Buzz Begins As Diana Inquest Opens

The royal coroner launched Britain's first formal inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, on Tuesday and asked London police to examine a variety of conspiracy theories that have sprung up since her death.

As the long-awaited probe opened, a newspaper reported that Diana believed her ex-husband, Prince Charles, was plotting to kill her by staging a fatal car accident. The paper cited an alleged letter from the princess to her butler months before her death.

CBS News Correspondent Drew Levinson reports that for the people of Great Britain who watched their beloved princess be buried — and can't seem to put the story behind them — this once again allows them to question what happened.

"The inquest will finally put to rest all the conspiracy theories about her death," said Paul Thompson, a newspaper reporter.

A French investigation found that the 1997 Paris car crash that killed Diana, Fayed and their driver Henri Paul was an accident — and that Paul had been drinking and speeding. But that has not quelled various theories of a plot to kill the princess or to cover up details in her death.

Royal coroner Michael Burgess suggested his inquest would be a broad one to try to clear away some of the speculation, saying he asked London's Metropolitan Police to examine whether conspiracy theories should be part of the investigation.

"I'm aware that there is speculation that these deaths were not the result of a sad but relatively straightforward road traffic accident in Paris," Burgess said.

Burgess said he would focus on four key questions — "who the deceased person was, and how, when and where the cause of death arose."

Burgess then adjourned the case, saying it likely would reopen early next year. He explained that potential witnesses live abroad, and French judicial proceeding and appeals must be concluded before he could obtain documentation compiled by French investigators.

Fayed's father, Egyptian-born billionaire Mohammed al Fayed has repeatedly called for a full public inquiry into the deaths, contending that his 42-year-old son and Diana, 36, were murdered.

"This is what we have been waiting for six years," al Fayed told APTN as he arrived at the Diana inquest. "At last I hope we can see the light."

Al Fayed at one time accused Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, of masterminding a plot to kill Diana because the royal family allegedly objected to her relationship with an Egyptian.

Asked about the suspicions contained in the alleged Diana letter, al Fayed told reporters, "I'm always saying this from the beginning. I suspect not only Prince Charles" but also Philip.

In the alleged October 1996 letter from Diana to her butler, Paul Burrell, the princess said she believed that Charles planned to kill her to open the way for his remarriage, The Daily Mirror tabloid reported.

A spokeswoman for Clarence House, Charles' official residence, had no comment on the report.

Burrell released the note in October, and it was reported in The Mirror at the time — but words identifying the person she accused were blanked out. On Tuesday, the tabloid reported the full reference in the letter.

"My husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry," the paper quoted the note as saying. The paper reprinted a photo of the letter with the words "my husband" still blacked out.

"I never wanted the name published," Burrell said. "I'm not happy."

The Mirror said Burrell intended to hand the letter to Burgess, though the office of Burrell's spokeswoman could not say whether he had done so.

After some initial reluctance, British news outlets joined in reporting what The Daily Mirror tabloid splashed across its front page, reports CBS News Correspondent Steve Holt.

Parallel to allegations of a murder plot, there have been unsubstantiated stories of photographs of the crash site being stolen, of Diana being pregnant, suspicion about closed-circuit TV cameras inside the tunnel where the crash occurred that were said to have been turned to face a wall, and claims that Diana could have been saved if she had reached a hospital more quickly.

Diana's former bodyguard Ken Wharfe dismissed the possibility that she was murdered.

"I have said this many, many times, the Princess of Wales was killed tragically in nothing more than a mundane road traffic accident," he told ITV television.

"If we look at the conspiracy theories perpetrated by Mohamed al Fayed again, you look at the evidence, there is no evidence here. It is mere speculation," Wharfe said.

Many in Britain — and more around the world — appear to share al Fayed's suspicions in varying degrees, although Diana's friends and family dismiss the murder claim and other rumors.

In 2002, France's highest court dropped manslaughter charges against nine photographers who pursued the car before it crashed or who took photos at the site. In November, a French court acquitted three photographers in a case brought by al Fayed, who alleged they invaded his son's privacy by taking pictures at the crash scene. Prosecutors have appealed that verdict.

Clarence House said Prince Charles and his sons, Princes William and Harry, "are very pleased that the inquest is finally under way." They did not attend the formal opening.

One of Diana's sisters, Lady Sarah McQuorquodale, did attend.

The inquest may "give rise to considerable and possibly unnecessary intrusion into private grief. That I regret, just as I regret the untold pain for some in having to relive the experiences surrounding the deaths," Burgess said.