Princess Diana

[Rasputin]

Official inquiry found no evidence of U.S. surveillance of Princess Diana

LONDON: A three-year investigation found no evidence that U.S. or British intelligence agencies were conducting surveillance on Princess Diana, according to the report released Thursday.

The Observer newspaper in London had claimed that the investigation had found evidence that U.S. intelligence services were bugging Diana's telephone without the approval of its British counterpart on the night of her death in 1997.

The report noted that the U.S. National Security Agency had said in 1998 that it had originated or controlled 39 files relating to the princess. That admission came in response to a freedom of information request filed by Mohammed al Fayed, whose son Dodi was killed in the crash with Diana.

The NSA refused to release any of the files to al Fayed, citing national security, and also refused to release them to the inquiry headed by Lord Stevens, the former chief of the Metropolitan Police.

In response to the Stevens inquiry, NSA Director of Policy Louis Giles said none of the material was relevant to the crash.

"I can categorically confirm that NSA did not target Princess Diana nor collect any of her communication," the report quoted Giles as saying.

The report added that its inquiries with the British Secret Intelligence Service found no evidence to show that British agents were conducting surveillance on the princess.

[Rasputin]

Diana's interest in supporting and helping young people led to the establishment of the Diana Memorial Award, awarded to youths who have demonstrated the unselfish devotion and commitment to causes advocated by the Princess.

Prince William and Prince Harry are currently organising a concert to be held in memory of their mother on 1 July 2007 - it would have been her 46th birthday. The concert will be staged at the soon-to-be rebuilt Wembley Stadium. Confirmed acts include Duran Duran, Joss Stone, Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber, English National Ballet, Pharrell Williams and Bryan Ferry. Tickets went on sale on 13 December 2006 and sold out within minutes.

A memorial service is planned to be held on 31 August 2007.

[mahsaak]

ta moghyee ke zende bood az award khabari nabood, cheghade in diana mah bood, mordeshoore.......... vel kon hoselye siasi bazi nadaram . jash too beheshte

[Rasputin]

Inquest into Princess Diana's death to reopen

LONDON: The investigation on the deaths of Britain's Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Al Fayed in a 1997 comes in for more scrutiny on Monday when an inquest reopens after a three-year break.

Three weeks ago, a lengthy police investigation ruled that the crash was an accident and the two were not the victims of an elaborate murder plot. A two-year French investigation had already come to the same conclusion.

Diana, who was 36, Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul died when their Mercedes limousine smashed at high speed into a pillar inside a Paris road tunnel. They were speeding away from the Ritz Hotel, after being pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes.

In the decade since the accident, a host of conspiracy theories flourished, suggesting the couple were murdered because their relationship was embarrassing the British royal family. The death of the People's Princess divorced from the then-heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles sparked an outpouring of grief in Britain.

A two-year French investigation ruled out foul play, saying Paul was responsible because he was under the influence of anti-depressants, drunk and driving too fast. That has not stopped sceptics to point the finger at British spies acting on the orders of Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Phillip or even of Prince Charles.

When the formal British inquest opened in 2004, it was immediately adjourned in a dramatic fashion by the then royal coroner Michael Burgess to allow police to carry out a top-level investigation into the allegations.

That three-year inquiry, headed by former London police chief John Stevens, dismissed claims that Diana was pregnant and was engaged, or about to get engaged, to Fayed. "On the evidence available now, there was no conspiracy to murder any of the occupants of that car. It was a tragic accident," Stevens said.

However, under British law, an inquest is needed to determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally. It cannot apportion blame but can rule that the death was "unnatural" due to violence or an accident.

The police report will be at the centre of the inquest, which resumes on Monday, but Stevens said his findings should not prejudge its conclusions. The inquest has already attracted controversy after Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who took over last year as the presiding judge, decided initial hearings should be conducted in secret.

She changed her mind after strong criticism from Fayed's father Mohamed, owner of the London store Harrods and the leading advocate of murder conspiracy theories. Preliminary hearings will decide whether inquests into Diana and Fayed's deaths should be held together, whether a jury should be present and if so, who will take part.

Nothing short of a full public inquiry is likely to satisfy Fayed. "I will never accept this cover-up of what really happened," he said after the Stevens report, which he called 'garbage'. "For nine years I have fought against overwhelming odds and monstrous official obstructions. I will not stop now in my quest for the truth."

