Diana, Princess of Wales, allegedly uttered a distressing four-word remark before she succumbed to her injuries sustained in a high-speed car crash almost three decades ago.
On August 31, 1997, Diana was travelling through the Place de l'Alma underpass in central Paris in the back of a Mercedes-Benz S280 with Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed.
The pair were being driven in the armoured vehicle by Henri Paul, a man who was later found to have been intoxicated by alcohol and under the effects of prescription drugs while behind the wheel, and were joined by Dodi’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones.
The latter was the only one wearing a seatbelt in the black car and consequently the only survivor of the crash.
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Eyewitness reports say Henri lost control of the vehicle at the entrance of the tunnel while trying to escape members of the paparazzi, who had ‘swarmed’ Diana and Dodi after their arrival in the country from Sardinia.
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The royal, who was 36 at the time, was reportedly critically injured in the crash and was later taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she died from internal bleeding.
Frederic Mailliez, an EMT, is said to have been one of the first to arrive at the scene of the crash. He happened to be driving through the tunnel at the same time as the incident.
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Fredric has previously recounted to Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles, that the princess was in a lot of pain from her internal injuries when he got to her.
“She kept saying how much she hurt,” the trained medical professional explained.
Former firefighter Xavier Gourmelon, who led the response team in Paris, told The Independent that Diana said four words before she died.
These were reportedly: “My God, what’s happened?”
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During an interview with Good Morning Britain, the French native explained that he thought Diana was ‘agitated’, which is why he attempted to ‘calm her down’ before she lost consciousness.
Discussing what happened after she was rescued from the car wreckage, Frederic said: "At that moment, the doctor said she was in cardiac arrest.
"So, we gave her CPR and after 20 seconds, she regained consciousness, and we transferred her to the ambulance."
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Speaking to The Sun about his experience in 2017, Gourmelon said: "To be honest I thought she would live. But I found out later she had died in hospital. It was very upsetting.
"I know now that there were serious internal injuries, but the whole episode is still very much in my mind.
“And the memory of that night will stay with me forever.
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"I had no idea then that it was Princess Diana. It was only when she had been put into the ambulance that one of the paramedics told me it was her."
Dr Richard Shepherd, a retired British pathologist, concluded that Diana had died of a ‘rare injury’ that he’s never seen again in his career.
Writing about her death in his 2019 book, Unnatural Causes, the expert explained she’d died from a ‘tiny, badly placed tear in the vein of her lung’.
He also alleged that if Diana had been wearing her seatbelt, she would have ‘probably have appeared in public two days later with a black eye’.
“Perhaps a bit breathless from the fractured ribs and with a broken arm in a sling,” he added.
The Princess of Wales’ funeral took place on September 6, 1997, with a procession beginning from St. James’ Palace to Kensington Palace.
Her burial spot is on a remote lake at her family’s ancestral seat, Althorp, near Northampton.
Topics: Princess Diana, Royal Family, UK News
Ella Scott