BRITAIN:Any jury at the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed will be drawn from members of the British public and not from the royal household.
That was one of the key decisions to emerge from yesterday's preliminary hearing at the High Court in London, where Lady Butler-Sloss ruled on the issue after hearing legal argument.
While still to decide whether to call a jury, Lady Butler-Sloss decided that it would be "inappropriate" for the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to have a panel drawn from the royal household, as convention and current legislation might have suggested.
The decision produced a rare agreement between the royal family and lawyers for Mohammed al-Fayed, Dodi's father, who continues to reject the recently published conclusion of the Stevens inquiry that there was no conspiracy to murder the couple and no consequent "cover-up" of the circumstances and conditions surrounding their deaths in a car crash in Paris almost 10 years ago.
The court heard part of a letter sent on behalf of Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, expressing their desire that the inquest "should not only be open, fair and transparent" but that it should also "move swiftly to a conclusion".
Lady Butler-Sloss explained that her most important decision was whether to call a jury. Diana was still a member of the royal family when she died, meaning that under current legislation any jury would normally have to be made up of senior members of the royal household.
However, she announced her decision that this would be "entirely inappropriate" after Queen Elizabeth's lawyer, Sir John Nutting QC, argued the public interest would best be served by a jury being selected from the public.
Suggesting it would be "invidious" to have a panel drawn from senior members of the household, Sir John said: "We submit that in the particular circumstances of this case . . . it would be undesirable, even perhaps invidious, to ask for such a jury."
He explained this was "not because we doubt the capacity to reach a fair and true verdict" but in observance of the principle "that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done".
Michael Mansfield QC, representing Mr Fayed, criticised the timing of Lord Stevens's report into the fatal car crash, arguing that it should not have been released so publicly last month.
The inquiry, he said, had given the impression that the Diana case was now closed: "The public, as well as national and international media, have regarded what is printed in the report as the final and the official verdict."
Lady Butler-Sloss also acknowledged that there was "much in what Lord Stevens's report says which is capable of challenge".
She also announced that she would hold two joint or "concurrent" inquests, saying separate inquests would be "unbelievably expensive" and exhausting, as well as upsetting for the families. At least 40 witnesses are likely to be called.
Concern about the continued attention of paparazzi is likely to be renewed today as Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton, celebrates her 25th birthday.