Report on Diana's Death Stirs Surge in Conspiracy Theories

LONDON, Dec. 12, 2006 — -- After working for three years, spending $8 million, hearing 1,500 witness statements, examining 20,000 official documents and reconstructing the crash scene, the former London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens has reportedly concluded that there was no murder, no coverup and no conspiracy.

More than nine years after Diana and her lover Dodi Al Fayed were killed in a high-speed car chase in Paris, a 400-page report will be published, which could finally lay to rest conspiracy theories that she was murdered.

Of course, it is unlikely that there will ever be an end to the theorizing. According to a BBC opinion poll, nearly a third of Brits still believe Diana's death was not an accident.

"Nobody wants to think that somebody so gorgeous, so troubled, so interesting could have died such an ordinary death," said Ingrid Seward, editor in chief of Majesty Magazine.

In August 1997, the world witnessed an unprecedented public outpouring of grief on the streets of London, but the British public now wants the constant media frenzy to stop.

"There has been so much inconsequential ripple that the public has become punch-drunk," said Max Clifford, Britain's best-known publicist.

The British people are completely bewildered by the inquiry, he said. The majority of Brits have grown apathetic, and they are now praying for peace for the "People's Princess."

Most Brits may hope that the result of the new inquiry will put an end to the many conspiracy theories that have circulated, but the report, which is expected to be released Thursday, seems to be doing quite the reverse. It has fanned more conjecture, and unconfirmed leaks seem to have flooded the media.

A two-year investigation in France blamed the driver, Henri Paul, for speeding and losing control because he was high on a cocktail of alcohol and prescription drugs. It also criticized the paparazzi for pursuing the car.