The royals did it. It was a secret service plot. Her driver was blinded by a flash of light. Dozens of conspiracy theories continue to circulate about Princess Diana 10 years after her death. Google "Diana" and "conspiracy theory" and there are 121,000 entries - fewer than Elvis (134,000) and John F. Kennedy (201,000) but a lot more than Marilyn Monroe (25,100).
Among the more outlandish is the one that Diana, sick of constant media intrusion in her private life, faked her own death and went to live incognito on a tropical island with Dodi Fayed. Others, focusing on an alleged establishment plot to murder her, have been maintained by Fayed's father Mohamed, the Egyptian-born millionaire owner of the upmarket Harrods department store in west London. Conspiracy theorists also remember Diana's own words in a 1995 BBC interview after splitting from Prince Charles when she said the royal family now saw her as a "problem" and a "liability" to be dealt with. Yet a French judicial investigation and a three-year British inquiry into allegations of conspiracy to murder found no evidence to support the claims.
Former Scotland Yard chief John Stevens last December concluded the princess's death was a "tragic accident" caused by her chauffeur Henri Paul travelling at excessive speed while over the alcohol limit for driving. There was no conspiracy, Diana was not pregnant, there was no indication she was about to marry Dodi, Paul was not blinded by a flashing light and his blood samples were not switched after his death, Stevens said.
But a Gfk NOP poll published last December ahead of "The Conspiracy Files" television series for the BBC found that nearly one in three of Britons believed Diana's death was not an accident - and 26 percent were unsure. So why the persistent speculation - mostly published in cyberspace - that the crash was anything other than what royal coroner Michael Burgess in January 2004 described as a "sad but relatively straightforward road traffic accident?" Psychologists, sociologists and conspiracy theory specialists point to many people's mistrust of the authorities and a deep cynicism as to the motives of those in power.
Others highlight paranoia among the fringes of society, a sense of powerlessness by individuals in the face of big business or merely a human need for answers. Hollywood films like director Oliver Stone's "JFK" and television series such as "The X Files" are said to encourage scepticism about "official" versions.
Speculation fills the void where exact explanations are lacking. Diana's friend, Rosa Monckton, told the BBC programme: "Because she was such an extraordinary women, people find it completely unacceptable that someone like that should have such an ordinary death, a car crash." For Jude Davies, author of "Diana, A Cultural History: Gender, Race, Nation and the People's Princess," the phenomenon stems from her popularity, empathetic qualities and genuine grief at her passing. Diana was seen as a mythical figure, galvanising people's hopes and dreams but then cut short in her prime, Davies, from the University of Winchester in southern England, told AFP.
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