A newly revealed claim of conspiracy in the death of Princess Diana
has royal watchers buzzing once again, nearly 16 years after the woman
who would now be a royal grandmother died in a Paris car crash.
But British police seem
to be knocking down the claim -- that the British military was involved
in the deaths of Diana, her boyfriend and their driver in August 1997.
"This is not a
re-investigation," London Metropolitan Police tersely stressed, in a
statement that revealed none of what it had been told.
The latest claim appears
to have been sent first to military authorities and then to London
police by the parents-in-law of a British special forces sniper after
his marriage had fallen apart, according to an article on the website of
the Sunday People newspaper. It did not offer a source for its
reporting.
Sunday People said it had
seen a seven-page handwritten letter by the in-laws alleging that the
soldier, whom the newspaper did not name, had boasted to his wife that
the elite British Special Air Service commando unit was behind the
deaths.
The UK Ministry of Defence said that "this is for Metropolitan Police to investigate."
Military authorities have
been aware of the claim since the 2011 court-martial of the soldier's
former roommate on weapons charges, Sunday People reported. The unnamed
soldier mentioned in the letter was a witness in that case, according to
the newspaper.
Neither the Sunday People
piece nor an earlier version carried by Press Association offered
details of the claimed involvement by soldiers in the deaths.
Diana, 36, and Dodi
Fayed, her 42-year-old boyfriend, died when the Mercedes-Benz they were
traveling in hit a pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris in
August 1997.
They were being followed
at the time by the paparazzi after leaving the Ritz Hotel. Their
driver, Henri Paul, was also killed. Investigators concluded that Paul
was drunk and driving at high speed. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the
sole survivor.
The princess left behind her two children, Prince William, whose wife recently gave birth to Diana's first grandchild, and Prince Harry. Some 2.5 billion people around the world watched Diana's funeral.
A British coroner's
inquest in 2007 concluded that the deaths were the result of "grossly
negligent driving of the following vehicles and of the Mercedes." The
inquest found no evidence of murder. A London police spokesman said no
new information had been examined since this inquest.
Yet the deaths have
always been paired with conspiracy theories accusing British and French
intelligence services and members of British royalty of orchestrating
Diana's death.
The Daily Mirror reported in 2003
that the Princess of Wales wrote to her former butler Paul Burrell 10
months before she died, saying her life was at its "most dangerous"
phase and warning of a plot to tamper with the brakes of her car.
After their deaths,
Mohamed al Fayed, Dodi's father, said the couple were planning to
announce their engagement and publicly accused Prince Philip, Diana's
former father-in-law, of orchestrating the couple's murders. He
testified at the 2007 inquest.
A spokesman for al Fayed said Sunday he had no comment at this time but trusts the police will do a thorough investigation.
Diana remains wildly
popular in death, and news of the new claim sparked an immediate surge
in discussion of her death on news sites and social media.
But many seemed skeptical.
"Is it just me or does
it (seem) like a Princess Diana conspiracy hits around this time of
year, every year?," Twitter user DMR09 posted.
The rumors come to light
weeks before the 16th anniversary of Diana's death, and a little more
than a month before the British premier of "Diana," a new movie about
the former princess's life.
It's unclear whether
these allegations will make it any further than previous claims have.
London police seem unlikely to make any big announcements, based on the
closing line of their statement.
"Not Prepared to Discuss Further," Scotland Yard said in the statement.
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