- (AFP) - Britain's first official inquest into the deaths
of Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, who died in a Paris car
crash six years ago, is to be opened on January 6, a spokesman for the
royal family said.
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- The legal probe will investigate the circumstances of
how Diana and Fayed were killed on August 31, 1997 after their Mercedes
limousine crashed at speed in an underpass while attempting to escape a
group of press photographers.
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- An official French probe concluded that the crash was
caused by chauffeur Henri Paul, who was not properly trained in driving
the heavy and powerful armoured car and was driving at excessive speed
while drunk.
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- An official public hearing into the deaths has never
been held in Britain.
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- Michael Burgess, the official coroner for Britain's Queen
Elizabeth II, said separate hearings into Diana's and Fayed's deaths would
be opened on the same date next month.
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- A spokesman for the late princess's ex-husband, Prince
Charles, said: "We always understood the law required an inquest at
some point."
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- The spokesman added: "It's entirely a matter for
the coroner."
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