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Diana: Death of a Goddess
Diana: Death of a Goddess is a book about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales by psychiatrist and documentarian David Cohen. It was published in 2004 by Century, an imprint of Random House. A continuation of Cohen's 2003 documentary film on the same topic, Diana: The Night She Died, the book explores conspiracies surrounding the event and concludes that her death was at least partially accidental. It also connects her death and the circumstances around it to the Order of the Solar Temple, a French cult notorious for several mass suicides in the 1990s.
The book was a bestseller. It received mixed reviews; its research and some of its conclusions were praised. Some reviewers called it sensationalized, while others praised it for not being sensational. Some criticism was targeted at the book's theories about the Solar Temple, previously expounded in a different documentary by the same author, which were criticized as unsubstantiated and inconsistent with the known facts about that group.
David Cohen was born in Haifa, Israel. As a child, he lived in Paris and Geneva, before moving to the United Kingdom. He has a PhD in psychology and is a psychiatrist. He has directed several documentaries and written other books of an "exploratory" nature. He was nominated for a BAFTA award for his creation of a film on the Soham murders.
In 1996, Cohen made a documentary about the French Order of the Solar Temple (OTS) cult, which had many of its members die in a series of mass suicides in the 1990s. The documentary was titled "Death of the Solar Temple" (part of the Witness documentary series) and aired on Channel 4. It debates the official telling of the deaths. Following the release of this film, Cohen was contacted by a man calling himself "Guy Leroux", refusing to reveal his true identity, who gave him information claiming to prove Grace Kelly's involvement in the order. Leroux claimed to have been a former member of the OTS and Di Mambro's personal driver. He claimed that Kelly had been initiated, along with several other famous people, into the OTS in 1982. According to Leroux, Kelly's death, deemed an accident, was actually a plot by the group's leader after she stopped paying them, and the massacres were actually a plot by the Italian mafia. Cohen used this information to make another documentary on Grace Kelly, "Secret Lives: Grace Kelly", alongside David Carr-Brown. It aired on Channel 4 in December 1997.
Following the release of the Kelly documentary, Swiss journalist Arnaud Bédat, who researched the OTS, tracked Leroux down and interviewed him. Bédat, having found out his real identity, Guy Mouyrin, said that Leroux had lied about multiple elements of his history and also had multiple prior criminal convictions for fraud, theft, blackmail, and document forgery. He was known by those around him as someone who made up stories, and was then wanted by the Swiss police for over 100 instances of fraud and robbery, known as a "professional con artist". None of the former members of the Solar Temple could recall having ever met Leroux, and the story was contradictory to facts about the Solar Temple, as it had not even existed when the initiation of Kelly had supposedly taken place in 1982 (the OTS was founded in 1984). Kelly's name is also not mentioned in the relatively complete lists of Solar Temple members that were left behind.
When questioned about this by Bédat, Cohen admitted that he did not thoroughly check Leroux's background, and did not know his real identity (or that he was wanted by Swiss police). Cohen himself said in 2017 that he was "convinced that Guy believed the story he had been told", and admitted that the idea was far-fetched. After her death, Leroux also told Cohen that someone else (who he knew through the Solar Temple connection) had told him that they had been paid £500,000 to kill Princess Diana, but it went wrong. Following this he started a documentary on DIana, and in 2003, Cohen released a documentary about Diana's death, Diana: The Night She Died, which aired on Channel 5. In 2017, he made an updated version of the 2003 film, Diana: 20 Years On. He followed the 2003 documentary up with Diana: Death of a Goddess.
The book is largely based on interview testimony, including police contacts and intelligence officials, as well as the person who claimed he had been hired to kill Diana. The book's back cover displays what is purported to be a photo of the car that crashed, shortly before it occurred, while the book's cover claims that it contains "SENSATIONAL new material" on her death. The photo is not actually the last known photo before the crash.
In the prologue, Cohen then discusses how Guy had contacted him shortly after Diana's death, and how he had met Guy and the story of the Order of the Solar Temple, as well as Guy's claimed involvement in the organization, and the connection to Grace Kelly. Cohen claims that he had been able to confirm most of Guy's information. Following her death, Guy gave him new information that was claimed to show a parallel the Grace Kelly death, with a plot to kill her. Cohen says that he is generally skeptical of conspiracy theories, and that the book is the result of his attempt to confirm or deny what Guy had told him about the plot to kill Diana.
