The Shopkeeper and the Princess

Re-reading Diana Souhami's excellent book, Mrs. Keppel and her Daughter, got me pondering just how the behaviour of both the establishment and the public have deteriorated over the years.
As the unseemly and to me, totally unbelievable, charade of the Princess Diana's further inquest unwinds, I begin to question the sanity of the British legal system. That they should be held to ransom by an immigrant bazaar owner would be unacceptable in any other democracy whose governments would not have the temerity to charge their taxpayers with the costs of such a futile and unnecessary exercise.
The absurd and surely actionable assertions of Mr. Fayed should surely be enough to have him run out of the country but I suppose this would infringe his civil rights.
During the reign of King Edward the VII, the actions of both the Queen and Mrs. Keppel were admirably restrained and civilised.
As the latter was prompted to remark during the brouhaha surrounding King Edward the VIII and Mrs. Simpson: “Things were managed much better in my day.”
But then of course, so was Harrods!