Diana was on the Pill, inquest hears

See the footage from the inquest

Read the transcripts

Previously unseen CCTV footage of the last hours of Princess Diana’s life has been released in court as part of the inquest into her death.

The footage – coloured pictures taken from the 43 cameras at the Ritz hotel in Paris – covers the final movements of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed, who also died with the Princess in a car crash in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997.

The action centres around the Ritz, owned by Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed, and shows the paparazzi gathered outside, Diana and Dodi arriving and leaving for dinner, and Dodi leaving to visit the Repossi jewellers – a visit his father claims was to buy an engagement ring for the Princess.

The footage, screened to the Diana inquest jury at London’s High Court this afternoon, begins about 4pm on Saturday August 30 when paparazzi, some on motorbikes, gather outside the front of the Ritz.

Around half an hour later the Princess and Dodi arrive in a black Mercedes, believed to be the same one which crashed in the Alma tunnel, driven by chauffeur Henri Paul, who was also acting as head of security for the couple on the night.

Diana, smiling in most of the footage, was dressed in a light-coloured suit and black top, wore her sunglasses on her head and carried a creme-coloured handbag. Dodi wore a black blazer and jeans.

The couple were shown walking through the lobby of the hotel and being taken up to the Imperial suite by Claude Roulet, deputy to the director of the hotel.

Diana and Dodi are then caught on the CCTV in the foyer of the Imperial Suite at 16.38, walking into Room 102.

The footage then moves on to show images of Dodi leaving the hotel to pay a visit to Repossi the jeweller’s.

Narrating the footage, taken at 17.06, Inspector Paul Carpenter told the jury: “Dodi Al Fayed appears on the left and Trevor Rees Jones will then depart at that stage. He goes downstairs to arrange the departure of Dodi to go to Repossi’s with Mr Roulet.”

Once word got out that Diana and Dodi were at the hotel more photographers could be seen congregating outside the hotel as well as members of the public eager to catch a glimpse of the princess.

The footage later shows the couple leaving by the back door of the hotel for Dodi’s apartment on the Rue Arsene-Houssaye, around 7pm, when Henri Paul goes off duty.

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