Coroner: Summing Up: 31 Mar 08: 27.11:
“It is rare to have direct evidence of a criminal conspiracy because when people make agreements to commit crimes, they can be expected to do so privately and without committing themselves to writing.”
Who killed Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed?
One factor this series of volumes has made clear is that the operation to assassinate Princess Diana was extremely complex and required huge resources and inter-governmental support and involvement – both in the operation itself and the massive ensuing cover-up.
The evidence points to the involvement of people from five different areas:
The general evidence indicates that the plot to assassinate Princess Diana is something that developed over a period of time. Diana believed she could be a target from around October 1995 onwards and there is substantial evidence of her fears – the Burrell Note; the Mishcon Note; her expressed fear of Philip, Fellowes and Soames.
The reasons to assassinate Diana mounted as each year passed – there was the Panorama interview in 1995, then the anti-landmines campaign that she launched publicly in Angola in January 1997.
Princess Diana was threatened by Nicholas Soames, over her anti-landmines campaign, in February 1997. That is clear evidence – along with public pronouncements by Conservative MPs at the time – that Diana’s activities were causing more than disquiet in government circles.
Diana’s landmine campaign grew through 1997 – there was the landmark speech in June and the trip to Bosnia in August.
I suggest that was an issue that was not just upsetting people in Britain – both the US and France are major arms dealing nations.
It would seem very likely that Diana’s anti-landmine activities could have been the subject of discussion between the US and French Presidents, Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac2089, and Tony Blair.
The evidence indicates that it was Princess Diana’s decision to take Princes William and Harry on a holiday with Mohamed Al Fayed that really tipped the balance and possibly led to royal consideration of her assassination.
I suggest the ensuing relationship between Diana and Dodi Fayed2090 would have helped strengthen their resolve, or maybe it confirmed to the royals that Diana’s elimination was the best or only option.
It appears that at some point after Diana’s decision early in June 1997 to holiday with Mohamed, MI6 became directly involved in seeking intelligence – possibly with a view to preparing the groundwork for her assassination.
Rosa Monckton, an MI6 agent who had earlier befriended Diana, appears to have been assigned a mission aimed at learning more about Diana’s intentions and upcoming activities. Around June 30 Monckton organised a boat trip with Diana off the Greek coast, scheduled to take place in mid-August – that trip concluded just 11 days before the Paris crash.
I suggest that Blair – and Major2091 before him – would have been discussing the anti-landmine campaign with the Queen at times during his weekly meetings through mid-1997.2092 Those meetings would have provided an opportunity to pass on concerns about the building campaign from the US and French leadership.2093
There was already a background of trouble between Princess Diana and the senior royals – the 1992 Morton book and the 1995 Panorama interview. Then came the very powerful anti-landmine campaign.
Events merged towards a “perfect storm”, when added to the above came the St Tropez holiday involving Princes William and Harry.
The 23 July 1997 Way Ahead Group meeting – brought forward from September and held just three days after the conclusion of that holiday – may have included an MI6 intelligence report on Diana’s activities.
It appears that either at that meeting, or very soon after it, the decision to assassinate Princess Diana was made. The order would have been passed to MI6 – not in writing and possibly not even a verbal direction.
But from the Queen – authorised by the Queen.
The Queen was the only person in the Establishment with the power to order the removal of the widely popular and much loved Princess Diana.
MI6 would have then set about the difficult task, but not alone. The United States and France had clear interests in this – and their intelligence agencies, the CIA, DGSE and DST would have quickly come on board.
Both Diana and Dodi would have been under close surveillance and the results of Monckton’s work would have contributed to the necessary intelligence – necessary to work out future movements and possible locations where the assassination could take place.
What emerged was a very complicated – but extremely deniable – plan to assassinate Princess Diana in Paris’ Alma Tunnel on the weekend of 30-31 August 1997.2094
Prior to that, highly trained and very senior MI6 officers were moved into the British embassy in Paris – particularly Sherard Cowper-Coles, Valerie Caton and Richard Spearman.
Various undercover agents were employed by the intelligence agencies along the way, as required – including Claude Roulet, Henri Paul, Jean-Marc Martino, Arnaud Derossi, Jean Monceau, Dominique Lecomte, Gilbert Pépin.
The results of the activities of those intelligence agencies have been covered in detail in the preceding volumes of this series.
Just 39 days after the 23 July 1997 special Way Ahead Group meeting presided over by the Queen, Princess Diana lay lifeless in a Paris hospital.2095