In the London Mirror, Rees-Jones says that Diana was conscious in the moments after the August 31 wreck. In the Sun, the bodyguard is quoted as claiming the Princess is at least partly responsible for her own tragic death. "It was Diana who asked if we could go a bit faster," he is reported to have told a friend.
Some doctors cast doubt on Rees-Jones' "windows of memory," apparently opened with the help of a psychiatrist. Other fingers are pointing at Mohammed Al-Fayed -- Harrods owner, father of Dodi and conspiracy theorist -- who arranged the hour-long interview. What does Al-Fayed have to gain? If Diana was conscious after the crash, it lends credence to his claim that she passed on her last wishes to him. Plus Rees-Jones' claims -- that paparazzi were flashing cameras in front of the car, that Henri Paul did not appear drunk, that Di would not wear a seat belt -- take the heat off his boss. Responsibility for the crash, Rees-Jones is saying, lies not with the Ritz.
Rees-Jones returns to Paris this week. The investigating magistrate will hear what he has to remember -- and his case may turn on the halting words of the last man on earth who has the inside story.