., We were greatly helped by the efforts of Patricia Strathern in Paris, who pitched in with reporting on the photo industry and typed more than a hundred pages of interview transcripts, and Amany Radwan in Cairo, who provided insights and reporting on the Al Fayed family background in Egypt as well as on the conspiracy theories prevalent in the Middle East. Editorial Assistant Claire Senard of the Time Paris bureau encouraged and supported the project from the outset. Thanks also to the London staff of Harrods for the courtesy and professionalism with which they responded to our requests for information.

  Valuable assistance was offered by French colleagues, especially Nathalie Prévost of the Journal du Dimanche, who provided reporting on the investigation. Thanks also to Gilles Delafon of the Journal du Dimanche for his helpful suggestions, tips, and contacts, as well as to Frédéric Helbert of Europe 1 radio and British journalist Dierdre Mooney in Cannes. Sylvaine Sancton and Susan Hack read the entire manuscript and made suggestions for improving it.

  In addition to those who helped us directly, we should salute our colleagues in the French, British, and American press whose articles provided a wealth of information. In particular, we would cite the excellent articles in the Journal du Dimanche, Le Monde, Libération, Le Figaro, L’Express, Le Point, Le Nouvel Observateur; The Sunday Times, The Times, The Guardian; The New York Times, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, People, and Vanity Fair. We should also mention the excellent television specials on the accident, including those that appeared on the BBC’s Panorama, CNN’s Impact, ABC’s 20/20, and TFl’s Droit de Savoir.

  Finally, thanks to our agent, Andrew Wylie, whose original faith in this project made it happen.

  —TOM SANCTON AND SCOTT MACLEOD

  Paris, Christmas 1997

  THE DEATH SCENE

  12:25 A.M., 31 August 1997: The Mercedes S280, driven by Henri Paul and bearing Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, and their bodyguard, collides with a Fiat Uno near the entrance to the Alma Tunnel, showering debris on the roadway. After the glancing blow against the Fiat’s left-rear fender, the Mercedes swerves around it, leaving a single 19-meter skidmark, then heads back towards the center of the road. Finding the right lane blocked, Paul jerks the steering wheel to the left and hits the brakes, causing a fatal 32-meter skid into the 13th support pillar. The Mercedes spins around 180 degrees and comes to rest against the north wall of the tunnel. Witnesses Gaëlle L. and Benoît B. (Renault 5), Grigori R. (VW Passat) and Mohammed M. and Souad M. (Citroën BX) later gave key testimony. The Fiat mysteriously disappeared from the scene.

  1

  No Escape

  “Do you have a Mercedes for a discreet departure?”

  Jean-François Musa was taken aback. His Etoile Limousine company keeps a fleet of six luxury cars at the Ritz hotel for the exclusive use of its clients. This was an unexpected request, but he had to take it seriously: it came from one of the hotel’s most senior officials, Claude Roulet, assistant to Ritz president Frank J. Klein.

  The purpose of the Mercedes was to allow Diana, Princess of Wales, and her boyfriend Emad “Dodi” Fayed, son of Egyptian tycoon and Ritz owner Mohammed Al Fayed, to leave from the back of the hotel without being seen by the hordes of paparazzi who had been stalking them all afternoon and were now jamming the main entrance along with a hundred gawkers and curiosity seekers.

  Musa had spent much of the day driving Fayed’s Range Rover as a security backup while Dodi’s regular chauffeur, Philippe Dourneau, drove the couple around Paris at the wheel of a black Mercedes 600. Those two vehicles were now parked in front of the hotel’s main entrance on the Place Vendôme, where Musa and Dourneau stood waiting for the couple to finish their dinner. Musa was expecting Dodi and Diana to leave in the same two-vehicle convoy.

  But orders were orders. Musa went to the key closet located to the right of the main entrance and opened the mirror-covered door. Rummaging through the brown envelopes inside, he found the key to the only extra vehicle he had available: a black Mercedes S280, license number 688 LTV 75. It was a lighter, less powerful car without tinted windows—not ideal for fending off paparazzi—but it would have to do.

  There was just one hitch: at that hour, close to midnight on Saturday, August 31, he had no chauffeurs on duty. The car was registered as a grande remise vehicle, meaning that it could only be driven by a licensed chauffeur. Musa therefore offered to drive the S280 himself since he possessed the requi
red permit. He was told that wouldn’t be necessary. *

  Alexander “Kes” Wingfield, one of Fayed’s two bodyguards, came out of the revolving door and surveyed the crowd from the colonnaded portico. There were at least 30 photographers standing with cameras at the ready, including some particularly aggressive types who had scuffled with security guards earlier in the day.

  Wingfield hailed Musa at the curbside and explained the plan. “You and Philippe are going to create a diversion,” he said. “Rev the engines up, turn on the lights, and pretend to be preparing a departure with the Mercedes and the Range Rover. Meanwhile, Dodi and the Princess will leave from the rear with Trevor.” Trevor Rees-Jones, the second bodyguard, had remained inside the hotel with the couple.

  “Who’s going to drive?” Musa asked.

  “Henri,” said Wingfield.

  Musa knew Henri Paul well. As the assistant head of security for the Ritz, Paul had frequent dealings with Musa concerning the comings and goings of the hotel’s well-heeled customers. But, as Musa later said, “It was not customary for M. Paul to drive vehicles for his clients.” Nor did he possess the license required for that job. Moreover, something did not seem quite normal about Paul that night. As Musa put it, “He seemed chattier than usual.”

  More than chatty. Paul was strutting around in front of the hotel, uncharacteristically grinning and gesturing to the photographers, treating them with irony and feigned complicity. As the departure time approached, he emerged to tell the journalists, “Ten more minutes,” then, “five minutes.” Some of the paparazzi, used to being handled by Paul with cold disdain, found his behavior frankly “bizarre.”

  Not all of the journalists were in the Place Vendôme. A handful, suspecting a possible rear exit, were waiting on the sidewalk of the Rue Cambon behind the hotel. One such was the Sygma agency’s Jacques Langevin. A veteran war photographer who had won prizes for his photos of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, Langevin, 44, found himself saddled with this unlikely assignment simply because he was the agency’s weekend duty man. His editors had called him away from a dinner party after receiving a tip from their correspondent in London.