A court in France has agreed to hear an appeal
by the multi-millionaire businessman Mohamed
al-Fayed over the decision not to press
charges in the Diana crash case.
The Harrods owner wants to challenge the
decision by the French authorities not to bring
criminal charges against nine photographers
and a motorcyclist in relation to the deaths of
Diana, Princess of Wales and his son Dodi
al-Fayed.
Investigating
magistrates said in a
report released last
September that driver
Henri Paul was to
blame for the 1997
crash because he was
drunk and using
anti-depressants.
On the basis of the
report, Paris
prosecutors dropped
manslaughter and other
charges levelled at a group of paparazzi who
followed the al-Fayed car from the Paris Ritz.
However French judicial officials said an appeal
against the decision would begin on 15
September.
The al-Fayed family has long argued that
photographers were responsible for the
accident.
But Mohamed al-Fayed has also voiced the
highly controversial theory that the deaths of
Diana and Dodi were caused by the British
security services because they planned to
marry.
Under French law, any party to a case may
contest a decision by investigating
magistrates. Appeals go before a three-judge
panel which can take several months to study
them.
However, legal experts say most appeals
against decisions to drop charges do not
succeed.
~*~
Norway's prince tells of his love for
single mother (Electronic Telegraph)
By Caroline Davies
CROWN Prince Haakon of Norway, first in line to the throne, has
announced on state television his love for a young single mother.
The 26-year-old prince took the unprecedented step to quell frenzied
speculation dominating his country's media. He confirmed that he is having a
relationship with Mette Marit Tjessem Hoiby, also 26, an anthropology
student, part-time waitress and mother of a three-year-old son.
The announcement during an interview on the state network NRK is unlikely
to shock a nation where 49 per cent of all children are born to single mothers,
the highest percentage in Europe. It is also likely that the prince's plea to be
allowed privacy to develop the relationship will be heeded. Norwegians are
content to allow their royals their private lives.
But Prince Haakon's initiative was sufficiently startling for his father, King
Harald, to warn the prime minister before the broadcast. For several weeks
now the local media have reported that Prince Haakon was dating Miss
Hoiby, a commoner, and even spent part of the week living with her at his
Oslo apartment.
On Sunday he announced: "I have a girlfriend and her name is Matte Marit."
He said he was breaking his principle of not discussing such matters in the
hope that the media would ease off. He admitted his girlfriend had been active
in the past in house parties - huge dances where drugs were often used. But
that had been in the early Nineties and was now a closed chapter, said the
prince, who returned to Norway a year ago after studying in the United
States.
He said: "The reason I have decided to go public now is that if I had been
passive, my girlfriend, her son, her family, her friends and acquaintances could
all have been dragged into this unnecessarily." However, a further concern is
that the father of Miss Hoiby's child has convictions for possession of cocaine.
Unconventional relationships are a hallmark of the Norwegian monarchy.
King Harald, the prince's father, stood up to his own father, the late King
Olav V, for years by refusing to marry anybody but his childhood sweetheart,
the commoner Sonja Haraldsen. The old king relented and Sonja is now
Norway's queen.
~*~
Duchess is talk of town(Electronic Telegraph)
By Jessica Callan
THE Duchess of York joined the ranks of the
4,500 journalists at the Cannes Film Festival
yesterday when she interviewed George
Clooney, the former ER star.
The Duchess, who joined the American NBC
network as a £250,000 special correspondent in
September, interviewed Clooney for 20 minutes.
His film O Brother, Where Art Thou? had its premiere on Friday.
After the interview, the Duchess said: "It went very well."