Fayed's evidence may have decided Diana inquest

By Robert Woodward

LONDON (Reuters) - Obsessed by his belief that Princess Diana's death was orchestrated by Britain's royal family, Mohamed al-Fayed may have unwittingly convinced an inquest that her Paris car crash was no conspiracy.

Mohamed Al-Fayed had waited 10 years to tell a court that Diana and his son Dodi were murdered in Paris because the British Establishment could not bear "a person who is different religion, naturally tanned, curly hair" being associated with the mother of its future king.

But a jury ruled on Monday that Diana and her lover were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of their chauffeur and paparazzi photographers pursuing them into a Paris road tunnel in 1997.

Mohamed al-Fayed's extraordinary evidence to Court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice in February revealed a man warped by grief and an overwhelming sense of injustice, who despised anyone that contradicted his version of history.

The Egyptian-born businessman accused Prince Philip, the princess' ex-husband Prince Charles, intelligence services on both sides of the English Channel and even Diana's sister of collaborating in the cover-up surrounding her death -- the crime of the century in his words.

Al-Fayed said Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, was a Nazi and the power behind the throne in "this Dracula family".

It was Philip who had directed the "slaughter" of Diana and Dodi in August 1997, and then Prime Minister Tony Blair and his "henchmen" ministers were also elements of "dark forces".

Philip's web of influence extended to the ambulance crew who took Diana to hospital after the couple's Mercedes crashed in a tunnel and even the French embalmer of her body, al-Fayed said.

"BANANA REPUBLIC"

"We are in a banana republic... It's just unbelievable, I can't believe this could happen in a democracy," said al-Fayed who has distrusted the British Establishment ever since he was cold-shouldered over a request for a British passport.

Central to his conspiracy theory was a phone call he said he had received from Dodi and Diana one hour before the fatal crash. They said the Princess was pregnant and the two were going to announce their engagement within 48 hours.

What about the "avalanche" of proof that Diana could not have been pregnant, the lawyer for the inquest's coroner asked. This was all "baloney", replied al-Fayed who maintained he was the "closest person to her".

His memory of important events was often hazy -- for instance, he could not remember who had rung to tell him of the fatal accident. "I would just like to know what you are after. You want to put to me that I am hallucinating?" he said after the coroner's lawyer tried to jog his memory.

All doubts about his worth as a witness, which the court heard had been questioned in previous cases and inquiries, were swept aside as proof of his victimization by the Establishment.

Judges were "stooges" who were prejudiced against him, al-Fayed said.