Princess Diana's Death An Accident: Police Probe

A permanent memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi al-Fayed is pictured in the Harrods store in London in August 2006, on the ninth anniversary of their death. [Photo: AFP]


A British police inquiry, seeking to bury almost a decade of conspiracy theories, on Thursday ruled that Princess Diana was not the victim of a murder plot but had died in a tragic car accident.

"I'm satisfied that no attempt has been made to hold back information and we are confident that the allegations made are unfounded," former police chief John Stevens said after a three-year probe into Diana's death in a Paris road tunnel in August 1997.


The wreckage of the car which was transporting Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed in 1997. The pair died after the car was involved in a fatal high-speed crash in a Paris tunnel. The long-awaited report into the death of Diana is expected to refute conspiracy theories and confirm a French probe that it was an accident. [Photo: AFP/File]

Her death unleashed a string of conspiracy theories that British spies or even her ex-husband, heir-to-the-throne Britain's Prince Charles, had plotted to stage the accident because the couple's relationship was embarrassing the royal family.

The top-level police investigation was ordered by former Royal Coroner Michael Burgess in January 2004 when he opened a British inquest into Diana's death.

Stevens, who headed London's police force, spent almost three years investigating what happened, interviewing Charles for several hours as part of his inquiry which he said aims to draw a line under the issue.

词汇：
conspiracy：n. 共谋, 阴谋
hold back：v. 隐瞒
allegation：n. 断言, 辩解
probe：vt. 探查, 查明
stage: vt. 安排和进行
embarrassing：adj. 令人为难的


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中新网伦敦12月14日电 英国警方14日中午将公布英国戴安娜王妃与男友多迪死亡的调查报告。13日，报告内容已先交给戴安娜的两名爱子威廉与哈利王子过目，死因倾向是意外致死。

法国政府公布的调查报告指出，1997年8月31日当天戴安娜的司机保罗因酒醉导致座车失速，撞上巴黎地下道的柱子，造成这起悲剧，英国媒体13日纷纷揣测，保罗饮酒过量是使戴安娜36岁的年轻生命香消玉殒的元凶。

调查报告由前伦敦警察局长史蒂文斯负责进行。这份历时3年斥资至少250万英镑的备受瞩目的调查报告，共采集1500名证人的证词，研究分析20000份文件资料。

一般认为，这起悲剧纯属意外，并非多迪的父亲法耶德所指称的是秘密保安局派人进行的谋杀。另一方面，报告也将驳斥有关戴安娜与多迪订婚及戴安娜怀有与多迪爱的结晶的传言。

据悉，明年元月初法院将公开戴安娜死因的初步听证会，由法医官巴特勒-史洛斯女士主持。