Diana note ‘predicting death’ not handed to investigators for six years, new documentary claims

Infamous ‘Mishcon note’ featured in new series ‘Investigating Diana: Death in Paris’ which debuts on Channel Four ahead of the 25th anniversary

Zoe Tidman
Monday 22 August 2022 07:22 BST
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A note which says Princess Diana suggested she could die in a staged car crash was only passed to French investigators six years after the collision that killed her, according to a new documentary.

The series makes claims over the “Mishcon Note”, written by the Princess of Wales’ legal adviser in 1995.

It is reportedly an account of what Diana said during a meeting with Victor Mishcon and her personal private secretary at the time.

It alleges Diana said a source had told her there would be efforts to “get rid of her” by April 1996 and this would take place by a car accident that would either kill or injure her.

The Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris on 3 1August, 1997. Her partner, Dodi Al-Fayed, and the driver, Henri Paul, were also killed.

Paul was deemed to be under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs and a 2008 inquest found Diana was unlawfully killed as a result of “grossly negligent” driving.

The new documentary, Investigating Diana: Death In Paris, explores the police investigations that followed the crash and is being screened ahead of the 25th anniversary in 10 days time.

Mishcon reportedly handed his note to senior Metropolitan Police officers in 1997.

Diana died alongside her partner, Dodi Al-Fayed, and driver Henri Paul in the Paris crash
Diana died alongside her partner, Dodi Al-Fayed, and driver Henri Paul in the Paris crash (AFP via Getty Images)

The documentary claims it was not passed on to French authorities investigating the car crash until six years later, according to the Daily Mail.

It also alleges Diana’s brothers and sisters only found out about the note more than a decade after it was written, and Prince William and Harry were also unaware of it for a long time, the newspaper reports.

A co-production between Channel 4 and Discovery Plus, the story will be told as a “gripping and forensic police procedural” and explore “how powerful individuals, the press and the internet created and fuelled conspiracy theories that overwhelmed facts and called into question the very nature of truth”.

It will feature interviews with detectives from both forces, some of them speaking publicly for the first time.

The series will also examine the public’s “insatiable demand for answers, which fuelled unprecedented press interest and the proliferation of online chatrooms, where speculation on the ‘real cause’ of Diana’s death became one of the first viral sensations of the early internet”.

Investigating Diana: Death In Paris will air on Channel 4 and All4 from 21 August.

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