Muhammad Al Fayed creates the conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories

[parallaxicality]

Well, about Diana's death anyway.

There is simply no way to elaborate on the sprawling, gargantuan epic he handed to the coroner's inquest yesterday, with its more than 30 characters, fathers turning against sons, sisters against sisters, husbands against wives. Not even the most deluded conspiracy nut could top it. Diana's sister and brother-in-law helped cover up her murder. Prince Phillip is a Nazi who rules the country behind the scenes. Prince Charles colluded in his ex-wife's murder so he could marry "crocodile" Camilla. Tony Blair, Robin Cook, the CIA, MI6, DGSE and the French ambulance service were all involved.

You know, in a way I can see his point. The Royals ARE a bunch of elitist, xenophobic snobs, and yes, they used to hang out a lot with Nazis. Fayed HAS been kept from earning a passport just because he's Muslim. Prince Phillip, as anyone who has ever heard him talk knows, is a racist, bigoted pig who thinks it's "nice" when he gets to visit "a country that isn't ruled by its people". So the sources for Fayed's fury are plain to see. And of course he mourns the loss of his son.

I honestly believe that in 30 years, a disillusioned Iraq war veteran turned filmmaker will make a movie about al-Fayed's obsessive quest for the truth, and that this courtroom scene will be its climax.

[Lianachan]

The most disappointing thing about Al Fayed, for me, is that all his talk about helping out my beloved Ross County Football Club amounted to nothing at the end of the day.

[Tedward]

Hands up, I like the Royals. But Mr Fayed has a plot somewhere and cannot find it, my opinion of course.

[JohnD]

[ The Royals ARE a bunch of elitist, xenophobic snobs, and yes, they used to hang out a lot with Nazis.

Think you should back up that last statement.
Since the abdicated Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, is now long dead, which Royals are Nazi sympathisers?
As if I cared, but you shouldn't make libellous remarks about anyone.

John

[EndeavorRX7]

The coroner asked Al Fayed if it was possible that he was wrong.

"No way, one hundred per cent," Al Fayed said.

"I am certain. I am the father who lost his son. And I know exactly the situations. I know exactly the facts."

That explains everything!

[Noclevername]

...I thought The Matrix was the "conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories"?

[drainbread]

Meh, Jonestown was a Gooberment plot to rid the world of hippies.

[parallaxicality]

Think you should back up that last statement.
Since the abdicated Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, is now long dead, which Royals are Nazi sympathisers?
As if I cared, but you shouldn't make libellous remarks about anyone.

John

One of the bits of "evidence" presented by Fayed to the inquest was a picture of a young Prince Phillip taking a walk with a Nazi general. That doesn't prove he is a Nazi of course.

[Glom]

I suppose Neville Chamberlain was also a Nazi as well as all Germans still.

[Tedward]

Given what happened in WWII I doubt very much most were sympathizers before the war and certainly less after the truth was known. The nazi's would not have been gentle with them or us. Many people would have been feted by the nazi's before WWII. Our lot tried to appease them!

There were a lot of gaffs and foot in mouth episodes leading up to the war including missing the battle plan that a certain army chap published.

My opinion. Fayed is desperately looking to find a reason for what happened. In my belief he has clouded his view with the spite he has for not getting a passport and the sorrow for the loss of his son. The report that was released a few years ago that included interviews with the security staff on the ground appeared to indicate the plan on the evening was sanctioned by the family security from up on high and changed without the security on the ground sanction.

I also believe there were other reasons for no passport. Have to look that up.

I also believe the truth is an accident, a tragic one.

[Tedward]

Found it.

I have a picture of the RAF being reviewed by Erhard Milch. Does that make the RAF sympathisers?

[parallaxicality]

Yes, but don't tell Mohammed.

[Ivan Viehoff]

Fayed said that Prince Philip used to be called Frankenstein, when actually it was Schleswig-Holstein. Names ending "-stein" are very common in German. Indeed most people are aware that the Holstein is a common breed of cattle. Clearly Fayed is a perceptive man whose recollection can be precisely relied upon in these matters.

When the judge put it to him that his evidence, in particular on Diana's pregnancy, contradicted that of a large number of other witnesses, he claimed that the other witnesses were all lying and/or had been put up to it by the establishment. He's not paranoid, they really are all out to get him.

On the other hand, fascist sympathies were quite widespread in the British upper classes in the 30s. But they mostly changed their mind because of what happened next.

