It has been 28 years since the world lost Diana, Princess of Wales, in a devastating car crash in Paris. Yet the memory of that night, and the haunting words she may have spoken in her final moments, still resonate today.
On 31 August 1997, Diana and her companion Dodi Fayed were pursued by paparazzi through the streets of Paris when their chauffeur, Henri Paul, lost control of their Mercedes-Benz S280 in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. The car slammed into a pillar at high speed, killing Paul and Fayed instantly.
Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was the sole survivor, though he sustained catastrophic injuries. Diana herself was pulled from the wreck alive, but gravely wounded.
Final hunting words
On the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, French firefighter Xavier Gourmelon gave his first interview about what he saw that night. Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he recalled that when he reached the mangled vehicle, he had no idea who the victims were.
Inside the wreckage, Diana briefly regained consciousness.
“She looked at me and said, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened?’” Gourmelon remembered. He described her as “agitated” and frightened, before she slipped back into unconsciousness.
The emergency team managed to resuscitate her after she went into cardiac arrest at the scene. “We gave her CPR, and after 20 seconds she regained consciousness. We then transferred her to the ambulance,” he said.
