The Science of Conspiracy Theories

Princess Diana conspiracy theories

Princess Diana conspiracy theories

Princess Diana, Princess of Wales and wife to Prince Charles, was killed in a fatal car crash on August 31, 1997. This occurred at night in a Paris road tunnel while the car she was riding in was being pursued by the Paparazzi. The French investigation concluded that she died from injuries suffered in the car crash and they also concluded that the paparazzi were too far away at the time to be involved.

Of course, this incident was ripe for conspiracy theories. Just think about the situation. Diana was with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, son of Mohamed Al-Fayed, an Egyptian business magnate. The first thing that came out of this is an accusation by Al-Fayed that his son and Diana were murdered. As a matter of fact, Al-Fayed claimed no less than 175 conspiracy theories. That has to be record, I would assume.

The driver of the Mercedes that crashed, Henri Paul, was alleged to be in the pay of a national security service because he had a lot of money on him at the time; although no one could prove that. As I recall, Henri was drunk. Supposedly, blood samples indicated this, but experts claim they are not consistent with his actions as captured on surveillance camera. I think he was drunk. I remember seeing the videos of Dodi, Diana and him leaving the hotel.

Of course, a former MI6 officer, Richard Tomlinson, claimed that the MI6 was involved. MI6 is the British version of the USA's CIA. This would suggest that the Royal family had her bumped off because of the bad publicity she was causing, especially through her relationship with Dodi Fayed. Supposedly, Diana and he were going to announce their engagement on the Monday following the accident. The British press has repudiated this claim.

Then there is the claim that Diana was pregnant, supposedly with Dodi's child. Al-Fayed claimed that she was pregnant at the time of her death, but allegedly, no traces of pregnancy were found in her blood. If she were pregnant with Dodi's child, this would have been a cultural blow to the British Royalty.

There is also Al-Fayed's claim that a white Fiat Uno car had left traces of paint on the wrecked Mercedes. He claims that a James Andanson, a security agent, drove the car and caused the Mercedes to wreck. He further alleged that this Andanson character was in the service of MI6. The French police never found the alleged car and James Andanson's body was found in a black burnt-out BMW in a forest in southern France. They concluded that this was a suicide, but some people claim that it was an assassination.

Claims of a bright flash being the cause of the accident were dismissed. If such a bright flash from a strobe light were used to blind the Mercedes driver, it would have been bright enough to cause problems for the pursuing White Fiat and the paparazzi.

Supposedly, neither Diana nor Dodi were wearing seatbelts, which if they had might have prevented their deaths. Supposedly, the seatbelts were in good working order. However, when the Mercedes was returned to England, investigators found that Diana's seatbelt was damaged, but the French investigators claimed this was the result of the accident.

There is also an allegation that Diana was not transported to the closest hospital but instead was taken to a hospital further away supposedly because the trauma care was better there. What's even more disturbing is the fact that Diana's body was embalmed shortly after death. People claim this was used to ensure that no pregnancy test would be valid.

To discuss all of the theories would take a book. I can certainly see why there were a lot of conspiracy theories connected to this incident. It seemed rather odd in many ways. Why did the Mercedes driver attempt to speed through a tunnel with a difficult curve? Why would he be drinking at this critical time? What role did the paparazzi play in this accident? What role did MI6 actually play in this? They were obviously keeping an eye on Diana's activities. Did they seize the opportunity to eliminate a national embarrassment? I could see why that would be the case, but there is no definitive evidence for it.

Thanks for reading.