December 19, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 24, 1424

LONDON, Dec 18: Britain’s first official inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, who died in a Paris car crash six years ago, is to be opened on Jan 6, a spokesman for the royal family said on Thursday.

The legal probe will investigate the circumstances of how Diana and Fayed were killed on August 31, 1997 after their Mercedes limousine crashed at speed in an underpass while attempting to escape a group of press photographers.

An official French probe concluded that the crash was caused by chauffeur Henri Paul, who was not properly trained in driving the heavy and powerful armoured car and was driving at excessive speed while drunk.

An official public hearing into the deaths has never been held in Britain.

Michael Burgess, the official coroner for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, said separate hearings into Diana’s and Fayed’s deaths would be opened on the same date next month.

A spokesman for the late princess’s ex-husband, Prince Charles, said: “We always understood the law required an inquest at some point.”—AFP