Was Princess Diana murdered?

The verdict is no, according to an inquest held into the cause of her death over the last six months.

The big question was whether the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed in a fatal car crash in 1997 had been accidental, or whether there was some kind of conspiracy to have them killed.

Dodi鈥檚 father Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of London鈥檚 world-famous department store Harrods, has insisted for the last decade that the pair were assassinated by agents of the British state who did not want them to marry.

But his theories now look to have been blown out of the water. The court found that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were not murdered but unlawfully killed due to the "gross negligence" of her driver and the paparazzi. Her driver was drunk at the time of the crash and the paparazzi had been chasing their car.

So is this the end of the Diana story?

British taxpayers may hope so. The inquest has cost them an estimated 拢10m (140m RMB). "Thank God it鈥檚 over", was the headline in The Guardian newspaper. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was time to "draw a line" under the death of the Princess.

But Mohamed Al Fayed has refused to accept the verdict. He says the result will come as a "blow" to millions of his supporters around the world, and has not ruled out launching another investigation.

Whatever happens next, the special place Princess Diana has in the hearts of people around the world is not likely to be forgotten.

• princess [,prin´ses]   n.公主；王妃；亲王夫人   (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə]   n.部长；大臣 v.伺候   (初中英语单词)
• investigation [in,vesti´geiʃən]   n.调查(研究)   (初中英语单词)
• whatever [wɔt´evə]   pron.&a.无论什么   (初中英语单词)
• conspiracy [kən´spirəsi]   n.密谋；协同作用   (高中英语单词)
• decade [´dekeid]   n.十年(间)   (高中英语单词)
• guardian [´gɑ:diən]   n.监护人；保护人   (高中英语单词)
• verdict [´və:dikt]   n.裁决，判决；判定   (英语四级单词)
• accidental [,æksi´dentl]   a.偶然的；附属的   (英语四级单词)
• headline [´hedlain]   n.(报纸的)标题   (英语四级单词)