I've read the Daily Mail and Sun reports on the first two days of the inquest about Diana's death. The question apparently is whether she died accidentally or by someone's hand or directive. It's all very puzzling, admittedly, since one thinks special people are outside the reach of ordinary horrible events.

The photos of Diana and Dodi going in and about the Ritz in the afternoon of August 30th are interesting because they're less posed, less subjects of being photographed than usual. Just walking where they're going. The later photos are familiar, the ones we've all come to recognize, when she's in the black blazer and khaki slacks.

I have to say I disagree with the papers' characterizations of the principals' facial expressions. In one, Diana doesn't look "uneasy" but simply unsmiling about anything in particular. And in the newly-released photo of the bodyguard and driver reacting to a bright light, it's curious to try and determine what's going on. Some say the photo is not taken moments before the crash while the Conspirtadors say it is. Indeed, to me, Henri Paul doesn't seem to be "grinning" unless that means something different in British tabloids than to me. I'm afraid I think his expression lends credence to the conspiracy theory because he looks startled, presumably by the bright light that Burrell is trying to block with the visor. But as for when the photo was taken . . . either it wasn't that night or it isn't Diana. The inside-car photos just don't look right as far as Diana is concerned. In all the previous photos that day, her hair is short, almost straight and ash blond. In the inside-car photos, the woman in back has nearly-shoulder-length, curly and yellow-blond hair. The jacket and head on the man on the right do look like Dodi in pictures from that day but the hair and height of the woman on the left do not look at all like the pictures of Diana that day.

Shall I start my own conspiracy theory and wonder aloud whether it wasn't even Diana in the car? Wow, that would be a peachy thing to add to all this mess, wouldn't it, if they'd killed someone but not Diana. Hmm, maybe she faked an accident so she could escape the royal craziness and go off on her own. Although that supposes that she really didn't like the glitz and celebrity and not a love/hate feeling about it. Anyway, deciding on orchestrating a fake accident would explain why she looks so cheery in the elevator photos. And why the princes have grown up so apparently calmly - because she's been there all along, just in utter disguise. Hey, why not?

So my conclusion is that, whatever else may be as to accident or murder by MI6 or 5 or Prince Philip or no one, either that photo isn't from that night or that woman isn't Diana.

Labels: headlines, reflections