Raw footage taken from the CCTV system at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on August 30 and 31, 1997, showing what happened at the hotel during Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul’s final hours. This video was compiled for the inquests held in London into the deaths of the Princess and Dodi Fayed in 2007.
The video was originally presented to the inquest jury on October 3 and 4, 2007 by Inspector Paul Carpenter of the Metropolitan Police. His full testimony in which he narrates what appears in the footage.
The first generation copies of the tapes were passed to the Metropolitan Police by their colleagues in Paris in 2006. The Paris police had seized them as part of their investigation into the crash in 1997.
The first 25 minutes of the video show the couple’s first visit to the hotel between 4.35pm and 7pm on August 30, 1997 including the collection of a ring that was later said to be an engagement ring. There is a separate compilation of CCTV on the subject of that ring which along with other evidence established that, in all probability, Dodi intended it as simply a gift to the Princess.
From 25 minutes to end covers from the couple’s unexpected return to the hotel at 9.52pm to the time the Mercedes departed with Henri Paul driving at twenty past midnight. The crash occurred in the Alma Underpass, 2.3km away about 3 minutes later.
The inquest provided floor plans of the Ritz Hotel as it was in 1997 to assist the viewer.
Please note that the times embedded by the cameras onto the footage is not synchronized. In 1997, there was also no CCTV coverage of the restaurant where Diana and Dodi first went after their return but left after 10 minutes or of the Bar Vendome where Henri Paul consumed two glasses of Ricard less than two hours before he took the wheel. The evidence Henri Paul did consume this alcohol, which in itself would have rendered him unfit to drive, was established by the testimony of the bar staff who served him and the bill generated for the table he sat at.
The re-emergence of this video on the internet is in the public interest as despite the clear and unambiguous verdict of the jury in 2008, there have been a number of books and a least one film produced since then still claiming there was a conspiracy to murder the Princess.
If you approach this CCTV and its narrative with an open mind, you will be able to draw your own conclusions as to what really happened that night in Paris when the world lost an iconic figure who is still missed. As bodyguard Kieran Wingfield said during his inquest testimony: “You cannot argue with the CCTV.”
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