How Did Princess Diana Die? The 1 Factor That Might’ve Saved Her Life

Greater than twenty years after her loss of life, there are nonetheless a number of questions on how Princess Diana died and what her reason for loss of life was. Princess Diana, the mom of Prince William and Prince Harry and the ex-wife of Prince Charles, died on August 31, 1997.

The Princess of Wales has been mourned by tens of millions of individuals all over the world, with many blaming the paparazzi and the British media for his or her half in how she died. In an interview on CBS’ Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Particular in March 2021, Harry opened up about how he feared that Diana’s loss of life will “repeat” itself with him or his spouse,  Meghan Markle, which is the rationale he moved his household from London to America in 2019

“My greatest concern was historical past repeating itself,” Harry advised Oprah referencing Princess Diana’s loss of life. “For me, I’m simply actually relieved and pleased to be sitting right here, speaking to you with my spouse by my aspect. As a result of I can’t start to think about what it should have been like for her [Diana] going by means of this course of by herself all these years in the past. As a result of it has been unbelievably powerful for the 2 of us, however at the least we’ve got one another.”

As many royal followers keep in mind, Princess Diana was below intense media and paparazzi consideration on the time of her loss of life, which occurred a 12 months after she finalized her divorce from Prince Charles. In an interview with Individuals in 2016, Harry talked about how he simply needs to make his late mom “proud.” “All I need to do is make my mom extremely proud,” he mentioned on the time. “That’s all I’ve ever needed to do.”

He continued, “When she died, there was a gaping gap, not only for us but additionally for an enormous quantity of individuals the world over. If I can try to fill a really small a part of that, then job finished. I should, in a great way, spend the remainder of my life making an attempt to fill that void as a lot as potential. And so will William.” Although Harry is motivated by his mom, he additionally confirmed that he makes his personal decisions in his life separate from what Diana would need from him. “I get pleasure from what I do. However I don’t do issues as a result of I really feel as if my mom would need me to do them,” he mentioned. “I do know I’ve obtained a number of my mom in me. I’m doing a number of issues that she would most likely do.”

So how did Princess Diana die? Learn on for what we all know concerning the Princess of Wales’ reason for loss of life and the “uncommon” harm that brought on her to lose her life.

How did Princess Diana die?

Princess Diana died within the early hours of August 31, 1997, after her automobile crashed within the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France, following a chase from the paparazzi. She was 36 years previous. Her rumored boyfriend, Egyptian businessman Emad “Dodi” Fayed, and the motive force of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, have been pronounced useless on the scene. Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the crash with severe accidents. Diana, who was nonetheless alive on the scene of the crash however was in vital situation, was rushed to the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital the place she died. In accordance with Oprah journal, Diana suffered from a concussion, a damaged arm, a minimize thigh and big chest accidents. After a two-hour operation to save lots of her, the medical doctors did not get Diana’s coronary heart to beat correctly and he or she by no means regained consciousness. She died from inner bleeding at 4:53 a.m. on August 31, 1997.

Diana and Fayed, who arrived in Paris after a 10-day getaway on the French Riviera, obtained into Paul’s automobile a couple of minutes after midnight on August 31, 1997, earlier than their automobile crashed. It’s believed that Diana and Fayed deliberate to journey to Fayed’s non-public property in Paris. In accordance with Oprah journal, the posted pace restrict for the street for 30 miles per hour, nonetheless, Paul approached the doorway of the tunnel at round 70 miles per hour, which led him to lose management of the automobile and collide with a pillar in the course of the freeway. In accordance with a report by the Telegraph on the time, a French investigation discovered that Paul, who was the deputy head of safety on the Hôtel Ritz, had been intoxicated by alcohol and below the results of prescribed drugs, together with anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medication, on the time of the crash. The investigation discovered that he was solely answerable for the accident. Investigations additionally revealed that Rees-Jones survived as a result of he was carrying a seatbelt, whereas nobody else within the automobile was carrying one.

For extra about Prince Harry, learn his upcoming memoir, Spare. Informed for the primary time in his personal phrases, the e book takes readers by means of the Duke of Sussex’s life with the British royal household, from the loss of life of his mom, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 to how the second led to his determination many years later to maneuver to America along with his spouse, Meghan Markle, and depart Buckingham Palace for good in 2020. “With its uncooked, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication filled with perception, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won knowledge concerning the everlasting energy of affection over grief,” the writer’s description reads.

How did Prince Harry and Prince William study Princess Diana’s loss of life?

How did Prince Harry and Prince William study Princess Diana’s loss of life? Harry and William have been 12 years previous and 15 years previous respectively when their mom, Diana, died. In his 2023 e book Spare, Harry revealed that he and William discovered their mom had died after their father, King Charles III, woke them up the morning of her loss of life to inform them what occurred. “He sat down on the sting of the mattress,” Harry wrote. “He put a hand on my knee. Darling boy, Mummy’s been in a automobile crash.” He went on, “They tried, darling boy. I’m afraid she didn’t make it.”

He continued, “None of what I mentioned to him then stays in my reminiscence. It’s potential that I didn’t say something. What I do keep in mind with startling readability is that I didn’t cry. Not one tear. Pa didn’t hug me. He wasn’t nice at displaying feelings below regular circumstances, how may he be anticipated to point out them in such a disaster? However his hand did fall as soon as extra on my knee and he mentioned: It’s going to be OK. That was quite a bit for him. Fatherly, hopeful, form. And so very unfaithful.”

