Mohamed Al Fayed was certain Britain’s Princess Diana and his son Dodi were victims of a murder plot when he was told of their fatal Paris car crash.
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The Harrods boss was called by Franz Klein, the president of the Paris Ritz hotel, where the couple had been staying, about 20 minutes after the accident who told him Dodi had died but Diana was still alive.
Klein recalled the conversation he had with Al Fayed at the inquest into the couple’s death at London’s High Court.
He said: ‘When I told him, Mr. Fayed very calmly said to me, ‘Frank, this is not an accident, this is a plot or an assassination.’ I said, ‘You cannot say that, it’s an accident,’ and he said, ‘Frank I know more than you know, more than you think.’
Diana and Dodi Fayed died after their Mercedes slammed into pillar 13 of the Pont de l’Alma tunnel while being pursued by paparazzi in the early hours of August 31, 1997.
Although Dodi, along with driver Henri Paul, died on the scene, Diana wasn’t pronounced dead until she had received treatment at the Pitie-Salpetiere Hospital.
Al Fayed has always claimed the couple were killed by the British establishment as they were about to announce their engagement and Diana was pregnant.
During his testimony, Klein also claimed Dodi had told him he planned to get married and had already bought Diana an engagement ring.
He said: ‘I remember very well. He called me and he said, ‘Frank I just passed by a jewellery shop.’ He said, ‘I want to buy some jewellery. I’m going to get engaged.’
He said Dodi had told him of plans for the couple to live at Villa Windsor in Paris.
He added: ‘He did not mention the princess by name but he did tell me that he was going to stay in Paris, to live, he told me he was going to move to the Villa Windsor with his girlfriend and he told me, all the time in English, that they were going to get married.’
Earlier this week, the jury were told that it was very unlikely Diana was pregnant.
