These decade-old scenes collected from 31 security cameras at the Hotel Ritz in Paris were shown Thursday to a jury that eventually must decide what, if anything, they signify about how the driver, the princess and her boyfriend came to die in a car crash.
Much of the imagery presented Thursday showed the growing crowd of photographers and bystanders at the front of the hotel hoping to see Diana with Dodi Fayed, her latest boyfriend.
The action, however, was at the back of the hotel at the service entrance, where Diana and Fayed are seen standing for seven minutes waiting for their car, his left arm protectively around her waist.Photos: Diana's Last Photos
Henri Paul, the driver who died with the couple in the early hours of Aug. 31, 1997, is seen popping in and out of the service entrance, apparently looking for the car.
As midnight approaches, an elaborate plan is in place. Decoy cars move to distract attention, reports CBS New correspondent Sheila MacVicar.Timeline: Diana's Final Hours
Minutes before the car arrives, he spots photographers Serge Benhamou and Jacques Langevin standing on the opposite side of the Rue Cambon. Paul waves, and goes back inside.
In another scene, he talks to the Diana and Fayed, and the princess responds with a left-handed salute. Once the car arrives, the couple jump in, Paul takes the wheel and they are off within seconds, pursued by photographers Benhamou, Langevin, David Odekerken and Fabrice Chassery.
About 15 minutes later, Paul lost control in the Pont d'Alma tunnel. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only survivor.
Paul, the acting head of security at the hotel, is a key figure. French and British police both concluded that he had double the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, and lost control of the car as it raced ahead of pursuing photographers.
One of the puzzles of the night is why the couple had suddenly become so camera-shy.
"In all the years I traveled with Diana, the first thing I ever did if there was an intrusion, I always made my way to the paparazzi and said, 'What do you want here?'" former Royal Protection officer Ken Wharfe told MacVicar.
"They want thing one and only," said Wharfe. "A picture."
Fayed's father, Mohamed al Fayed, claims that Paul was a paid informer for French and British intelligence services, that he was not drunk, that blood tests were faked and that Paul was somehow induced to take the route that led to the tunnel.
