Moin91
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Monday, August 27, 2007
LONDON: The royals did it. It was a secret service plot. Her driver was blinded by a flash of light. Dozens of conspiracy theories continue to circulate about Princess Diana 10 years after her death.
Type Diana and conspiracy theory into the Internet search engine Google and there are 121,000 entries fewer than Elvis (134,000) and John F Kennedy (201,000) but a lot more than Marilyn Monroe (25,100).
Among the more outlandish is the one that Diana, sick of constant media intrusion in her private life, faked her own death and went to live incognito on a tropical island with her partner Dodi Fayed.
Others, focusing on an alleged establishment plot to murder her, have been maintained by Fayeds father Mohamed, the Egyptian-born millionaire owner of the upmarket Harrods department store in west London.
Conspiracy theorists also remember Dianas own words in a 1995 BBC interview after splitting from Prince Charles when she said the royal family now saw her as a problem and a liability to be dealt with.
Yet a French judicial investigation and a three-year British inquiry into allegations of conspiracy to murder found no evidence to support the claims.
Former Scotland Yard chief John Stevens last December concluded the princesss death was a tragic accident caused by her chauffeur Henri Paul travelling at excessive speed while over the alcohol limit for driving. There was no conspiracy, Diana was not pregnant, there was no indication she was about to marry Dodi, Paul was not blinded by a flashing light and his blood samples were not switched after his death, Stevens said.
But a Gfk NOP poll published last December ahead of The Conspiracy Files television series for the BBC found that nearly one in three of Britons believed Dianas death was not an accident.
So why the persistent speculation mostly published in cyberspace that the crash was anything other than what royal coroner Michael Burgess in January 2004 described as a sad, but relatively straightforward road traffic accident?
Psychologists, sociologists and conspiracy theory specialists point to many peoples mistrust of the authorities and a deep cynicism as to the motives of those in power.
Others highlight paranoia among the fringes of society, a sense of powerlessness by individuals in the face of big business or merely a human need for answers.
Hollywood films like director Oliver Stones JFK and television series such as The X Files are said to encourage scepticism about official versions. Speculation fills the void where exact explanations are lacking.
Dianas friend, Rosa Monckton, told the BBC programme: Because she was such an extraordinary women, people find it completely unacceptable that someone like that should have such an ordinary death, a car crash.
For Jude Davies, author of Diana, A Cultural History: Gender, Race, Nation and the Peoples Princess, the phenomenon stems from her popularity, empathetic qualities and genuine grief at her passing.
Diana was seen as a mythical figure, galvanising peoples hopes and dreams but then cut short in her prime, Davies, from the University of Winchester in southern England, told AFP. This status she shared with former US president Kennedy.
Their death then generates a vacuum into which the conspiracy theories go, he said. One or two years after her death there was still an intense sense of loss, which is understandable because of the emotional investment. Thats declined to a lower level, but I think it will still be there.
Who killed Diana? No end to conspiracy theories
LONDON: The royals did it. It was a secret service plot. Her driver was blinded by a flash of light. Dozens of conspiracy theories continue to circulate about Princess Diana 10 years after her death.
Type Diana and conspiracy theory into the Internet search engine Google and there are 121,000 entries fewer than Elvis (134,000) and John F Kennedy (201,000) but a lot more than Marilyn Monroe (25,100).
Among the more outlandish is the one that Diana, sick of constant media intrusion in her private life, faked her own death and went to live incognito on a tropical island with her partner Dodi Fayed.
Others, focusing on an alleged establishment plot to murder her, have been maintained by Fayeds father Mohamed, the Egyptian-born millionaire owner of the upmarket Harrods department store in west London.
Conspiracy theorists also remember Dianas own words in a 1995 BBC interview after splitting from Prince Charles when she said the royal family now saw her as a problem and a liability to be dealt with.
Yet a French judicial investigation and a three-year British inquiry into allegations of conspiracy to murder found no evidence to support the claims.
Former Scotland Yard chief John Stevens last December concluded the princesss death was a tragic accident caused by her chauffeur Henri Paul travelling at excessive speed while over the alcohol limit for driving. There was no conspiracy, Diana was not pregnant, there was no indication she was about to marry Dodi, Paul was not blinded by a flashing light and his blood samples were not switched after his death, Stevens said.
But a Gfk NOP poll published last December ahead of The Conspiracy Files television series for the BBC found that nearly one in three of Britons believed Dianas death was not an accident.
So why the persistent speculation mostly published in cyberspace that the crash was anything other than what royal coroner Michael Burgess in January 2004 described as a sad, but relatively straightforward road traffic accident?
Psychologists, sociologists and conspiracy theory specialists point to many peoples mistrust of the authorities and a deep cynicism as to the motives of those in power.
Others highlight paranoia among the fringes of society, a sense of powerlessness by individuals in the face of big business or merely a human need for answers.
Hollywood films like director Oliver Stones JFK and television series such as The X Files are said to encourage scepticism about official versions. Speculation fills the void where exact explanations are lacking.
Dianas friend, Rosa Monckton, told the BBC programme: Because she was such an extraordinary women, people find it completely unacceptable that someone like that should have such an ordinary death, a car crash.
For Jude Davies, author of Diana, A Cultural History: Gender, Race, Nation and the Peoples Princess, the phenomenon stems from her popularity, empathetic qualities and genuine grief at her passing.
Diana was seen as a mythical figure, galvanising peoples hopes and dreams but then cut short in her prime, Davies, from the University of Winchester in southern England, told AFP. This status she shared with former US president Kennedy.
Their death then generates a vacuum into which the conspiracy theories go, he said. One or two years after her death there was still an intense sense of loss, which is understandable because of the emotional investment. Thats declined to a lower level, but I think it will still be there.
Who killed Diana? No end to conspiracy theories