I also observe the following documented aspects:
> The substantial number of out of court settlements by Fayed for sexual harassment by Harrods employees
> Fayed's recorded quotation that the reason he wanted British citizenship was that he didn't like queuing up with the Pakis at Heathrow
> The number of occasions upon which Harrods employees have successfully obtained a finding of racial discrimination at an employment tribunal
> The resignation of the managing director of Harrods Bank, citing improper practices instructed to him by Fayed, leading to the interest taken in the properness of the arrangements there by the Bank of England, which led to Harrods subcontracting the operation of the bank to a reputable bank
> The opening of a safe deposit box belonging to a customer of Harrods Bank, being a person Fayed was known to have an interest in
> The DTI's conclusion that he lied to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in its investigation of the take-over of Harrods
> His bribe to a member of parliament to facilitate his getting citizenship
> His subsequent admission of that bribe to embarrass the MP when he failed to deliver it
> His apparent almost daily handling of very large sums of cash which get handed out to people

When Fayed was last turned down for British citizenship, and the courts forced the then Home Secretary to reveal his reason, I think they mentioned only the bribery issue and lying to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. But he had been turned down earlier, before the bribery came out. I rather think those were the reasons they felt they could publish, and actually there was rather more to it. His brother obtained the citizenship.

Fayed accuses people of having a poor opinion of him and his son because he is Egyptian and Muslim. I think on the evidence of the above many people would reasonably have a poor opinion of Fayed, without those matters even coming to mind, and before even the Paris car crash.

In the case of his son, it is documented that he was engaged to the extent of a wedding celebration was fully arranged, which was due to happen at roughly the time he shared the holiday on a yacht with Diana. He cancelled that wedding and cut off that engagement at extremely short notice. So I don't think much of him either.

On the Paris car crash, it appears that Fayed thought the appropriate way for his son and the princess to escape the press was to put them in a car with a driver, who would then drive extremely fast through the streets of Paris without seat belts (the only person wearing a seatbelt in the car survived). I conclude that Fayed's poor judgment contributed, not inevitably or entirely, but in part, to that outcome. I think a great many other people came to the same conclusion, which is why the feelings of sympathy towards him at the death of his son were combined with certain feelings also of hostility, since it had led to the death of two others also. He, apparently, could not understand why people seemed to be rather going through the motions in expressing sympathy about the loss of his son. But then it would be very normal for a person to have difficulty accepting or coming to terms with the idea that their own decision had contributed materially to their son's death.

The main source for much of the above is Tom Bauer's book "Fayed", which is itself has very detailed sources. Bauer is very careful what he says, and no one has successfully sued Bauer for libel, despite frequent threats to do so.

[mfumbesi]

Will this ever end? I feel sorry for the Princess's sons. Imagine your later mother being used to sell papers, settle scores, etc.

[Halcyon Dayz]

Re: Prince Phillip.

The full name is Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
Just like the queen of Denmark.

Oddly enough the real baron Frankenstein (it's spelt Franckenstein these days) is a British citizen.
Clement von Franckenstein.

[Matherly]

Oddly enough the real baron Frankenstein (it's spelt Franckenstein these days) is a British citizen.
Clement von Franckenstein.

And it's pronounced FRONK-en-shteen

Oh c'mon. Sombody had to say.

[parallaxicality]

I suppose at this point it should be noted that the "real" Victor Frankenstein was not a Baron, or even a Doctor; he was given that title by Hollywood (or possibly Hammer).

[Maksutov]

Who's this "Princess Di" about whom so many have their knickers in a knot?

[Gillianren]

I have to say, I've learned some things about her that makes me, in retrospect, respect her a great deal.

I can understand a father's grief, but it doesn't give him an excuse to lash out at the world. It's hard, but he needs to find a healthy outlet for his pain. It sounds like he's spent the last ten years stewing, brooding, and trying to figure out who hurt him, because somebody must be to blame. Unfortunately, if somebody was to blame, it seems as though practically everybody must have been to blame, given that it's awfully hard to fake all that evidence without powerful intervention. I think the fact that his son seemed barely mentioned in the hoopla must've made things worse. Then again, I'd never heard of his son until the crash.

[drainbread]

And it's pronounced FRONK-en-shteen

Oh c'mon. Sombody had to say.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mOPTriLG5cU

[Noclevername]

I have to say, I've learned some things about her that makes me, in retrospect, respect her a great deal.

