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LONDON - The British royal family must have "ice water in their veins," says the father of Princess Diana's lover who will forever be convinced their deaths in a Paris car crash were not an accident.
"They took a young girl who was only 19 and they made her life hell," said Mohamed al-Fayed, an implacable foe of the House of Windsor, reflecting on Diana's fairytale marriage to Prince Charles that ended in bitter divorce.
The Egyptian-born tycoon, who owns the luxury London store Harrods, said in an interview to mark the 10th anniversary of the deaths of Diana and his eldest son Dodi: "The royal family must have ice water in their veins."
He has long maintained that his son and Diana were victims of an establishment conspiracy to prevent them from marrying.
"Agents of MI6 [the intelligence agency], or people working for MI6 or both, combined to make sure that Dodi and Diana would never get back to London. I will never rest until I have exposed the whole murderous conspiracy.
"My son and Diana were slaughtered. I am not going to let them get away with it."
The Palace does not usually comment on Fayed's claims. Two major investigations by British and French police ruled that the high-speed crash was an accident blamed on drunken chauffeur Henri Paul who also died in the crash.
Fayed will not give up and has employed a phalanx of lawyers to make his case at a much delayed London inquest - the official British inquiry where a jury will give a verdict on how the couple died.
Pressed on how he could prove his allegations, Fayed conceded: "It is difficult. But I believe in God. With the help of God I will give justice to my son and Princess Diana."
Asked if he was in any way to blame for the couple's death in a car driven by a chauffeur he employed, Fayed said: "There is no reason why I should feel responsible."
FAYED'S UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
CHAUFFEUR'S BLOOD TAMPERED WITH?
Henri Paul, the chauffeur who was driving Diana and Dodi's limousine when it crashed, was responsible for the crash because he was driving too fast and blood tests showed he was drunk, police say. Mohamed Al-Fayed queries whether the blood tests were genuine.
DIANA'S BODY EMBALMED
Diana's body was embalmed in France three hours before being brought back to Britain. This would make an autopsy in Britain more difficult, al-Fayed says. Al-Fayed also queries why Diana was embalmed again in Britain.
MISSING VEHICLES
The main unanswered question. Where is the missing Fiat Uno that collided with Diana's limousine before the crash? Every police report states the existence of the car but it has never been traced.
THE COUPLE WERE ENGAGED
Al-Fayed claims Dodi and Diana were planning to marry and his son had planned to present her with an engagement ring on the day of the car crash. He said he had spoken to the couple that night and they had both confirmed the engagement. He believes her calls were monitored by Britain's MI6 security agency and the CIA. He claims the decision to kill them had to be made quickly before the engagement was announced.
DIANA PREGNANT?
Al-Fayed has also claimed Diana and Dodi had both confirmed to him in telephone calls that the princess was pregnant. A test on Diana's blood found in the wreckage of the Mercedes suggested she was not pregnant although experts said this could not be seen as conclusive.
- Reuters
