The Night Princess Diana Died - The Daily Beast August 31, 1997 The Night Princess Diana Died Christopher Dickey recalls his long, lonely August night in Paris in 1997—at the horrific accident scene and Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. At dawn, the news came and mourning began. Christopher Dickey 08.31.13 8:45 AM ET Princess Diana died, as it happened, the night of my birthday, August 31, 1997. I hadn’t planned much of a celebration. My wife and I shared a bottle of good wine in our apartment in Paris, and went to bed. About 30 minutes later, an editor called from New York. The wires were reporting there’d been a car crash about a mile from my place: the driver and Diana’s lover of the moment, Dodi Fayed, were dead. Diana was injured, nobody was sure how badly. Minutes later, I was at the scene among a crush of reporters behind police barricades trying to peer into the tunnel beneath the Place de l’Alma.

The lights of cop cars flashed inside with that melancholy rhythm they have when the sirens are off and the action is over. We could see the big crumpled Mercedes sedan, but not very well. We still didn’t know what had happened to the princess. Over the course of the next hour or so, the press corps thinned out until, finally, to my surprise, I was alone. I was waiting for the police to pull the car out of the tunnel, and in the meantime making calls on my big brick of a cellphone, or answering questions as best I could when American cable networks called me. As it happened, I had contributed to a Newsweek article about Diana that was on the stands that week. Under the headline “The Flying Fayeds,” it recounted the high ambitions and unsavory connections of Dodi Fayed and his father, all of which were of new interest because Dodi and Diana had been photographed kissing during an escapade off the coast of Sardinia. People magazine had dubbed her “the poster girl for ‘Smart Princess, Dumb Choices.’” Paparazzi, inspired by the enormous sums paid for that blurry shot of the infamous embrace, were willing to do just about anything to get their own version.

Several had been chasing the Mercedes when it crashed. Finally a police truck emerged slowly from the tunnel with the wrecked car on the back. The top had been severed from the body of the automobile with what rescue workers call “the jaws of life” so they could get at the victims inside. The air bags were deployed and lay limp in the front seats. I could not see any blood, although I know now that there must have been a lot of it. The face of bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones had been shredded by the windshield. It was obvious from the twisted metal that the impact had been horrific, as I told the cable news anchors calling me. Then there was nothing more to see. So I went to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital a couple of miles away and across the Seine. A French ambulance had taken Diana there. But reporters were not being allowed through the gates. As dawn approached, again, I found myself in sparse company. And then, suddenly, we were told we could enter. I climbed over the police barriers and went inside. It was, for me, a strange sensation. I had only ever been to that hospital once before, and not for medical reasons.

About eight months earlier, I’d gone to see an installation of Bill Viola’s video art in the ruins of an old church on the hospital grounds. In ultra-slow motion on enormous screens, men sank and rose from water, or were consumed by flame. I had called my father afterward to talk about it with him. He was dying, and we had been estranged for a long time, and these conversations about art and poetry were one of the ways we tried to reconnect. A few weeks after that, he passed away. Now I was waiting for word of another death, albeit of someone I had never met. The British ambassador and the French interior minister and other dignitaries had assembled to address the press in those dark minutes just before sunrise. But first they asked the doctor who had treated Diana to explain what steps he had taken to save her. For some reason there was no microphone. The doctor spoke softly. Three or four of us huddled around him, almost a scrum, hanging on his every word. He said she had massive internal bleeding. He said surgeons had opened her chest. He said they had massaged her heart.

He said he and his team had done everything they could, but at four in the morning they had pronounced her dead. As I repeated that information live to CNN, my voice broke. Reporting the news of Diana’s death, I remembered my own need to grieve. In the days that followed, I think millions of people shared that experience in various ways: the world seemed to pause to mourn Diana, and in that moment people allowed themselves to mourn for many others they had loved and lost. For months after that, because mine had been the voice of Diana’s death broadcast around the world, I was assigned full time to follow the story of what happened that night and the subsequent investigation. It was clear there had been many bad decisions, one after another, and there had been no conspiracy , but Dodi’s father, Mohamed al-Fayed, spent a fortune trying to keep alive the notion that the British royals had mounted a plot to kill the princess and his son. It all came to seem terribly tawdry. Eventually I got to see the voluminous police dossier on the case, including the photographs taken at the scene by the paparazzi. Dodi, I remember, looked like a mangled marionette, his limbs twisted in impossible positions.

