Preliminary inquest hearings into the deaths of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al Fayed are expected to take place in Britain early next year, judicial authorities said on Thursday.
One of Britain’s most senior former judges, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, will assume control of proceedings, the Judicial Communications Office said.
She will replace the royal coroner, Michael Burgess, who took himself off the case in July.
The ex-wife of Britain’s heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and her boyfriend died in a Paris car wreck nine years ago.
“Lady Butler Sloss will be taking up the appointments in October 2006, and it is anticipated that the first preliminary hearings will take place early in the New Year,” the Judicial Communications Office said in a statement.
Separate hearings?
It has not yet been decided, however, whether the hearings will occur together or separately, a spokeswoman said.
Butler-Sloss will look at evidence from a British inquiry into the deaths on Aug. 31, 1997, which is headed by Sir John Stevens, the former head of the Metropolitan Police.
She will also study the conclusions of a French investigation, which ruled in 1999 that the princess’s car crashed in a tunnel because her driver, Henri Paul — who also died in the crash — was drunk and had been driving too fast.
Dodi’s father, Harrods’ owner Mohamed al Fayed, has said repeatedly that the Royal family wanted to prevent Dodi, a Muslim, from marrying Diana.
