Associated Press
http://ap.google.com/article/
ALeqM5gt4lktu_9eR8cCLZsfdDdwu3h3cwD8UTL0700
Witness: Diana Feared Plot by Royals
Feb. 21, 2008
By THOMAS WAGNER
LONDON (AP) � Weeks before Princess Diana died, she told her lover, Dodi Fayed, she feared the royal family was plotting to kill her and make it look like an accident, a former assistant to Fayed testified Tuesday.
Melissa Henning quoted Fayed as saying Diana told him the accident would happen when her sons, Princes William and Harry, were not around.
Henning gave her testimony by video from the United States to a coroner's inquest examining the death of Diana and Fayed in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
Henning, who worked as Fayed's U.S. assistant, said she first thought the fears were a "little far-fetched," but later realized the couple "deeply" believed this was a possibility.
Her testimony echoed that of Fayed's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, who said Monday that Diana and his son were killed by Britain's MI6 spy agency on the orders of Prince Philip because she was pregnant and they were getting engaged. Al Fayed claimed the royal family could not accept marriage between a princess and a Muslim.
Lengthy investigations by French and British police concluded the crash that killed the couple Aug. 31, 1997, was an accident, saying driver Henri Paul was drunk and speeding.
Henning said she learned of Diana's fears when she had dinner with Fayed shortly before the fatal crash.
"He told me that Diana was very concerned for her personal safety. They had discussed this several times. She had felt the royal family did not want her around anymore," Henning said.
"She thought they felt she was a threat to them and they would prefer not to have her around. She felt it would be an accident and it would only happen when the boys were not with her because the boys would never be harmed."
After the car crash, Henning said she called Fayed's father to tell him about the couple's fears. Henning said she did not tell British or French authorities because she did not know if they would regard such information as significant.
On the Net:
Inquest: http://www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk
Further Reading:
Craftyness - Obelisks, Statutes & Plots: The 'Master' Planned Community
