Diana murdered, Al Fayed claims
Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were murdered, Mohamed Al Fayed has told the inquest into their deaths in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
Mr Al Fayed, Harrods owner and father of Dodi, told the Royal Courts of Justice he would “make no allegations”.
However, he said Princess Diana “knew Prince Philip and Prince Charles were trying to get rid of her”.
The Harrods boss also said Diana had told him she was pregnant. “I am the only person they told,” he said.
‘Devastating note’
In his evidence, Mr Al Fayed branded Prince Philip a “Nazi” and a “racist” and said: “It’s time to send him back to Germany from where he comes.”
“You want to know his original name – it ends with Frankenstein,” he added.
The Harrods boss also raised concerns about a note written by Diana’s divorce lawyer Lord Mishcon after an October 1995 meeting. It outlined her fears there was a plot to kill her in a car crash.
My belief (they) were murdered was confirmed when I learned Lord Condon and Lord Stevens did not show the coroner the note
Mohamed Al Fayed
Lord Mishcon passed it on to police when the princess died in 1997, and after a meeting with the then Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon.
The police agreed to hand it to the coroner only after Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, produced a note from the Princess making similar allegations in the Daily Mirror in October 2003. By that time, Sir John Stevens led the Met.
Mr Al Fayed said this delay confirmed his “belief that my son and Princess Diana were murdered”.
He said the Commissioners “acted unprofessionally” and “must have no conscience”.
The note was “devastating” and explained Diana’s fears in “black and white”, he said.
Wooden box
Mr Al Fayed also told the jury that Diana told him in a telephone call that she was pregnant, and that the couple said they were engaged.
He read out a statement detailing his main concerns about the crash, and the points he felt the inquest should address.
Diana told him she kept a wooden box and if anything happened to her, the contents should be made public, he said. But it had not been kept safe by Diana’s butler Paul Burrell, or her sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale.
He also said blood samples apparently taken from driver Henri Paul – who was also killed in the crash – did not belong to the Frenchman.
Mr Al Fayed felt the murder was likely to have been carried out by photographer James Andanson, who has since died, on the orders of the security services.
Tape investigation
During his evidence, Mr Al Fayed held up a copy of Monday’s Sun newspaper, which claims Paul Burrell said he had not told the whole truth to the inquest.
He said of Mr Burrell: “He’s been sitting here in the witness box talking about baloney things. It’s important to bring him back.”
Lord Justice Scott Baker later told the court: “This is something that’s certainly being investigated.”
The coroner said he had called for the Sun’s tape and would want to know the circumstances under which it was obtained.
Mr Al Fayed broke down when asked about the moment he was told Dodi was dead.
He said someone from security told him, but when asked if he remembered a call from Ritz hotel president Frank Klein, he answered: “It’s difficult. I’d like to know why you are asking me things like that.”
Mr Klein has told the inquest he telephoned Mr Al Fayed to break the news and he replied: “This is not an accident.”