A home video showing the paparazzi and bystanders hoping to glimpse Diana, Princess of Wales, leaving her hotel on the night of the fatal crash was viewed at the inquests yesterday.

The footage, shot by an Australian tourist, shows a scrum of photographers outside the main entrance of the Paris Ritz shortly before midnight. They were preparing their cameras for the Princess and Dodi Fayed, her lover, while a crowd waited excitedly.

Chloe Papazahariakis, who shot the seven-minute film on August 30, 1997, while on holiday in France, captures the fascination the Princess inspired in the public and press. The video shows cameramen jostling for position and enables jurors to identify paparazzi who were present. Paul Carpenter, of the Metropolitan Police, pointed out photographers to the inquest jury.

At one point a blonde woman appears, causing cheers from the crowd who mistook her for the Princess. Mr Carpenter said: “She has no idea what’s going on.” There is a jovial atmosphere as the crowd mingles and on several occasions Ms Papazahariakis’s friends talk to the camera.

Q&A: the Diana inquest

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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

The video also shows how the couple’s staff tried to fool photographers by using one set of cars at the front while the couple were picked up by another car at the rear of the hotel.

Henri Paul, the Princess’s driver, is seen walking out of the hotel and crossing over to the waiting paparazzi, just before a “dummy run” is carried out by security guards.

A black Mercedes, used earlier that evening by the couple, is seen parked outside the hotel with a Range Rover.

As the vehicles move off there are scenes of chaos as photographers run for their cars and scooters, eager to keep up with what they believe is the Mercedes carrying the Princess and Mr Fayed. The crowd gasps as a car makes an abrupt U-turn in the middle of the Place Vendôme.

Minutes later the two cars pull up outside the hotel again. The driver of the Mercedes used on the “dummy run”, identified as Philippe Dourneau, gets out of the driver’s side and is seen chatting briefly with a paparazzo.

A short time later the two cars leave the Ritz again, after the couple have left through the rear exit, using a different Mercedes, although this is not caught on the camera. A male tourist is heard to say: “We missed out, she’s gone out the back door.”

Prince William’s and Prince Harry’s Concert for Diana, held at Wembley on July 1 to mark the tenth anniversary of their mother’s death, raised £1.2 million, Clarence House announced yesterday, with the proceeds to be shared among eight charities. Among them are Harry’s charity, Sentebale, which helps Aids orphans.

The charities will also benefit from the proceeds of the concert DVD, which goes on sale on November 5.

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