Mohamed Al Fayed has been giving evidence at London’s Royal Courts of Justice at the inquest into the death of his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales.
He said this was his moment. Stepping out of his chauffeured car and into the media glare Mohammed Al Fayed was defiant from the start.
“I’ve been fighting for 10 years,” he said “This is the moment for me to say exactly what I feel happened to my son and Diana.”
And he certainly didn’t hold back when he got into the witness box.
For Mr Al Fayed it’s simple, “black and white”. Princess Diana and his son were murdered because they were going to get married and Diana was pregnant.
And according to Mr Al Fayed, everyone was in on the conspiracy. From the top officials who didn’t pass on a note from Diana in which she said she feared for her life to the driver Henri Paul; they were all in the pay of the security services or the “dark forces”.
The princess’s former butler, Paul Burrell, and her sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale were also part of the cover-up, according to Mr Al Fayed.
And of course, as he had maintained for years, Prince Philip and Prince Charles were in charge.
His conspiracy theories are well known, but never before has Mr Al Fayed had such an opportunity to air them at such great length and never before have they been pulled apart by top lawyers.
At the start, Mr Burnett, counsel for the coroner, called him “a great buccaneering businessman” but during cross-examination Mr Al Fayed’s often incoherent and at times amusing ramblings raised chuckles from the public gallery and quips from the legal team.
At one point, Lord Justice Scott Baker remarked: “A lot of people were involved in the plot, yes?”
