47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting but flawed book, could've been much better, November 1, 2004
This review is from: The Murder of Princess Diana (Paperback)
I was very sceptical of the quality of this book when I first heard of it, my reading of it has confirmed my feelings.
Mr. Botham spends 288 pages going over the events of the Princess' life and death and how it must've been, in his view, murder.
He has an extensive bibliography but no footnotes to tell you who, or which book, provided each bit of information. Any serious collector of Royalty/ Diana books will recoginze many titles, some of them not at all friendly to the late princess. I also found irritating the extent to which senior officials, well placed sources, and all sorts of others all anonymously confided in the author- this amounted to a large portion of the story at times.
To save time you can pretty much skip reading pages 30-152 as there is nothing new in the section titled "The Marriage", just a lot of recycled Charles and Diana bashing, sure to offend many. Botham even brought up the old Prince Harry fathered by Hewitt story, claiming to have seen in Hewitt's home, in his bedroom (p.80), there is only one picture displayed- of Prince Harry. He implies that this must mean the rumors are true although even James Hewitt himself denies the possiblity.
As for the rest of the book, unfortunately largely supported by those anonymous tipsters and no documentation, there is a lot of very interesting stuff about how the CIA, MI6, French agencies had to have had something to do with her death and how/why they would've pulled it off. It's all very interesting reading, some of it I have read/ heard before (including the Prince Charles had a hand in it bit) and even at least somewhat plausible given that some of these people are known to have attempted such things at times. I didn't care for the way Botham uncritically accepts the pregnancy legend as fact or the way he'd alternately use Mohamed Al Fayed as evidence or brand him as a liar, all to prove whatever point he wanted to make at that time. I really didn't like the way he claims that Diana's friend Rosa Monckton might even have been an MI6 agent secretly out to get something on her. For that one to be true the lady must still be undercover, acting as Diana's friend, what would be the use in that?
Large parts of the details of the official investigation (or lack of one) are true, or at least likely. Entirely too much of the rest of the book could be- it's just that there's so much unsupported hearsay that bothers me.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A gutsy "tabloid" examination, September 1, 2005
This review is from: The Murder of Princess Diana (Paperback)
Though I don't agree with some major points in the premises laid out, I wanted to commend the author for putting out the murder stance in a backed-up logical way. It is a sham to not acknowledge that Diana was revered by many but to a small faction she was a MAJOR nuisance.
I don't think that Diana was pregnant OR planning to marry Dodi. I agree that Diana wanted revenge for the humiliation that she suffered- and she could do this by her "scene stealing humanitarianism".. But to think that she would get engaged to a playboy who had broken up with his fiance a few weeks prior- , who had drug problems and a checkered past? No way. Dodi's father has plenty of reason to espouse this theory because he was the engineer who set up this friendship in the first place. Look at the pictures of Diana on the Jonikal- she is not gayly hypnotised by the festivities- she looks like she's killling time.There were plenty of dynasties that Diana could have hooked up with- she didn't need Dodi's hand to legitimize her. It's just not believable.
That said, the rest of the theories ring true; the supposed drunk driver- Henri paul was on the MI5 payroll, and he was a light drinker who had NO signs of drunkedness- watch the tape. Yet his blood alcohol test says that his blood alcohol level was 3X over the limit- oh and yes contained carbon monoxide- indicative of a suicide- somebody simply switched the blood tests with another guy at the morgue that night.Additionally, the blueprint of the "murder crash plan" was outlined to others at another time, it is acknowledged in the dark force circles that making a car crash look like an accident is a very effective assasination method.The road that the death car traveled on- has numerous cameras poised on it- are we to believe that evry single security camera was off that night? P'shaw. Also, why did Henri Paul take that roundabout route , why were the security proedures in place discarded at the last minute- after Henri Paul had a little tete-a-tete at the Ritz with Dodi? ( at around eleven, after Dodi and Diana had enjoyed some wine with dinner- I think between the two of them they just didn't smell the rat that was there. )
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Good Book, December 8, 2005
This review is from: The Murder of Princess Diana (Paperback)
I thought this was a pretty good book. I disagree that Princess Diana would not have married Dodi. I believe she felt a little desperate at this point. She desperately wanted another child before it was too late. And I believe Dodi was perfect for her. Dodi had done a few things in the past when he was young as alot of people have done. Also, remember she was scheduled to go back to London the day she died but did not go back because Dodi wanted her to stay. This one point makes me believe that she knew why he wanted her to say (proposal of marriage). If she was not interested, she would never have cancelled her plans to go back to London. Some people want the public to believe she would never have married him because that was one of the BIG reasons why she might have been 'eliminated'. I have read TONS of material about her accident and am not convinced that it was an accident. But I don't believe anything will ever come of it!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
