An inquest into the death of Princess Diana opened today ten years after she was killed in a Paris car crash.
Diana (36), her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed (42), and chauffeur Henri Paul were killed when their Mercedes car crashed in a road tunnel on
August 31st , 1997 as they sped away from the Ritz Hotel in Paris, pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes.
Mohamed Al Fayed, father of Dodi, alleges the couple were killed on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip. Mr Al Fayed fought a long legal battle to have the inquest heard by a judge and jury.
London's High Court is expected to spend up to six months deciding if the deaths were an accident.
Major investigations by French and British police have concluded the deaths were a crash caused by a speeding chauffeur, who was found to be drunk.
Britain had to wait for the French legal process to end and then for the British police investigation to finish before the inquests into Diana's and Fayed's deaths could begin.
Under British law, an inquest is needed to determine the cause of death when someone dies unnaturally.
By the time it ends, the legal process may have cost British taxpayers up to £10 million.