LONDON — The long-awaited British inquest into Princess Diana’s death in a 1997 car crash in Paris is due to resume today with two days of preliminary hearings at London’s historic Royal Courts of Justice.Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, a retired senior judge and member of Britain’s House of Lords will preside over the preliminary hearings, which are expected to be mostly procedural. She will decide whether the case will be heard by a jury, and whether the deaths of Diana and her friend Dodi Fayed should be examined separately or together.

The full inquest, which was swiftly adjourned in 2004 shortly after it began, is expected to take place later this year, nearly a decade after the couple were killed in a car crash in a Paris tunnel. The inquest could not be held until all investigations were completed.

A two-year French investigation, a three-year Metropolitan Police inquiry and repeated legal action by Fayed’s father, Harrods department store owner Mohammed al Fayed, have delayed the inquests by nearly a decade.

Al Fayed pressed the British authorities to hold today’s’s hearings in public and had threatened legal action if they did not.

The early hearings were originally going to be private, but Butler-Sloss decided otherwise, saying public interest in the case was overwhelming.

Nearly 70 seats have been reserved for the media. An additional 50 seats have been set aside for the public, who will have to line up to see the early proceedings.

Late last year, a sweeping British police inquiry — which cost nearly $4 million (US$8 million) — dismissed allegations that the princess was the victim of a murder conspiracy.

The inquiry, headed by former Lord Stevens, the former chief of the Metropolitan Police, said the chauffeur in the 1997 crash was drunk and driving at a high speed to elude pursuing photographers.

Diana, 36, and Fayed, 42, were killed along with chauffeur Henri Paul when their Mercedes crashed in the Pont d’Alma tunnel in on August 31, 1997. The only survivor, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, was badly hurt.

Mohammed al Fayed rejected Stevens’ report, calling it a cover-up.

“For nine years I have fought against overwhelming odds and monstrous official obstructions. I will not stop now in my quest for the truth,” he said in a statement.