See the footage from the inquest

Read the transcripts

Henri Paul, the driver of the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed, spent his last few hours in and around the bar of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, before getting behind the wheel of the Mercedes that was involved in the fatal accident.

CCTV footage, taken from the Ritz on the night of August 30, 1997, was shown to the jury at the High Court in London on the third day of the inquests of the Princess and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed.

Q&A: the Diana inquest

Why is there an inquest and what will happen?

Multimedia

• Video: Diana CCTV footage

• Pictures: Diana inquest - the car crash

• Pictures: CCTV of Diana at the Ritz

BACKGROUND

• Separating fact from fiction in the great Diana conspiracy

• ‘Diana decision is yours alone’

• Inquest hears evidence Diana was on the Pill

• Jury duty with a Royal difference

• Was Diana’s death part of a secret plot?

Related Internet Links

• Coroner's inquest - Official Site

Related Links

• Diana ‘was on Pill’ when she died

• Smiling Diana on 'new' CCTV footage

Multimedia

• Pictures: CCTV of Diana at the Ritz

The driver, who also died when the Mercedes crashed into the wall of Pont de l’Alma tunnel, is seen in the footage walking around the lobby, smoking and talking with paparazzi outside the hotel, and entering the bar after he went off-duty.

Mr Paul, acting head of security at the Ritz, went off duty at 7pm. He was summoned back to work at about 10pm – when Mr Fayed and Diana returned unexpectedly to the hotel, followed by paparazzi – when he was seen returning in his mini, and headed straight for the bar. It is not clear whether he drank alcohol in the intervening period.

There is no CCTV footage of the Ritz bar so it is unknown if Mr Paul consumed alcohol, or if so, how much. The jury has already heard that he ordered two Ricards - an aniseed spirit - that night after his return to the hotel, and toxicology tests showed he was over the drink-drive limit.

Mohamed al Fayed, Mr Fayed's father and owner of the Ritz, insists that Mr Paul was not drunk and that the samples were switched. The jury also watched the sequence in which a very steady Mr Paul bent over to tie his shoelaces.

Yesterday the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, referred to the sequence in his opening address to the jury.

“You can, for example, see him coming down the stairs, bending down and balancing whilst tying his shoelaces and there is no indication that his movements were affected by alcohol; certainly not that you can see on the CCTV film,” he said.

“On the other hand, the experts who have considered this topic are all agreed that some individuals have such a degree of tolerance to alcohol that they may give the appearance of being sober to a casual observer.”

Yesterday the jury was shown footage of the last few hours of Diana’s life, as the Princess, who smiled happily in most of the images, and Dodi entered the Ritz and settled into the Imperial suite. Later Mr Fayed was seen visiting a jeweller, which caused speculation the pair were about to be or were already engaged.

Todays’ footage lasted until about midnight. Mr Paul was suddenly called to drive Diana and Dodi away from the hotel. The trio died in the car crash, in which Trevor Rees, a bodyguard, was badly injured, at 20 minutes past midnight on August 31.

Although trained in driving, Mr Paul was not a chauffeur. It was during the three hours after his return to the hotel that night that the decision was taken for Mr Paul to drive the couple as part of a plan to evade the paparazzi.

Also today the jury is expected to be shown footage from an Australian tourist showing the atmosphere outside the Ritz that night as the paparazzi and members of the public gathered outside the hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of the Princess.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Unlocking the cruellest prison
• Prince Charles named in £81m court battle