Nine years ago to the day, Princess Diana was killed in one of the most notorious car crashes in modern times and has been the subject of a conspiracy theory not seen since President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. Can you remember where you where on the night the so called Queen of Hearts died in Paris on August 31st 1997 in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris, I can.

I remember finishing off the night shift in television continuity and arrived home at around 12:30 just after midnight and as I had been working I decided to check the news and make some food. Shortly after looking around Sky I remember coming across CNN who I think were one of the first channels to cover the accident. At the time they had no idea how serious the accident was and were covering the news as “Diana involved in car accident in Paris”. I thought to myself that it was worth following the news item to see what developed and why she had been involved.

As time went on, more news emerged and the status changed from Diana being involved to seriously injured and by morning the most famous and most photographed woman in the World had died. It wasn’t long before all the major channels capable of altering their schedules switched to live coverage and the World was in mourning. In the years that have followed there have been calls for inquests to be held in the UK, conspiracy theorists have gone to town over her death and Mr Al Fayed, owner of London’s Harrod’s store has continually charged that the crash was no accident.

In July this year a new photograph of Princess Diana was published for the world to see by Italian Chi editor Umberto Brindani. There was wide public condemnation of the publication but in his defence Brindani said “he had published the picture for the ‘very simple reason’ that it has never been seen before.” until i started writing this article tonight I hadn’t seen the photograph although I had obviously heard about its existence in the media for some years. She certainly looks peaceful in the photograph.

The photograph took ages to find and in all honesty I stumbled upon it by accident. The Royals, including Harry and William have blasted its publication as you would imagine and the British media outraged that anyone but them had printed the image. The image is now widely on view all around the net and many people including Kieren McCarthy, a freelance journo has a view.

Diana did an amazing amount of work for charity not only in the UK but in far flung countries many celebrities wouldn’t touch, her notoriety helping breaking down the barriers for the AIDS charities and land mines organisations. There has been no one to equal Diana’s work and kindness since.

It’s difficult to really know what happened on that fateful night, Henri Paul was blamed by the police and media for causing the accident, Paul allegedly being three times over the legal limit. It has since been proven that he wasn’t drunk. Who knows what happened, I guess we will never know. Had the accident happened in the UK there would have been such a public outcry and demand for an inquest that we might well have found out the cause. French authorities appear to have swept the cause under the table.