I, on the other hand, have learned nothing about her, because she was a total stranger to me, and her death affected my life no more than the death of any random stranger. I have no particular interest in people who happen to be famous; I prefer to focus my attention and emotions on the people I actually know, and the events of their lives and deaths.

I'm sure she was a nice person, did good deeds and all that. But just because someone's on TV doesn't mean their death is any more trgic than the anonymous socccer mom or whoever who dies with no cameras on her.

[Gillianren]

I'm sure she was a nice person, did good deeds and all that. But just because someone's on TV doesn't mean their death is any more trgic than the anonymous socccer mom or whoever who dies with no cameras on her.

Mmm. Depends on how you define "tragic." Not every death is a tragedy, despite what a lot of people think. "Tragedy" has a specific definition that doesn't fit here. It is, however, a shame when someone contributing good things to the world dies. This is true whether it's a good parent--or someone who worked for public awareness of AIDS starting in about 1984 and campaigned for the abolition of land mines.

There are a lot of public figures whose lives and deaths I won't worry about. However, I think that to brush off someone who really worked for the benefit of others as "someone on TV" is in many ways as shallow as to care about someone for the same reason. Princess Diana was the first celebrity to be photographed touching AIDS patients, before Rock Hudson announced his diagnosis, and while that might not mean a lot to some people, it did help awareness that you couldn't just get AIDS by touching someone. And someone as famous as she lending her support to the fight against land mines helped that cause, too. Maybe it shouldn't've. I can think of arguments on both sides. But it did help.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Gillian: A little off topic here, but could I ask for the definition of "tragedy" you're using? I'm curious.

[Gillianren]

Gillian: A little off topic here, but could I ask for the definition of "tragedy" you're using? I'm curious.

The Aristotelian one, actually. In this sense, Hamlet is a tragedy because the hero's own flaws cause his ultimate demise, but Romeo and Juliet is not, because their demise is caused by the situation in which they find themselves. I do not think that Diana's death, or that of a soccer mom in most cases, is a true Aristotelian tragedy. In the first case, it was situational. In the second, I'd need more details!

Edit: I've grown fussy about this, perhaps unreasonably. I just hate seeing good words broadened to the point of uselessness--if you really want to see me rant, get me started on "decimate."

[The Supreme Canuck]

Ah, thank you! And, yes, decimate annoys me as well. I recently read an article in the newspaper where the word was used properly, and it made me very happy. I suppose I expect people to use it incorrectly, now.

[Matherly]

Romeo and Juliet is not, because their demise is caused by the situation in which they find themselves.

You wouldn't call being a flighty little git with impulse control problems as flaw? Romeo completely creates his own situation. If he didn't always insist on making broad dramatic guestures and intead did something sensible like telling the prince that his kinsman had just been killed he and Juliet could have lived happly ever after.

And I'm going waaaaay off topic, arn't I?

[Gillianren]

You wouldn't call being a flighty little git with impulse control problems as flaw? Romeo completely creates his own situation. If he didn't always insist on making broad dramatic guestures and intead did something sensible like telling the prince that his kinsman had just been killed he and Juliet could have lived happly ever after.

And I'm going waaaaay off topic, arn't I?

Well, but the impulse-control problems wouldn't've mattered so much were there not the feud. He and Juliet still would've had the problems with their families; problems were built into the relationship. Oh, I'll not deny that he acted like an idiot, but what do you want from a sixteen-year-old? And, heck, she was thirteen. (Read the play; she has "not yet seen fourteen summers.")

[Matherly]

Well, but the impulse-control problems wouldn't've mattered so much were there not the feud. He and Juliet still would've had the problems with their families; problems were built into the relationship. Oh, I'll not deny that he acted like an idiot, but what do you want from a sixteen-year-old? And, heck, she was thirteen. (Read the play; she has "not yet seen fourteen summers.")

Oh, I have read it. Just didn't like it. I'm not a giant Shakespeare fan, but I can say it's not my favorite.

(I much prefer the comedies.)

[The Supreme Canuck]

Oh, I have read it. Just didn't like it. I'm not a giant Shakespeare fan, but I can say it's not my favorite.

I'll second this. I'm much more of a Macbeth/Hamlet/Othello guy.

[JustAFriend]

Tragically, Fayed sounds as looney as one of the members of my sister-in-law's family.

She lost her teen son to an obvious suicide but went off the deep end with huge convoluted conspiracy theories.
And no one could talk any sense into her.

.....guess some people just cant face reality....