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Diana: Death of a Goddess
Diana: Death of a Goddess is a book about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales by psychiatrist and documentarian David Cohen. It was published in 2004 by Century, an imprint of Random House. A continuation of Cohen's 2003 documentary film on the same topic, Diana: The Night She Died, the book explores conspiracies surrounding the event and concludes that her death was at least partially accidental. It also connects her death and the circumstances around it to the Order of the Solar Temple, a French cult notorious for several mass suicides in the 1990s.
The book was a bestseller. It received mixed reviews; its research and some of its conclusions were praised. Some reviewers called it sensationalized, while others praised it for not being sensational. Some criticism was targeted at the book's theories about the Solar Temple, previously expounded in a different documentary by the same author, which were criticized as unsubstantiated and inconsistent with the known facts about that group.
David Cohen was born in Haifa, Israel. As a child, he lived in Paris and Geneva, before moving to the United Kingdom. He has a PhD in psychology and is a psychiatrist. He has directed several documentaries and written other books of an "exploratory" nature. He was nominated for a BAFTA award for his creation of a film on the Soham murders.
In 1996, Cohen made a documentary about the French Order of the Solar Temple (OTS) cult, which had many of its members die in a series of mass suicides in the 1990s. The documentary was titled "Death of the Solar Temple" (part of the Witness documentary series) and aired on Channel 4. It debates the official telling of the deaths. Following the release of this film, Cohen was contacted by a man calling himself "Guy Leroux", refusing to reveal his true identity, who gave him information claiming to prove Grace Kelly's involvement in the order. Leroux claimed to have been a former member of the OTS and Di Mambro's personal driver. He claimed that Kelly had been initiated, along with several other famous people, into the OTS in 1982. According to Leroux, Kelly's death, deemed an accident, was actually a plot by the group's leader after she stopped paying them, and the massacres were actually a plot by the Italian mafia. Cohen used this information to make another documentary on Grace Kelly, "Secret Lives: Grace Kelly", alongside David Carr-Brown. It aired on Channel 4 in December 1997.
Following the release of the Kelly documentary, Swiss journalist Arnaud Bédat, who researched the OTS, tracked Leroux down and interviewed him. Bédat, having found out his real identity, Guy Mouyrin, said that Leroux had lied about multiple elements of his history and also had multiple prior criminal convictions for fraud, theft, blackmail, and document forgery. He was known by those around him as someone who made up stories, and was then wanted by the Swiss police for over 100 instances of fraud and robbery, known as a "professional con artist". None of the former members of the Solar Temple could recall having ever met Leroux, and the story was contradictory to facts about the Solar Temple, as it had not even existed when the initiation of Kelly had supposedly taken place in 1982 (the OTS was founded in 1984). Kelly's name is also not mentioned in the relatively complete lists of Solar Temple members that were left behind.
When questioned about this by Bédat, Cohen admitted that he did not thoroughly check Leroux's background, and did not know his real identity (or that he was wanted by Swiss police). Cohen himself said in 2017 that he was "convinced that Guy believed the story he had been told", and admitted that the idea was far-fetched. After her death, Leroux also told Cohen that someone else (who he knew through the Solar Temple connection) had told him that they had been paid £500,000 to kill Princess Diana, but it went wrong. Following this he started a documentary on DIana, and in 2003, Cohen released a documentary about Diana's death, Diana: The Night She Died, which aired on Channel 5. In 2017, he made an updated version of the 2003 film, Diana: 20 Years On. He followed the 2003 documentary up with Diana: Death of a Goddess.
The book is largely based on interview testimony, including police contacts and intelligence officials, as well as the person who claimed he had been hired to kill Diana. The book's back cover displays what is purported to be a photo of the car that crashed, shortly before it occurred, while the book's cover claims that it contains "SENSATIONAL new material" on her death. The photo is not actually the last known photo before the crash.
In the prologue, Cohen then discusses how Guy had contacted him shortly after Diana's death, and how he had met Guy and the story of the Order of the Solar Temple, as well as Guy's claimed involvement in the organization, and the connection to Grace Kelly. Cohen claims that he had been able to confirm most of Guy's information. Following her death, Guy gave him new information that was claimed to show a parallel the Grace Kelly death, with a plot to kill her. Cohen says that he is generally skeptical of conspiracy theories, and that the book is the result of his attempt to confirm or deny what Guy had told him about the plot to kill Diana.