[Rasputin]

Al Fayed to demand the people's jury 'must rule on Diana's death'

Mohammed Al Fayed is to demand that a jury 'of the people' decide the inquest verdict on Princess Diana.

Lawyers for the Harrods owner will make the application when preliminary hearings for the inquest resume, nearly a decade after the princess was killed in a car crash with Mr Al Fayed's son Dodi.

The tycoon - who has already dismissed as 'garbage' Lord Stevens' report that demolished conspiracy theories over the crash - is determined that a joint inquest is held on Diana and Dodi.

As the princess was still a member of the Royal Family when she died, aged 36, some lawyers believe a joint hearing is not possible because the inquest could fall within the jurisdiction of the Royal Household - meaning the jury being made up of Buckingham Palace employees.

Former top judge Lady Butler-Sloss, brought out of retirement to oversee the inquest, could get round the problem by choosing not to involve jurors.

But Mr Al Fayed - who believes that Diana and his 42-year-old son were killed as part of an Establishment plot - will fight to ensure there is a joint inquest before a jury chosen from the public.

His spokesman Michael Cole said: 'It is difficult to conceive of a verdict that would be acceptable to the general public if there was no jury.'

He added: 'Obviously, when people die together, there is a joint inquest - whether it is a road crash, a fire, or something like the Marchioness river disaster, when 51 people died. They were all separate inquests held concurrently.'

Mr Al Fayed is also likely to demand access to the highly-sensitive statement Prince Charles gave to Lord Stevens during the former Met commissioner's three-year investigation into Diana's death.

The hearing at the High Court next week will also decide which witnesses should be called and determine a timetable for the full inquest later this year.

Prince William and Prince Harry had hoped the 832-page Stevens report published last month, which declared that Diana and Dodi died in a tragic accident, would put an end to the speculation surrounding their mother's death.

But the inquest will again focus the world's attention on the events that took place in a Paris underpass in the early hours of August 31, 1997, when the couple's car crashed.

[purrsian_cat]

It was an accident. Where is that option in the poll?

[Rasputin]

It was an accident. Where is that option in the poll?

yes,it was an accident,but how .. !?.. This is a big question.

[Rasputin]

The Prince's Bride?

Another blushing young woman in London's fashionable Chelsea neighbourhood is hounded by paparazzi as speculation swirls that she is the woman who would be Queen.

Except this isn't the Shy Di of, gasp, more than 25 years ago. Instead, it is her son's amour, Kate Middleton, now caught in the headlights of a media frenzy.

Just turned 25 this week, with recent appearances in public with the Royal Family, Prince William's long-time girlfriend has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight as the future queen-in-waiting.

"It's a definite go," says Robert Jobson, author of the new Middleton biography, William's Princess. "Her time as real life princess and one day Queen of England -- and Canada -- is about to begin."

British betting firms are so sure it's a done deal that they won't take wagers on "if", but "when" the marriage will take place. Woolworths in Britain has even commissioned commemorative mugs and towels, despite no engagement announced.

No matter. Yet another royal fantasy is being written and Kate has been cast as its leading English rose.

"Brand Windsor is about to get a much-needed injection of fresh young glamour to complement its established octogenarian market leader," wrote Diana's former private secretary Patrick Jephson in the Spectator.

Even the respected Sunday Times has chimed in: "Kate is what we need, providing a much-needed injection of glamour, that breath of fresh heir for the royal gene pool."

Almost 10 years after Diana's death, they yearn for another Queen of Hearts. Comparisons between the two have reached a fever pitch: Both women went to boarding school, captained their hockey teams and excelled at tennis! Kate shops at the same Sloane department store once favoured by Lady Di!

Sadly, Kate is now being hounded by an international phalanx of cameras, just like Diana. A public outcry this week has reigned in the paparazzi -- but only for now.

The tackiest parallel drawn between the two has been discussion of their virginal status. "William is Kate's first serious boyfriend," notes Spectator magazine, "and if her reputation is as squeaky clean as it seems, this suggests she may still have her V-plates intact and thus satisfy the age-old requisite for future queen consorts."

But the most telling comparison is this: Both are lucrative commodities in a rapacious, celebrity-mad marketplace.

The similarities, though, end there. While Diana was an aristocrat, with blue blood coursing through her delicate veins, Kate is a commoner -- although a rich one. Her parents are former flight attendants who run a multi-million- dollar online party supply business.

