Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al Fayed and their driver were killed in the early hours of Sunday, 31 August 1997. The People’s Princess was 36 and leaves behind two young Princes, William and Harry.

Today’s feature

William and Harry: the Future

MUCH of the grief pouring out from all corners of the world following the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales has been expressed on behalf of the two young sons she leaves behind, William and Harry.

Many people have been worried that without their mother at hand to offer love and support, the two boys would suffer extreme emotional hardship, particularly as they are now in the hands of the royal family who are perceived as cold and aloof.

Concern of this nature has not been confined to the watching millions. Earl Spencer voiced his worries over the boys’ future in his famous funeral oration on Saturday, saying that he and the ‘blood family’ would protect William and Harry from the cold protocol of court.

But as the shocking impact of recent events begins to fade, a more positive outcome can be gleaned for the two brothers. Obviously they will need a long time to recover from the emotional blitzkrieg of the last week, but beyond that there is now real hope, for a number of reasons, that William and Harry will be able to grow up as real human beings, just as their mother would have wanted.

First In practical terms, their lives will not be too much changed by Diana’s death. Both the boys have long been used to living separate lives from their parents as they both attend boarding school. Indeed, Diana is thought to have seen the pair for as little as two months of the year on average. They both start school again this week after the summer holidays.

Second, the media, or at least the British media, has promised not to go after William and Harry while they remain of school age. Previously the press agreed not to follow them at school, but have now extended their self imposed ban to all areas of their lives.

Thirdly, Prince Charles has decided to shelve a huge amount of his duties and engagements to provide the kind of support ordinary children take for granted. Charles has already earned praise from child care experts for the way he has handled the tragedy so far and will continue to take charge of his sons’ welfare on a first hand basis. Apparently, he has already planned trips to theme parks and burger bars; the kind of trips Diana was fond of making.

It is still early days, of course, but out of the intense grief of last week it seems the three Windsor men Diana left behind are ready to form a special bond.

Previous features

What Really Happened Sunday 31st of August?

Speculation has surrounded the causes of the car crash that killed Princess Diana ever since news broke of the fatal smash on a Paris street last week that also took the life of Dodi Al Fayed and the car’s driver Henri Paul.

Two major, rival theories have emerged out of the debris of the Mercedes S280 that was carrying the famous passengers: one blames the posse of paparazzi said to be chasing the car; the other points the finger at Paul, who is thought to have been well over the alcohol limit and driving at wildly excessive speeds. Those who sought to finger Paul for the tragedy have largely been members of the same press who would have been the customers for the photos, while the paparazzi were blamed mainly by Paul’s employers, the Al Fayed family.

Most people have found it difficult guess at the truth given the vested interests pushing both theories, a situation which has helped give birth to a bunch of wild conspiracy theories, as LondonNet reveals elsewhere in this site. Now, however, we may be close to getting a glimpse of the truth as the Paris police have leaked some of the findings of their preliminary findings into the accident.

For the Al Fayeds the news is bad as the police would appear to come down firmly on the side of those who say Paul was responsible for the crash. Police now believe that photographers were at least 100 metres behind the Mercedes at the time of the crash, rather than grouped around as spokespeople for the Al Fayeds have claimed. They also go with the idea that Paul was at least three times the drink drive limit despite video evidence to the contrary and despite some doubts over the blood tests performed on the dead driver.

The new police report has now been passed to the investigating magistrate who earlier decided to press ahead with manslaughter charges against some paparazzi. Insiders reckon the magistrate may now reverse his decision and some believe photographers could even start legal proceedings against the authorities.

The next development in the investigation is likely to come from the results of a reconstruction of the accident the police are planning plus details of the mechanical investigation officers have undertaken on the smashed up car. The crash’s only survivor, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, is also expected to be able to talk soon. There are already some reports that he has whispered that he could do nothing about the crash.

Branson Plans Di Album

VIRGIN boss Richard Branson is planning to release a tribute album to Diana, Princess of Wales.

Branson counted himself as one of the tragic princess’s closest celebrity friends and sees the album as the perfect way to honour the woman killed in a Paris car smash eight days ago.

The album will feature Elton John’s rewritten ‘Candle in the Wind’ and will include songs by luminaries of the pop world such as Eric Clapton, Sting, George Michael, Chris de Burgh and Paul McCartney.

All proceeds from the sale of the album, which is likely to reach shops in Britain in time for this Christmas, will go to the Diana Memorial Fund.

The fund itself is set to become one of the biggest in British history as donations have already topped 100 million pounds ($150 million). Sales of the single of Candle in the Wind are expected to add a further 3 million pounds ($4 million) and some experts are predicting that the fund could eventually top an astonishing 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion).

Although the full list of recipients of the fund has yet to be finalised, those charities closest to Diana’s heart such as AIDS counselling and land mine victim support can expect to be get huge hand outs.

The Funeral Earl Spencer Hits Out

WITH a world audience reckoned to have run into hundreds of millions listening to his every word, Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer today delivered what many are calling the most important speech in recent British history.

Spencer, who blames the press for his sister’s death, stood in the pulpit of London’s grand Westminster Abbey and spoke from the heart about the issues raised by the recent tragic events.

The Earl, at times quivering with emotion hit out at both the royal family and the media as he sought to come to terms publicly with Diana’s death. He said that the princess’s “blood family” would do all in its powers to protect her two sons from the excesses of tradition in the royal household and the excesses of intrusion by the media.

Spencer said that he found it difficult to understand why the press wanted to hound her, but put it down to the fact that “genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum.”

Immediately after the speech the congregation inside the old abbey broke into spontaneous applause and many pundits believe Spencer’s words will be the catalyst for major changes both inside the monarchy and on the laws regarding press and privacy.