The Death of Princess Diana and Conspiracy Theories

Philosophy Conspiracy Theory

Willa Swift

The death of Princess Diana has become a hotly debated topic, with many conspiracy theories that simply refuse to die. The official investigation has ruled the cause of death as ‘the result of an accident’. This accident was the infamous car crash in a Paris road tunnel on 31st August 1997. Prominent in disputing the official version of events have been the British Newspaper, Daily Express, and Mohamed Al-Fayed, who is the father of Diana’s supposed boyfriend, who died with her in the car.

Many of these conspiracy theories insist that Diana and Dodi Fayed were murdered, intentionally being driven into the cement pillar of the tunnel on orders from the British Crown and MI-6. The main motives that have been advanced for the alleged murder include suggestions that Diana was pregnant with Fayed’s child, and the couple was planning to be engaged. According to many conspiracy theorists, this called for the murder of both parties as ‘the alleged dislike of the idea of a non-Christian within the British Royal Family meant such a relationship between the mother of the future king and a prominent Egyptian Muslim would not be tolerated’. This fact alone suggests high immorality and ethical issues, as the non-toleration of a non-Christian in the British Royal Family would have caused uproar in 1997, just as it would now. Of course, the royal family has denied all the charges and allegations against them, but there are facts about the ‘accident’ that don’t quite stack up.

An example of this is the lack of seatbelts in the car. There was media discussion in April 2006 suggesting that Diana was a faithful seatbelt user and therefore the fact that both her and Dodi’s belts either failed or were not used points to the sinister suspicion of sabotage. Mohamed Al-Fayed alleged that Diana’s body was embalmed after her death, which ensured that any pregnancy tests at the post mortem would produce a false result.

Despite the accident occurring almost 20 years ago, the conspiracy theories simply refuse to die.