Mohamed Al-Fayed is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. Fayed's business interests include ownership of Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods department store and Fulham F.C., both in London.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III and mother of Princes William and Harry. Diana's activism and glamour made her an international icon and earned her enduring popularity as well as almost unprecedented public scrutiny.
Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed, better known as Dodi Fayed, was an Egyptian film producer and the son of billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed. He was the romantic partner of Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris, France on 31 August 1997.
Valarie "Val" McDermid, is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of novels featuring clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill in a grim sub-genre that McDermid and others have identified as Tartan Noir.
The Daily Express is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson. Its sister paper, the Sunday Express, was launched in 1918. In June 2022, it had an average daily circulation of 201,608.
Jennifer Bond is an English journalist and television presenter. Bond worked for fourteen years as the BBC's royal correspondent. She has most recently hosted Cash in the Attic and narrated the programme Great British Menu.
Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer,, styled Viscount Althorp between 1975 and 1992, is a British peer, author, journalist, and broadcaster. He is the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and is the maternal uncle of William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
Andrew David Morton is an English journalist and writer who has published biographies of royal figures such as Diana, Princess of Wales, and celebrity subjects including Tom Cruise, Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Monica Lewinsky; several of his books have been unauthorised and contain contested assertions.
In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class, were pronounced dead at the scene. Her bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was severely injured, but survived the crash.
Barry Albert Mannakee was a police officer with the Royal Protection Squad and bodyguard to Diana, Princess of Wales. Mannakee was transferred from his role as bodyguard for Diana following what was described as an "inappropriate" relationship between the two. Mannakee died in a road traffic accident in 1987, leading to a conspiracy theory that his death was not an accident. An inquest found no evidence of this.
Operation Paget was the British Metropolitan Police inquiry established in 2004 to investigate the conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. The inquiry's first report with the findings of the criminal investigation was published in 2006. The inquiry was wound up following the conclusion of the British inquest in 2008, in which a jury delivered its verdict of an "unlawful killing" by the driver and the pursuing paparazzi.
Mourning sickness is a collective emotional condition of "recreational grieving" by individuals in the wake of celebrity deaths and other public traumas. Such traumas may be linked to hyper-attentive, intrusive, and voyeuristic media coverage, which has been dubbed grief porn.
The Diana Chronicles is a 2007 British biographical book by Tina Brown that chronicles the life and death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The book's release coincided with the increased attention Diana had received leading up to the tenth anniversary of her death in 1997. Brown writes in a preface: The biography was based on over 250 interviews with men and women - members of Diana's intimate circle, associates in her public life and partners in her philanthropy.
Events from the year 2008 in the United Kingdom.
Alexandra Shân "Tiggy" Pettifer is a British former nanny and companion to Prince William and Prince Harry. She was a personal assistant to Charles III from 1993 to 1999. She has used her married name since her marriage to Charles Pettifer in 1999.
Various conspiracy theories have arisen surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. Official investigations in both Britain and France found that Diana died in a manner consistent with media reports following the fatal car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. In 1999, a French investigation concluded that Diana died as the result of a crash. The French investigator, Judge Hervé Stephan, concluded that the paparazzi were some distance from the Mercedes S280 when it crashed and were not responsible. After hearing evidence at the British inquest, a jury in 2008 returned a verdict of "unlawful killing" by driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi pursuing the car. The jury's verdict also stated: "In addition, the death of the deceased was caused or contributed to by the fact that the deceased were not wearing a seat belt and by the fact that the Mercedes struck the pillar in the Alma Tunnel rather than colliding with something else".
The Murder of Princess Diana is a 2007 Lifetime Television movie, directed by John Strickland and starring Jennifer Morrison as an American reporter. The film was based on the book by Noel Botham. Reg Gadney and Emma Reeves wrote the teleplay.
Unlawful Killing is a 2011 British documentary film about the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed on 31 August 1997 directed by Keith Allen and shown in Cannes during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
The term "people's princess" is a sobriquet used on 31 August 1997 by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair to describe Diana, Princess of Wales, following her death earlier that day. The term had first been applied to Diana in a 1992 article by Julie Burchill in the Modern Review, when she described Diana as "the one and only People's – and Pop's – Princess".
Noel Botham was a British tabloid journalist and prolific author.
