London ? Ordinary Britons, who are divided on whether Princess Diana and her boyfriend were the victims of an accident or murder, may be called to give the official verdict on her death, a judge ruled Monday.

Nearly a decade after Diana and Dodi Fayed died in a car crash in Paris, the legal proceedings surrounding their deaths resumed in a stately, wood-paneled room at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.

The hearing was procedural, and no evidence was heard by Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, a retired senior judge and member of the House of Lords.

Butler-Sloss opened the hearings by offering her sympathy to the couple’s families: Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Diana’s older sister, sat on one side of the courtroom; Mohamed al Fayed, Dodi’s father, on the other.

Diana’s sons, Princes William and Harry, were not present, but their private secretary attended and Butler-Sloss read out a letter filed on their behalf.

“It is their desire that the inquest should not only be open, fair and transparent but that it should move swiftly to a conclusion,” said the letter, written by Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, private secretary to the princes.

In the case of Diana’s death, little has moved swiftly: A two-year French investigation, a three-year Metropolitan Police inquiry and repeated legal action by al Fayed have delayed the inquests by nearly 10 years.

It’s likely the inquest – which, under British law, must be held when someone dies violently, unexpectedly or of unknown causes – will begin in May, Butler-Sloss said.

Royal jurors by law

One of the issues the hearing was attempting to resolve was whether the inquest would have a jury and, if so, what form it would take. Because Diana was a royal, British law states that an inquest jury should be made up of members of the royal household.

British police officers stand Monday near a sign outside London's historic Royal Courts of Justice. The long-awaited British inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and her friend Dodi Fayed resumed Monday with two days of preliminary hearings.

But Sir John Nutting, representing Queen Elizabeth II, said a jury made up exclusively of royal household or staff members – of which there are about 1,200, including 700 full-time employees – could lead to doubts about its trustworthiness.

“Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done,” Nutting said.

Butler-Sloss agreed a royal jury would be “inappropriate.” She has not yet ruled out having a jury staffed by ordinary citizens, or whether to preside over the inquests alone.

A poll commissioned by the BBC, released in December, found that 31 percent of the sample believed the deaths were not an accident, while 43 percent believed they were. The GfK NOP poll of 1,000 adults had a margin of error of three percentage points.

Butler-Sloss said the deaths would be examined together, saying separate probes would be both “unbelievably expensive” and upsetting for the families.

The public has been following the case for so long that they should be trusted to come to a verdict, argued lawyer Ian Croxford, who was representing Paris’ Ritz Hotel – owned by al Fayed – employer of chauffeur Henri Paul, and site of some of the couple’s final moments.

Al Fayed, who also owns Harrods department store, pressed British authorities to hold Monday’s hearings in public and had threatened legal action if they did not.

Harrods department store owner Mohamed al Fayed, father of Dodi, right, and his assistant, Michael Cole, leave London's historic Royal Courts of Justice on Monday. The full inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi is expected to take place later this year.

Al Fayed has accused the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, of orchestrating a plot to murder Diana and Fayed. Philip has never commented on the accusation.

Past inquiries

Last year, a sweeping British police inquiry – which cost nearly $8 million – dismissed allegations the princess was the victim of a murder conspiracy. The inquiry, headed by 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. Stevens’ report largely confirmed previous findings by French investigators.

Rulings on the issues raised Monday will be released some time next week, Butler-Sloss said.