Explore More
It’s been 25 years since Princess Diana perished in car crash in Paris, changing the trajectory of the royal family forever.
Etoile Limousines owner Jean-Francois Musa was the proprietor of the vehicle that the Princess of Wales died in, alongside Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul, on Aug. 31, 1997.
Musa, 63, is now claiming that French authorities have not allowed him to take back his missing Mercedes-Benz S280.
“It’s legally mine — [but] I have no idea where the car is,” he told the Mirror. “All I know is it is legally mine and obviously I want it back. It should have been returned by now but that hasn’t proved possible. I always owned it outright. It wasn’t subject to any financing.”
While Musa has stated that he wants the wreckage — which experts said could be worth more than $10 million — to be put in an American museum to commemorate the beloved people’s princess, he alleged that the royal family would prefer the automobile to be trashed secretly.
It was reported in 2017 that the car was held in a police impound lot in a shipping container in Creteil — a city outside of Paris.
Conspiracy theories about Diana’s death have long plagued her memory, with many claiming her passing was not an accident.
“There was no plot,” Musa insisted. “This was a routine road accident — the kind all of us dread. It is all very sad.”
Lord Stevens, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, told Times of London recently that theories about the accident are more popular than ever this year, as it marks the 25th anniversary.
The 79-year-old had also led Operation Paget, which investigated the tragedy.
“She was so popular. People find it very difficult to understand how someone like that could die in such an accident,” he said.
He went on: “You will have certain people around who — whatever the evidence — will still think there is a conspiracy here. I think it is probably impossible [to persuade them otherwise].”
A new Discovery+ docuseries, “The Diana Investigations,” reported that Princess Diana predicted she would die two years prior to the accident.
The new investigation revealed that Princess Diana told her lawyer, Victor Mishcon, in 1995 that efforts to “get rid” of her would be attempted in the following year — citing a car accident as one of the possible means.
While Diana claimed “reliable sources” granted her the information, she was tight-lipped about their true identity, as documented in a letter penned by Mishcon.
Dubbed the “Mishcon Note,” the conversation provided eerie insight into what could have led to that fateful night, Aug. 31, 1997, when her driver Henri Paul crashed inside Paris’ Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
With a concoction of prescription drugs and alcohol in his system, and speeding at 65 miles per hour, Paul attempted to ditch paparazzi on motorbikes, and instead sent the Mercedes carrying Princess Diana and her partner Dodi Al-Fayed into a pillar.
Following the crash, Mishcon gave the note to Sir Paul Condon, the Metropolitan Police commissioner at the time, but a formal inquiry into the princess’ death didn’t begin until Jan. 6, 2004.
Called Operation Paget, the then-Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens launched the investigation, unearthing the startling note from a safe kept by Condon.
Stevens interviewed Mishcon prior to the attorney’s death in 2005, confirming that Mishcon “hadn’t held much credence” to the princess’ concerns. In fact, he thought “she was paranoid.”
ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3N7j3Fma3FfpMSvsdFmpp9lk5a%2FbrzRoqWcnaOoeqW1wKeYZpyZmrFutc1mrpqmpKh6tbTEZq2eoJmYuaZ5wZqapGc%3D