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Journalism of Courage
Britain launched a top-level police probe into the death of Princess Diana on Tuesday as a tabloid newspaper named her former husband Prince Charles as the person she suspected of plotting to kill her.
More than six years after Diana died in a car crash in Paris, Royal Coroner Michael Burgess opened an inquest into her death by saying Britain’s top police officer should investigate claims her death was not an accident but a deliberate plot.
In a front-page splash on Tuesday, The Daily Mirror named Charles as the person she had claimed was ‘‘planning an accident’’ to kill her. She made the allegation in a letter she gave to her butler and confidant, Paul Burrell, before she died. The Mirror quoted from the letter Diana wrote just 10 months before her death. ‘‘This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous,’’ it said. ‘‘My husband is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury.’’ A spokesman for Prince Charles declined to comment.
Burrell, who gave The Mirror access to the letter as part of a serialisation of excerpts from his book, published late last year, reacted angrily to news Charles’ name had been revealed. ‘‘I am not very happy about it…I only learnt about it late last night. And it was always my intention never to publish that name,’’ he said outside his house.
Coroner Burgess said the inquest would now be adjourned for 12 to 15 months, meaning no evidence will be heard for at least another year. ‘‘I have to separate fact from fiction and speculation,’’ he said. ‘‘Speculation and speculative reports are not themselves evidence, however frequently and authoritatively they may be published, broadcast or repeated.’’ — (Reuters)
