London (CNN) -- Princess Diana, murdered? By the British military?
Pshaw, say royal analysts in reaction to news over the weekend of
a newly revealed allegation that elite British soldiers were in on Diana's 1997
death in a Paris car crash.
"I'm in my 40s now, and as long as I've been alive, every
four or five years there's been another documentary, another book about the
assassination of John Kennedy," royal analyst Mark Saunders told CNN.
"And to some extent, Diana is rapidly becoming the new Kennedy. It's just
continuous. It doesn't stop."
Wildly popular in life and death, Diana died on August 31, 1997,
after the car she was riding in slammed into a pillar in a Paris overpass. Her
boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, also died.
Investigators concluded that Paul was drunk and speeding when the
accident occurred, and despite at least three inquiries -- including a lengthy
London police inquiry that poured cold water on all forms of conspiracy
theories in Diana's death -- whispers of collusion and cover-up have persisted.
The latest claim, published by Press Association, the Sunday
People newspaper and other British media outlets, alleges that members of
Britain's elite Special Air Service commando unit were involved in
assassinating Diana.
The claim appears to have been sent first to military authorities
and then to London police by the parents-in-law of a British special forces
sniper after his marriage had fallen apart, according to an article on the
website of the Sunday People newspaper. It did not offer a source for its
reporting, but the paper indicated that the parents were questioning the
integrity of the soldier, who had testified in another soldier's court-martial.
Sunday People said it had seen a seven-page handwritten letter by
the in-laws alleging that the soldier, whom the newspaper did not name, had boasted
to his wife that the commando unit was behind the deaths.
Neither the Sunday People piece nor an earlier version carried by
Press Association offered details of the claimed involvement by soldiers in the
deaths.
London police said Saturday that its investigators were assessing
the "relevance and credibility" of the information, but stressed
tersely that their review did not amount to a "re-investigation."
A spokesman for Lord Stevens, the former Scotland Yard chief who
led the department's inquiry, said that "if anything new has come to light
it should passed to its rightful place at the Met (Metropolitan Police), who
will no doubt look into the matter appropriately."
Palace officials declined to comment to CNN over the weekend, and
the UK Ministry of Defence told CNN only that "this is for Metropolitan
Police to investigate."
The Mirror newspaper quoted Dai Davies, a former head of royal
protection, as saying he was "mystified how any new information can
possibly allege anything other than this was a tragic accident."
Saunders, author of "Diana and the Paparazzi" and other
books on the princess, likewise said he doesn't expect anything from the new
revelations.
"That was one of the most intensive investigations ever
carried out in this country," Saunders said of the London police inquiry
into Diana's death. "And no matter how you looked at it, no matter what
angle you looked at the conspiracy theories from, you just came up against a
brick wall."
"It's just not feasible that they would have carried out such
an act," he said of the palace and the military.
"People don't want to believe that someone as loved as
Princess Diana can just die in a road accident," he said. "It just
isn't enough. They want more."
Katie Nicholl, royal editor for the Mail on Sunday newspaper, told
CNN's Kate Bolduan on Monday that it's worth taking a look at the timing of the
allegations -- just weeks before the anniversary of Diana's death. They also
come about a month before the UK premiere of a new movie, "Diana,"
about the princess's life.
"It does prove, if nothing else, that 16 years on, Diana is
still an irresistible news story," Nicholl said. "She's still selling
papers, Kate, 16 years after her death."
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