Years after Diana’s loss of life, Harry revealed that he requested to see the key police information associated to the crash. His non-public secretary on the time obtained the information, although he eliminated the pictures that might be essentially the most “difficult” for Harry to see. In Spare, Harry slammed the paparazzi for taking pictures of his useless mom. “[They] by no means stopped capturing her whereas she lay between the seats, unconscious, or semiconscious,” he wrote. “Not one in every of them was checking on her, providing her assist, not even comforting her. They have been simply capturing, capturing, capturing.”

In an interview with 60 Minutes in January 2023, Harry revealed that he didn’t imagine Diana’s loss of life till he was 23 years previous and thought it was pretend. “For a very long time. I simply refused to just accept that she was gone. A part of [it was] she would by no means do that to us. But additionally, a part of it perhaps [felt like] that is all a part of a plan,” he mentioned. “For a time [I believed she was alive] after which she would name us, and we’d go and be a part of her.”

He continued, “[I was looking mainly for] proof that she was within the automobile. Proof that she was injured and proof that the very paparazzi that chased her into the tunnel have been those that have been taking pictures of her mendacity half useless within the again [of the car]. The images confirmed the reflection of a gaggle of photographers taking pictures by means of the window and the reflection on the window was them.”

Through the interview, Harry additionally thanked his non-public secretary and advisor on the time for not permitting him to see extra “ugly” photos of his mom useless. “All I noticed was the again of my mother’s head slumped on the again seat,” he mentioned. “I shall be eternally grateful to him for denying me the flexibility to inflict ache on myself by seeing that. As a result of that’s the type of stuff that sticks in your thoughts eternally.”

What have been Princess Diana’s final phrases?

In Tina Brown’s e book, The Diana Chronicles
, Dr. Frederic Mailliez, an EMT who had been driving by means of the tunnel on the time of the crash, advised her that Diana awoke in ache from the crash. “She saved saying how a lot she damage,” Mailliez advised Brown.

In an interview with the Occasions of London, Mailliez mentioned: “If there have been different phrases from the Princess, I can’t keep in mind them and wouldn’t repeat them if I may; there’s a obligation between physician and affected person,” he mentioned. “I hope she felt snug. I hope she heard my phrases. I don’t know if she did, however at the least I attempted to make her really feel higher.’”

Early studies mentioned she was unconscious all through, however one French newspaper mentioned she had shouted, “Oh my God, depart me alone, depart me alone!” Mailliez mentioned he was conscious of photographers on the scene, however “hey have been there however not intrusive or troublesome,” he mentioned. “I couldn’t let these fees of unhealthy conduct and interfering with the physique stick. They merely weren’t true.”

In an interview with The Unbiased in 2018, Sergeant Xavier Gourmelon, who led the response group in Paris, revealed that Diana’s final phrases have been: “My God, what’s occurred?”

In The Diana Chronicles, Brown reported on Diana’s final moments awake after the crash: “She turned her head and noticed the lifeless Dodi simply in entrance of her, then turned her head once more towards the entrance the place the bodyguard was writhing and the place Henri Paul lay useless. She grew to become agitated, then lowered her head and closed her eyes.”

What was Princess Diana’s reason for loss of life?

In Dr. Richard Shepherd’s 2019 e book, Unnatural Causes, the highest British forensic pathologist revealed that Diana died of a small, badly positioned tear within the vein of her lung. “Her particular harm is so uncommon that in my complete profession I don’t imagine I’ve seen one other,” Shepherd wrote in his e book. “Had she been restrained, she would most likely have appeared in public two days later with a black eye, maybe a bit breathless from the fractured ribs and with a damaged arm in a sling,”

When was Princess Diana’s funeral?

Princess Diana’s funeral was held on September 6, 1997. Greater than 2.5 billion folks watched the procession because it aired on TV. The funeral noticed Harry and William stroll beside their mom’s coffin as they traveled from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Cathedral.

Harry talked concerning the second in a 2017 interview with Newsweek. “My mom had simply died, and I needed to stroll a good distance behind her coffin, surrounded by 1000’s of individuals watching me whereas tens of millions extra did on tv,” he mentioned on the time. “I don’t suppose any little one needs to be requested to do this, below any circumstances. I don’t suppose it could occur at this time.”

Within the 2017 documentary, Diana, 7 Days, William known as his mom’s funeral “one of many hardest issues” he had ever finished. “It was one of many hardest issues I’ve ever finished, that stroll,” he mentioned. “It felt she was nearly strolling alongside beside us to get us by means of it.”

On the funeral, Diana’s brother, Lord Spencer, blamed the media for the crash and known as his sister the “most hunted particular person of the fashionable age.” Elton John, a detailed pal of the royal household, carried out his 1973 track, “Candle within the Wind,” with re-worked lyrics about Diana. Queen Elizabeth II additionally bowed her head as Diana’s coffin went previous. After the funeral, Diana was buried at Althorp, her household’s property in Northamptonshire, England.

For extra about Princess Diana, learn Andrew Morton’s biography, Diana: Her True Story — In Her Phrases. The New York Occasions bestseller, which was first revealed in 1992, is the one approved biography about Princess Diana. The e book, which Diana collaborated on, contains uncooked and unfiltered quotes from the Princess of Wales about her sad marriage to Prince Charles, her relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, her life within the Home of Windsor, and her hopes, desires and fears for her youngsters, Prince William and Prince Harry, earlier than her loss of life in 1997. The biography, which has been described because the “closest we are going to ever come” to a Princess Diana autobiography, was republished with new materials in 2017 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Individuals’s Princess’ loss of life.

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