Today in history: Princess of Wales dies in a fatal car crash in Paris

On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in hospital as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris, France.

Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes S280, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene.

After 1997, it was theorised that there had been an orchestrated criminal conspiracy surrounding the death of Lady Diana.

Official investigations in both Britain and France found that Diana died in a manner consistent with media reports following the fatal car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.

In 1999, a French investigation concluded that Diana died as the result of an accident.

The French investigator, Judge Hervé Stephan, concluded that the paparazzi were some distance from the Mercedes S280 when it crashed and were not responsible.

After hearing evidence at the British inquest in 2008, a jury returned a verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ by driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi pursuing the car.

The jury’s verdict also stated: “In addition, the death of the deceased was caused or contributed to by the fact that the deceased was not wearing a seat belt and by the fact that the Mercedes struck the pillar in the Alma Tunnel rather than colliding with something else”.

Information sourced from: South African History Online.