Investigation to determine real reason of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed death

Lord Justice Scott Baker told the six women and five men selected for the jury that they must decide whether the deaths were an accident or - as Fayed's father contends - a murder orchestrated by Prince Philip and carried out by Britain's secret services.

"You will be in the public eye as no inquest jury has ever been before," said Baker, who is acting as coroner. The inquest is expected to last no more than six months.

It has no authority to blame any individual for a death. The jury's role is to determine who died, when and where, and - the crux of his inquest - how.

"No one is on trial here," Baker said.

The inquest, opening a decade after the couple and their chauffeur died, had to wait for French authorities to complete inquiries and court proceedings, then for London's Metropolitan Police investigation.

The French authorities and the Metropolitan Police generally agree that chauffeur Henri Paul had too much to drink, the car was going too fast, and that the crash in the Pont d'Alma tunnel was an accident.

Fayed's father, Mohamed al Fayed, disagrees. "I believe my son and Princess Diana have been murdered by the royal family," he said outside court.

Paul died along with Diana, 36, and Fayed, 42; bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the sole survivor

In his opening statement to the jury, Baker recapped the couple's relationship, which developed after July 14, 1997, when Diana was staying in the French resort of San Tropez as a guest of al Fayed; Dodi Fayed arrived later in the day and his girlfriend, Kelly Fisher, joined him two days later.

All parties to the case agree that Diana and Dodi Fayed did not have a serious relationship before that day.

Baker said a remark Diana made to journalists on July 14, that "you're going to get a big surprise," preceded Fayed's arrival, as did a photograph of her in a swimsuit, which some have said showed an early pregnancy.

That may weigh against al Fayed's claim that Diana was pregnant with Dodi Fayed's child when she died, and that the couple had planned to announce their engagement on Sept. 1.

Their relationship did develop rapidly and the couple spent time together in the next six weeks - though not continuously - in Paris, in Nice and aboard a yacht. Pravda.ru