  henri paul (3 july 1956 â 31 august 1997) was the driver of the mercedes s280 in which princess diana died on 31 august 1997. as deputy head of security at the hÃ´tel ritz paris, paul had been off-duty that evening, but was called back to drive diana and dodi fayed to their apartment. the car crashed at high speed in the pont de l'alma tunnel, with only bodyguard trevor rees-jones surviving. the many conspiracy theories have been disproved by british and french police investigations, which put the blame largely on paul being affected by alcohol and prescription drugs, and driving recklessly. ==personal background== paul had worked for the fayed family for almost eleven years. he received his private pilot's licence in 1974 and was said to have enjoyed hiring aircraft to fly over to lorient. three days before the crash, paul successfully passed his annual pilot's physical examination. the examination includes a certification which tests for any alcohol problems (including a blood and liver test). paul's parents, jean and giselle, claim that this test would have shown if he had serious problems with alcohol.family of diana crash driver speak of their legal battle, bbc today, 2 august 2002. retrieved 21 october 2007 the original document certificat dâaptitude physique et mentale was shown on diana - geheimnisse der todesnacht german-television zdf in 1998. however, the operation paget inquiry received europe-wide standards for pilots' medicals that were in force in 1997 from the civil aviation authority that suggest no specific medical test for alcoholism was undertaken and a self-certification of alcohol problems was required from individual pilots. paul made no certification of alcohol problems 
1956_births 1997_deaths Conspiracy_theories Diana,_Princess_of_Wales People_from_Morbihan Road_accident_deaths_in_France