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Did the Palace Want Diana Dead?
For years, conspiracy theorists have blamed Buckingham Palace for Diana's death, speculating that the royal family wanted to avoid the embarrassment of watching the princess soil the monarchy with her affairs.Then came a bombshell: In his 2003 memoir, Diana's former butler Paul Burrell made public an explosive letter he said Diana wrote 10 months before her death. "This particular phase of my life is the most dangerous," the letter said. Someone – later revealed by the Daily Mirror to be Prince Charles – was "planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury – to make the path clear to remarry." Was Diana presaging her own demise?
"Preposterous," a palace source told PEOPLE at the time, contending that while the missive was likely genuine, Diana was at her lowest ebb when it was written. Lord Stevens questioned Charles for nearly an hour last December, but neither party is commenting on what transpired. "We are not discussing the content of the discussion," says a palace spokesman.
Close friends of Diana's have raised questions about the letter, saying at the time she was actually happy, having finalized her divorce and forging ahead with new projects such as her campaign against land mines. Says a close friend: "I would be very surprised that she would ever claim that of her husband."
