1 week ago, this story broke:
That the story broke on Associated Press and prompted a (terse) official statement by MPS (the Metropolitan Police Service) obliges the BBC to cover and report the story as news under its Charter.
It's ROYAL Charter.
The Corporation was obliged to give minimal, appropriate coverage to the story - the presentation of which, every hour, on the hour, on 24 hr rolling news channel News24 being probably best likened to the careful behaviour of someone who had recently swallowed a bottle and expects, presently, to very soon be shitting glass.
Notably, the OTHER Global News Wire Service agency, Reuters (which, I am told, is owned by the Rothschild family), didn't seem to cover this story AT ALL.
Diana's (half) brother, Ben Goldsmith, has just exited a failed marriage to Kate Rothschild.....
But I am certain those things are completely unconnected.
Scotland Yard said it was "scoping" the information and "assessing its relevance and credibility".
It said it was "not a re-investigation" into the deaths of the couple in a Paris car crash on 31 August 1997.
An inquest in 2008 found they had been unlawfully killed, partly due to the "gross negligence" of their driver.
In a statement on Saturday evening, the Metropolitan Police said the assessment would be carried out by officers from the specialist crime and operations command.
It added that the deaths had been "thoroughly investigated and examined" by the inquest held at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Reports in several British Sunday newspapers suggest there are allegations the military was involved and that information had been passed to the police by an Army source.
A Met Police spokesman said that the force would "not discuss the source of the information" it was assessing.
A royal spokeswoman also said there would be no comment on the matter from Prince William or Prince Harry, or from Clarence House.
A spokesman for Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed said he had no comment to make, but said he would be "interested in seeing the outcome", adding that he trusted the Met to investigate the information "with vigour".
Paparazzi on motorbikes
Scotland Yard said its assessmet did not come under Operation Paget - the police investigation into allegations that the princess and Mr Al Fayed, her boyfriend, were murdered.
The wreckage of the car after the crash which killed Princess Diana
The car carrying Princess Diana crashed in a tunnel
It was a theory endorsed at the time by Mohamed Al Fayed, the then owner of London store Harrods.
But in December 2006, the report into Operation Paget said it had found no evidence of murder and dismissed all conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths.
Operation Paget concluded, just like the French investigation in 1999, that driver Henri Paul had been drunk and driving at excessive speed.
Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection, told ITV news the deaths were "an accident by any definition, and three separate inquiries... have come to the same independent conclusion".
He added: "I am absolutely convinced this was an accident so I'm mystified, after 13 years, how any new information can possibly allege anything other than that this was a tragic accident."
Unlawful killing
Princess Diana, the former wife of the Prince of Wales and the mother of Princes William and Harry, was 36 when she died alongside Mr Al-Fayed, 42.
Mr Paul was driving when their hired Mercedes crashed into a pillar in Paris's Pont de l'Alma tunnel.
The crash happened after the couple had left the Ritz Hotel and were pursued by paparazzi on motorbikes. Mr Al-Fayed's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only survivor.
At the inquest into their deaths, the jury found the couple had been unlawfully killed and the deaths were the result of "gross negligence" on the part of Mr Paul and the paparazzi.
The paparazzi pursuit, Mr Paul's drink-driving and a lack of seatbelts contributed to the deaths, the jury said.
The inquest lasted more than three months and heard from 250 witnesses.
After the hearing it was announced that its cost had reached £4.5m, with a further £8m spent on the Metropolitan Police investigation.
CCTV footage of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed on the day before they died
Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed died after leaving the Ritz Hotel in Paris on 31 August 1997
A tragic end to a day in Paris
Al Fayed abandons Diana campaign
Diana inquiry costs exceed £12m
Do you see what they've done there...?
Look closely.
Look closely.
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