PRAISE FOR DYLAN HOWARD AND COLIN McLAREN AND DIANA : CASE SOLVED
Dylan Howard is the rare combination of cutting-edge journalist, true crime commentator and relentless investigator. Howard passionately brings comprehensive and groundbreaking analysis to the most compelling mysteries of our time.
Dr. Phil McGraw, host of TVs #1 daytime talk show, Dr. Phil
Princess Dianas untimely death was one that brought great sadness to the world. I lived through her life, and the reporting on her tragic death leaving behind two young sons, which was absolutely heartbreaking. Reading Diana: Case Solved has been riveting. There is so much in this book that I never knew before about Diana the woman, the mother, and the princess. Each page literally introduced me to something new that I was hearing and reading for the first time. I could not put this book down. A must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the icon Princess Diana was, and is, to so many around the world.
Sean Hannity, radio host, news commentator, and the most-watched television host in cable news
Dylan Howard is one of the finest journalists writing today. His depth and breadth of experience are second to none; he follows every intricate angle of a story and exposes the truth. As a former detective, I know firsthand the skills that make an exceptional investigator, and Dylan has them in spades.
Bo Dietl, former NYPD homicide detective with over 1,400 felony arrests
A tabloid prodigy.
Jeffrey Toobin, CNN and The New Yorker
I first met Diana at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, in August 1980 during my service with Her Majesty The Queen. In 1987, I became Dianas butler and for the next ten years was considered to be her closest confidant. She famously called me her rock and the only man she ever trusted. I was delighted to participate in this book and its companion podcast, as I believe that history should be told by those who witnessed it.
Paul Burrell, Dianas former butler and friend
The king of Hollywood scoops.
Adweek
When Dylan Howard focuses his attention to investigating a case, you can be sure he will uncover sensational new information that we, as readers, viewers or listeners, will find astonishing. Enlighten yourself with his findings about what really happened to Princess Diana on that fateful night.
Dr. Drew Pinsky
The go-to guy for authoritative showbiz news and analysis on cable and over-the air television.
Los Angeles Press Club
DIANA:
CASE SOLVED
DIANA:
CASE SOLVED
The Definitive Account
That Proves What Really Happened
DYLAN HOWARD & COLIN MCLAREN
Copyright 2019 by Dylan Howard & Colin McLaren.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Start Publishing, 101 Hudson Street, 37th Floor, Jersey City, NJ 07302.
Front Page Detectives is an imprint of Start Publishing LLC.
Visit our website at www.start-publishing.com .
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by 5mediadesign
Cover photo credit: Getty Images
ISBN: 978-1-5107-5503-1
eISBN: 978-1-951273-00-2
Printed in the United States of America
DEDICATION
To the tireless investigative reporting team of outstanding men and women who helped with Herculean deeds of journalism and research. James Robertson, Aaron Tinney, Andy Tillett, Patricia Gonzalez, Tom Freestone, Billie Spear, and Doug Monteroyoure all the best in the business.
Special acknowledgment goes to Ken. E. More, my writing partner, and a man who should be frustrated with this author, but never is (at least, thats what he leads me to believe).
Finally, to those, like Colin McLaren, who believe the truth is out there and still worth searching for, and that the role of journalists is akin to that of the detective in shining a light on the darkest of crimes or the worst written pages of history.
Dylan Howard
AUTHORS NOTE
Diana, Princess of Wales.
She was a beauty, icon, mother to the future King of England, and the worlds most photographed woman, tragically killed in a car crash on the night of August 31, 1997, speeding through Paris, pursued by a pack of paparazzi. Twenty-two years later, the events surrounding the crash are still shrouded in questions and conspiracy theories abound.
On that fateful Parisian night, at the time, both of these authors were living in the state of Victoria, Australia: Colin, then forty-two, was a police detective sergeant and task force team leader having worked on many of Australias worst murders. For three years he went undercover and decimated the Calabrian Mafia in the biggest covert sting in Australian history. His work would take him on to an independent investigation into the assassination of the thirty-fifth president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and yield startling results.
Dylan, back in 1997, then a tender fifteen-year-old, having grown up as an aspiring journalist, was transfixed at the constant media coverage of Diana and the British royals. He would go on to work in Hollywood as one of the most feared journalists in town, having brought down the careers of Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Hulk Hogan, and Paula Deen via explosive stories of misdeeds. Dylans sense for scandal and the truth saw him rise to become the undisputed most powerful gossip editor in the worldand second-in-command to David J. Pecker, chairman and chief executive officer at publishing powerhouse American Media Inc. As one of the most powerful gossip editors in the world, overseeing a vast network of consumer driven magazines, including Us Weekly, OK!, Star, In Touch, Life & Style, Closer, The National Enquirer and its U.K. edition, Globe, the National Examiner, and RadarOnline.com
Unbeknownst to each other at the time, these two authors would meet for the first time in 2019during Frances worst heat wave everto collaborate on Diana: Case Closed. We were two Australian exports to the wider world with one common goal in mind: to combine our years of experience reviewing the evidence in the case of Dianas death and, together, smash wide open the conspiracy of silence behind what really happened inside that Parisian tunnel.
The result is Diana: Case Solved a groundbreaking investigation and conclusion into one of the centurys most gripping conspiracies.
Together, after traveling to Paris a combined five times, we bring to an end a mystery that has long baffled the world. To create this unflinching account, we have assembled a global team of investigatorshandpicked, high-profile, and utterly meticulous men and women (including retired crime-scene detectives, forensic pathologists, and royal insiders)to dissect evidence, alibis, and motives; track down new witnesses; hear Dianas own voice on secret, long-lost recordings; and interview key players and those who knew the real Diana best.
At the end of this remarkable project, we arrive at some startling new conclusions into the tragic end of the woman they called the peoples princess.
From her first introduction to public life as the painfully shy teenage fiance of the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, through a desperately unhappy marriage, struggles with bulimia, depression, suicide attempts, and multiple affairs, to finally blossoming into one of the worlds most beautiful and influential women, Diana, Princess of Wales, spent her entire adult life under the media spotlight.