Kate is also older, more educated and far more stable than the young Diana. Kate is five months older than William where the naive 19-year-old Diana was 12 years and a generation younger than stodgy Prince Charles.

The academically challenged Di also left school at 16, while Kate attended Scotland's St. Andrews University, site of her fortuitous meeting with the Prince. They became friends and then flatmates, sharing a house with two other students in 2002, before their friendship turned to romance.

They are said to be equals in love, as much as one can be equal to a partner destined to be king.

She calls him Big Willy; he calls her Babykins. She is credited with convincing him not to drop out of university after his first year but transfer instead from art history into geography.

Tatler magazine, an uppercrust scandal sheet, did its best to come up with "25 things you didn't know about Kate Middleton," but the result was hardly titillating. Among the revelations: She blow dries her hair and drinks Jack Daniel's. Despite the best efforts of other British journalists, the worst they have trawled from her past is that she once mooned out a dorm window.

At her $40,000-a year boarding school, where she hung a poster of dishy Prince William on her dorm wall, she was rewarded with so many prizes for excellent conduct that she couldn't carry them all to her seat. One babbling former school chum told the papers Kate wouldn't even join them on their drinking romps to nearby Reading.

While scandal-free, Kate is no shy Di. The confident young woman once quipped, "He's lucky to be going out with me" and appeared at a student charity fashion show dressed in lingerie, with an admiring prince in a $400 front row seat.

Some may carp that she's hardly an intellectual and it did take her 18 months to finally land a job -- she's an accessories buyer for a high-end chain -- but Middleton's biographer believes Diana would have approved of Kate.

"Princess Diana always wanted her children to marry for love," Jobson says from London. "This isn't some aristocrat selected for Prince William by the establishment. This is somebody he's fallen in love with."

She may never rival Diana's unique popularity, but he believes Kate may play a key role in revitalizing the The Firm. "Combined, Kate and William have the 'wow' factor."

So the weavers of princess fairytales continue their gossamer work, hoping that this version of a royal romance works out better than the last.

[Rasputin]

Minotaur packs Diana's Dresses for US

US and Canadian broadcasters have acquired a controversial documentary about Princess Diana's dresses from UK distributor Minotaur International.

The Curse of Diana's Dresses has been picked up by WE Network in the US and History Television in Canada. The hour-long special was originally commissioned by LivingTV and was made by Pilgrim Productions.

The film details the mysterious stories surrounding Diana's dresses, which were sold shortly before her death in August 1997, and the curious bad luck some of them have suffered.

Sarah Tong, director of Minotaur, said Diana still conjures up interest among people around the world. "This documentary offers a unique take on the little-known stories and eventual destination of some of her most famous outfits," said Tong.

The show, which will air to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Diana's death, has previously been licensed to New Zealand's TVNZ.

[Rasputin]

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[Rasputin]

Keira Knightley nude scene as Princess Diana in new movie.

Actress Keira Knightley is being lined up to play Diana, Princess of Wales in a movie based on the late royals life.

A controversial new pamphlet, Diana, up the Pooparazzi, has got everyone salivating at Cannes this year.
A bidding war broke out due to the book containing, in depth personal details including hints at Prince Charles, who will be played by Tom Hanks, performance in the boudoir.

Film producer Quentin Farqueerson, who is bidding for the rights, hopes the movie adaptation will be as popular at the box office as The Queen, which won Dame Helen Mirren a Best Osctress.

He says, " It's a story that has everything: pathos, tragedy, comedy, adventure...and Princess Diana.
I want to do this movie as a tribute to the late Diana Spencer. I have to make sure we keep the image of her pure and unsullied and let's face it, for every Dollar the Queen Movie makes, a film about Diana will make ten. Kerching!"

Hollywood starlets have been queuing around the block for the part of Diana.
At first, it was thought to be going to Harlot Nopantson, star of Lost in Translation but she was pipped to the post by Knightley.

According to Farqueerson "Keira looks just like Diana did a few years ago, all we need to do is bung a blonde wig on her bonce and shout action, she is a natural and she doesn't mind getting her kit off, all for the sake of art mind you" he said, winking, "imagine it. Keira, with no clothes on, made up like Princess Di. I have achieved wood just thinking about it!"

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]