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Holding hands with Dodi Fayed and leaning into his embrace, this is one of the last moments in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The CCTV footage, taken at 12.14am on Sunday August 31, 1997, shows the couple seemingly relaxed just inside the service door of the Ritz hotel in Paris, waiting patiently for a car to escort them to Dodi’s nearby apartment and away from the paparazzi who had gathered for a picture of the Princess.

Q&A: the Diana inquest

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• 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

• Footage shows Diana driver going to bar

• Diana ‘was on Pill’ when she died

Multimedia

• Pictures: CCTV of Diana at the Ritz

The images were shown today to the jury at London’s High Court as part of the inquests into the deaths of Diana and Dodi, who died shortly after their exit from the hotel when the Mercedes they were in smashed into a wall in the Pont de l’Alma killing them and the driver of the car, Henri Paul.

The image was one of the last from a batch of CCTV footage which has been shown to the jury over the past two days and detailed the last eight hours of the Princess’ life as she and Dodi came and went from the Ritz.

Just after midnight the pair are seen in the first floor corridor outside the Imperial suite where they had been staying, talking to a security guard, Kes Wingfield. This was, some believe, the moment Dodi decided to change their plans and said he wanted to leave the hotel with Henri Paul via the back door, aiming to elude the photographers waiting outside the front.

Minutes later the couple was joined by Mr Paul, who was acting head of security at the Ritz on the night, and Trevor Rees Jones, a bodyguard.

At ten minutes past midnight Diana, dressed in white trousers and a black blazer, and Dodi, wearing a tan jacket and jeans, enter a service lift down the corridor from their suite, accompanied by Mr Rees Jones and Mr Paul.

While on the short trip to the ground floor, as Mr Rees Jones checks his mobile phone, the Princess appears to playfully scold Dodi, then stifles her laughter with her hand over her mouth in a characteristic gesture.

As the four descend in the lift, Mr Wingfield is seen on cameras at the front of the hotel formulating a decoy plan with other security staff in the lobby.

He arranges for Dodi’s Mercedes to be brought around the front where by now there are scores of people and paparazzi milling around the entrance to the hotel, while another car is to be sent around the back to collect the couple.

Amateur footage, shot by Chloe Papazahariakis, and Australian tourist, and Vlad Borovac, was also shown in court to provide a sense of the atmosphere outside the Ritz and around the Place Vendome as people waited for a glimpse of Diana, one of the most photographed women in the world.

This film shows a large, excited crowd gathering, some people standing on pillars to get a better vantage point and dozens of photographers ready to photograph the couple, who by then were waiting at the rear in the service corridor.

Inside, as Diana and Dodi stand patiently, Mr Rees Jones continually checks his phone while Mr Paul goes outside on the Rue Cambon to see if the car has arrived.

He is seen apparently waving to two paparazzi, who were sitting on scooters across the street. They in turn appear to lift their camera in recognition of Mr Paul, who returns inside to inform Diana and Dodi of their situation.

The couple, who waited nearly seven minutes in the service corridor, appeared calm and patient throughout as their security team milled around.

Then, at 12.21am Diana and Dodi, accompanied by Mr Paul and Mr Rees Jones, leave the hotel and jump into a black Mercedes on the Rue Cambon, for what would become their fatal journey.

The coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, has adjourned court for the weekend. On Monday he, with the 11-member jury and scores of media, will travel to Paris to visit the Ritz and take the same route so the jury can retrace Diana and Dodi’s steps and get a sense of what happened that night.

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