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On This Day: Princess Diana dies
The 37-year-old – one of the most photographed women in the world - died after her chauffeured Mercedes hit a tunnel pillar at 65mph while being chased by paparazzi
AUGUST 31, 1997: Princess Diana died following a car crash in Paris on this day – sparking a massive outpouring of grief, anger at the Royal Family and a host of conspiracy theories.
The 37-year-old – one of the most photographed women in the world - died after her chauffeured Mercedes hit a tunnel pillar at 65mph while being chased by paparazzi.
The princess’s lover Dodi Al Fayed, 42 – the son of former Harrod’s owner Mohamed Al Fayed – and driver Henri Paul were pronounced dead at the scene at 12.30am.
Diana, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt while sitting in the back, was critically injured but conscious – as was her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, the only survivor.
As the popular princess lay dying, photographers continued to take pictures while she reportedly murmured “oh my God” repeatedly and “leave me alone”.
Diana, who had divorced Prince Charles a year earlier, suffered cardiac arrest as emergency workers pulled her from the wrecked car in the Pont d’Alma underpass.
But paramedics were able to resuscitate her despite the force of the crash shifting her heart to the right side of her chest and tearing her pulmonary vein and pericardium.
She died from her injuries at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in the French capital at 4am – triggering an unparalleled wave of shock and grief around the world.
A sea of flowers remained outside her home at London’s Kensington Palace for months afterwards as people travelled from near and far to pay their last respects.
Her funeral at Westminster Abbey drew an estimated three million mourners onto the streets and was was watched on TV by 2.5billion people in 200 countries.
In an excoriating eulogy, her brother Earl Spencer attacked the press and Royal Family, whom quirky and unconventional Diana despairingly nicknamed the “firm”.
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The Queen, who had refused to leave Balmoral Castle in Scotland or fly her flag half-mast at Buckingham Palace due to protocol, was widely condemned by the public.
Support for the monarchy hit an all-time low and the Queen, who had been consoling Diana’s sons Princes William and Harry, was forced to go on TV to quell their anger.
The Prince of Wales, who conducted an affair with his now wife Camilla Parker Bowles during the entire duration of his marriage to Diana, was especially vilified.
At the same time, the death also prompted massive criticism of the press, especially red-top tabloids such as The Sun, which had long paid huge sums for photos of Diana.
In the immediate aftermath, many blamed the paparazzi for the crash after they followed the “people’s princess” from the Paris Ritz.
An inquest in Paris blamed the driver, an employee of the hotel’s owner Mohamed Al Fayed, who drove at twice the speed limit after taking drugs and drinking alcohol.
But this decision was met with widespread disbelief – including by Mr Al Fayed who accused the Duke of Edinburgh and MI6 of planning an assassination.
Other conspiracy theories claimed that Diana had been pregnant with Muslim Dodi’s baby at the time of the crash, which could have embarrassed the establishment.
Others believed Charles may have had a hand in the charismatic and glamorous princess’s death to make marrying Camilla more palatable to the public.
Diana, who was 20 when she married the Prince of Wales in 1981, had also predicted her death in 1993 when she wrote that Charles was “planning 'an accident' in my car”.
In 2008, a second inquest - which was carried out at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, cost £8million and heard from 250 witnesses – dismissed all of these claims.
But conspiracy theories continue to abound and Diana – with her troubled childhood, unhappy marriage, eating disorders and divisive death - remains the subject of debate.
Among Diana’s chief legacy is a reformed Royal Family, which has attempted to project a softer, friendlier and more down-to-earth face in the years since her death.
They now enjoy record high approval ratings with around 80% of the public supporting the monarchy,
according to opinion polls.
Even Charles - who waited until 2005 to wed Camilla, who bears the title the Duchess of Cambridge rather than the Princess of Wales - has seen his popularity surge.
Yet comparisons to Diana – especially with the Duchess of Cambridge following her marriage to Prince William and birth of their son George – are never far away.
