Henri Paul passed a complicated aviation medical test just days before the horror crash with pals believing he is victim of a conspiracy to kill Diana
Princess Diana ’s driver Henri Paul was given a clean bill of health for a pilot’s licence just 72 hours before the car crash that killed them and Dodi Fayed .
Henri’s aviation medical certificate – seen exclusively by the Sunday People – appears to nail repeated claims that he was an alcoholic whose drinking was partly to blame for the horrendous pile-up.
The hard-won certificate, which the flying fanatic had to pass every year, also seems to demolish the official French investigation report that he was suffering from depression.
The never-before-seen document has been made public by Henri’s oldest friend, Claude Garrec.
“If Henri was an alcoholic and depressive how was this signed by a doctor just three days before he died?” says Garrec.
And another of Henri’s friends tracked down by the Sunday People, Paris bar owner Josy Duclos, who saw him at 8.45pm on the night of the crash, says she never saw him drunk.
Garrec, who believes his pal is the victim of a conspiracy to kill Diana, says: “There have been no answers even 20 years on.
“And one particularly strong memory for me was the message on a wreath at his funeral, ‘We are not fooled’.”
Henri, 41, deputy head of security at the Ritz hotel in Paris owned by Dodi’s dad Mohamed, was a pilot for 20 years and had to pass a stringent medical every year, including blood and liver tests.
Called a Certificate of Physical and Mental Aptitude and issued by the French equivalent of the Civil Aviation Authority, it was signed by a registered doctor.
Garrec was allowed by Henri’s family to keep personal items and papers after his friend’s death, including the certificate, his pilot’s radio and a key ring.
Henri’s Certificate of Physical and Mental Aptitude, signed by a registered doctor (
Image: Johann Rauch/Sunday Mirror)
The Frenchman says: “I flew with Henri in his plane dozens of times.
“Sometimes my wife and my daughter were with us, including at night and in foggy weather.
“Do you really believe that if I had any doubt about Henri’s mental health, or his lucidity, I would taken that risk? Never!
“When we know how difficult it is to obtain this licence and to see it renewed there again it is totally incompatible with how people describe him.
Not only was he a pilot since 18, but he also had a special licence to fly at night which is not something for everyone, believe me.”
On the morning of fatal crash in a Paris road tunnel on August 31 1997, Garrec and Paul went for their customary game of tennis. They ran out of time and the match ended at one set all.
Garrec, a printer who had known Henri since their schooldays, said: “I won a set, he won one, we left, and, again, I can assure you he was not depressed and even less alcoholic.
“There is an accident, what caused it? Alcohol and medication? I do not believe… there is no doubt about that.
