After that, around midday, the couple Dodi-Diana approaches the nearby island of Sardinia, where, waiting for them, a white Mercedes will drive them from the port to the airport of Olbia. It's 1:50 pm and the couple is about to leave the airport of Olbia on board of Dodi's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, private jet. The powerful plane is a âGulfstream 4â and carries the colours of Harrods, their destination is Paris, airport of Le Bourget.
After the flight attendants, Princess D. is the first to enter the plane, Dodi will get on right after and then their two bodyguards Trevor Rees-Jones and Kez Wingfield, the pilots will be last. All the passengers are now on board of the airplane, after 90 minutes of flight, the jet will land at Le Bourget in Paris. There, to welcome them, they will find Henri Paul, Deputy Chief of Al-Fayed's security, and another body-guard: Philippe Dourneau. Later, Wingfield will drive an armoured Mercedes limousine with darkened windows, while Dourneau (Dodi's habitual driver) will follow on a Range Rover provided with first aid material, to transport the luggage.
THE LAST HOURS OF A PRINCESS
The countdown to the last 12 hours, before the end of the Princess of smile has already begun. While Dodi and Diana were flying towards the airport of Paris, Dodi received a phone call by Hotel Ritz body-guards concerning the presence of some members of the French Authorities, awaiting for them at the airport of Paris, which were willing to offer the couple an official escort.
According to bystanders, Dodi persuaded Diana to reject the protection offered by the national police agents, the SPHP, to rely on Al-Fayed's (his father) Security guards. (SPHP: Service de protection des hautes personnalités) (VIP PS: Important Person Protection Service â Protection, although the President of the French Republic is protected by both the Gendarmerie & the National Police).
French National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale) is a police force with military status under the control of the French Ministry of Defence during military operations, while during normal police operations it responds to the Ministry of the Interior.
The issue of âCriminal Magazineâ of Saturday, July 5, 2008 says: âDiana's protection, as we have seen, was assigned to Al-Fayed's body guards and not to Paris police VIP SPHP. SPHP offered their escort many times, but Dodi refusedâ (www.1922lasegretissima.com).
1997-2007 Anniversary Edition, (The Great Heroes - N°5) LADY DIANA on page 31 says: âThe protection of Diana is therefore assigned to Al-Fayed's body guards and not to SPHP, the service that Paris police reserves to the most important personalities, which Dodi mistrustsâ.
In the book Lady died by Francis Gillery, L' Ippocampo publishing, on page 302 it is written: "The French authorities, even if they have rigidly denied it, were aware of the arrival of Harrods owner's Gulfstream IV at Bourget on August 30, 1997, with Diana on board". The presence of a car and motorcyclists of the national police at the landing of Princess Diana's airplane is attested by the photos of the few paparazzi present there".
Regarding the presence of Diana in Paris, according to the official protocol and to the orders previously received from the Royal Family and the British government: "During a 'private vacation' the divorced Princess of Wales was not required, and in that circumstance nor even dutiful, to ask permission or to notify of her arrival the French authorities or the British Embassy based in Paris".
It should be noted what some paparazzi who were at the airport that afternoon (two of these are Fabrice Chassery and James Andanson) have referred and photographed: «At about 3:20 pm of that Saturday, August 30, 1997, on the runway of Paris airport there were also some limousines and several motorcycles of the French police (the SPHP). Furthermore there was also the Central Body of the Paris police, the British Embassy, the French authorities and other authorities for the precautionary protection in favour of the diplomatic corps».
After the accident, some members of the French authorities asserted to reporters that: «They never knew that the Princess was in Paris that Saturday». Although, even if some representatives of said authorities have denied it resolutely, the pictures taken on location by paparazzi (seized by the police and therefore never published) and the testimonies of at least three body guards at Ritz (Trevor Rees-Jones, Kez Wingfield e Philippe Dourneau) should be more than clear evidence of their presence at the Paris airport Le Bourget.
This would demonstrate that some of the diplomatic authorities allegedly lied since they were very well aware of the arrival of Ritz owner's Gulfstream 4, carrying Diana. One of the main key parts needed to know about the secret of Lady Diana's death, could be just within the lines above mentioned.
Another important element to discover a subsequent fragment of the truth, still mysterious, may lie in knowing: On behalf of who those influential members were speaking when they declared the sentence, «French authorities have asserted that they never knew that on Saturday, August 30, 1997 Princess Diana was in Paris». According to the media, among those that heard or declared the above stated phrase there were:
1) the British Ambassador in Paris: Sir Michael Jay;
2) the French Interior Minister: Jean-Pierre Chevènement;
3) the Commissioner and Chief of Paris Police: Philippe Massoni.
As we will see below, these are the first three characters that would have had to worry about the reason why the ambulance, which was carrying Diana after the accident, was delayed for too long under the Alma tunnel, instead of urgently leaving for the closest hospital near the place of the crash. It is also important to consider that Philippe Massoni and Jean-Pierre Chevènement were among the five co-responsible of the first Criminal Investigation, the French one (the Enquête criminelle).
COUNTDOWN
FROM THIS MOMENT ON, PRINCESS DIANA'S LAST DAYS BEGIN
1981 February 24: Charles Windsor and Diana Spencer get engaged.
1981 July 29: Charles and Diana get married.
1982: To her surprise, Diana realizes that her marriage is formed by three people. Charles is the perpetual lover of Camilla Parker Bowles. Despite much effort (seductions and suffering) Diana cannot separate them.
1984: In the year of the birth of Prince Harry, George Smith (one of the Palace wait-staff), claims to have surprised his colleague Michael Fawcett having a homosexual intercourse with Prince Charles Windsor. Smith reports the following to Diana: «Fawcett and Charles are lovers». This scandal, by the way, was mentioned by the newspaper "Mail on Sunday", in December 2002.
1992 December 9: Charles and Diana are officially separated.
1994 June 29: Prince Charles, through the TV channels of BBC, admits that he had committed adultery with Camilla Parker Bowles.
1995 September: Diana meets her new lover: it is the Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.
1995 November 20: Diana is interviewed on TV. She talks about her uneasy relationship with the Royal House and her troubled marriage with Charles.
1995 December 14: Diana reveals the news that her husband Charles got their sons' nanny pregnant. Later he paid her to have her get an abortion.
1996 August 28: Charles and Diana are officially divorced.
1996 December: Many tabloids announce the beginning of an alleged love story between Lady Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed.
1997 Spring: End of the loving relationship between Hasnat Khan and Diana.
1997 July 11: Diana and both sons, William and Harry, are guests of the billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed and spend their holidays in Saint-Tropez, in the Castle Saint-Thérèse. This is a vast estate of the Egyptian magnate.
1997 End of July: The two princes William