Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed. A coroner's jury ruled that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were unlawfully killed as the result of the drinking driver and reckless pursuing photographers. (Xinhua/AFP file Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A coroner's jury ruled that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were unlawfully killed as the result of the drinking driver and reckless pursuing photographers, media reported Tuesday.

    "The verdict is unlawful killing, grossly negligent driving of the following vehicles and of the Mercedes" carrying the couple, the jury foreman announced.

    Nine of the 11 jurors agreed the verdict, with two dissenters.

    But no British charges can be laid against the photographers because the accident happened in France.

    All 11 agreed that the car slamming head-on into a concrete pillar rather than striking the wall on the other side was a key factor in their deaths.

    Diana and Dodi Fayed were also to blame for not buckling their seat belts, the jury said.

Princess Diana's sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, leaves after the inquest verdict is announced into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi-al-Fayed at the High Court in London April 7, 2008.  (Xinhua/Reuters file Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    But it laid heaviest blame on Henri Paul, the couple's driver, who had been drinking shortly before the high-speed crash in a Paris underpass on Aug. 31, 1997, and on the paparazzi who chased after them.

    Diana's two sons, Princes William and Harry, expressed support for the verdict and thanked the jurors for their six-month-long "thorough" work.

    "We agree with their verdicts, and are both hugely grateful to each and every one of them for the forbearance they have shown in accepting such significant disruption to their lives over the past six months," the princes said in a statement.

    The verdicts vindicated the force's two-year investigation, said John Stevens, the former chief of London's Metropolitan Police, who said it had spent 16 million dollars on its two-year investigation.

    Fayed's wealthy father, Mohamed Al Fayed, still insisted that the couple were victims of planned murder, and called it a "disappointing" verdict.

    "The most important thing is, it is murder," he said as he left the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday.

    Al Fayed's aides weren't ruling out an appeal.

    (Agencies)

Jury to deliberate soon on Princess Diana's death 

Mohamed al-Fayed (R), who claims Princess Diana and his son were killed in a wide-ranging conspiracy led by Britain's royal family , waves to journalists as he arrives for the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed, at the High Court in London Feb. 18, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhuanet) -- French police concluded it was an accident -- the car crash on Aug. 31, 1997 in Paris that took the lives of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayad -- but nearly 11 years later a jury in London will soon deliberate as to whether the fatal crash really was an accident or conspiracy as Fayad's father maintains. Full story

Dodi's father: Blair, royals, others kill son, Diana

Mohamed al-Fayed arrives for the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed at the High Court in London Feb. 18, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Mohamed Al Fayed has accused former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and several members of the royal family of involvement in a plot to kill Princess Diana and his son Dodi, media reports said Tuesday.

    Fayed, the billionaire owner of the Harrods department store, testified Monday at a coroner's inquest that the cast of conspirators involved in the 1997 deaths of Diana and Dodi included Prince Philip, Prince Charles, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Diana's sister, Sarah McCorquodale. Full story