But Diana merely looked stunned. She was seated in the well of the car behind the front seat, her legs drawn up slightly. Her eyes seemed vacant, but she looked very much alive. Only when she was taken out of the car and stretched out in the ambulance did the tear in a vein near her heart open wide. In that same picture, in a pouch in the back of the front seat, there is a magazine: a copy of Newsweek. Maybe it was the same one with the article on “The Flying Fayeds.” I don’t know. Just another odd and painful coincidence. One of so many that night. READ THIS LIST Princess Diana Died 17 Years Ago Today - ABC News ABC News Princess Diana Died 17 Years Ago Today By ABC NEWS Aug 31, 2014, 6:18 AM ET 0 Shares WATCH 8/31/97: Mourning Princess Diana 0 Shares Email Today marks 17 years since Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. Princess Diana initially survived the Aug. 31, 1997, limousine crash, but later died from her injuries.

Egyptian film producer Dodi Al-Fayed and the driver were also killed. A bodyguard was seriously injured. French authorities investigating the crash found the driver had a high level of alcohol in his system when the crash happened. The paparazzi trailing Princess Diana was also scrutinized. Thousands turned up for her funeral, held at Westminister Abbey. Princess Diana WAS pregnant on the night she died, shock new play claims - Mirror Online News Princess Diana WAS pregnant on the night she died, shock new play claims Truth, Lies, Diana also claims Prince Philip had “many extra-marital flings” but that he and the Queen had “an arrangement” Share Shock play: It reveals Princess Diana WAS pregnant when she died (Photo: Getty) Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Sensational claims about the death of Princess Diana will be aired in a controversial West End play, which opens this week. And we can reveal the full extraordinary ­allegations being brought to the stage in the ­production Truth, Lies, Diana.

It will revive claims that Diana was pregnant with “a Muslim baby” when she died in a Paris car crash alongside lover Dodi Fayed in 1997. Audiences will also hear claims that Prince Philip had “many extra-marital flings” but that he and the Queen had “an arrangement”. The play could not come at a more embarrassing time for the Royals, already reeling from under-age sex claims against Prince Andrew – which Buckingham Palace strongly denies. But the man behind the play said he had no regrets about bringing it to the stage. Writer and director Jon Conway – who also appears in the production – said: “I think it’s important the public is able to hear the whole story. I call it the D-word as nobody wants to talk about it.” Diana herself is not depicted in the play, which centres on a journalist called Ray trying to find out the truth about the princess’s death in 1997. But it does air claims about her life, including the unproven suggestion she was pregnant with Dodi Fayed’s baby when she died.

Conway put together the show, which opens on Wednesday, after extensive interviews with experts and those closest to Diana, including her former lover James Hewitt and butler Paul Burrell. Others depicted in the play include Piers Morgan, Dodi’s father Mohammed Al Fayed and members of the Royal Family. Among the allegations will be testimony Conway says was passed to him by a British forensic officer known as Rose, the former partner of a doctor at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital where Diana was declared dead on August 31 1997. Pregnant: Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed in Saint Tropez (Photo: Alpha) Her boyfriend Yasser was not working on the night Diana died – but in the play Rose will be seen claiming: “When we heard the news my partner called a fellow Muslim doctor friend, who was on duty that night. “Yasser said to him in Arabic, ‘I can’t believe the news. Were you on duty?’ Then he said, ‘Yes, yes... What? She was pregnant?’ “The other doctor told Yasser he saw the foetus and was told never to mention it.

Yasser said, ‘Yes, imagine that, the King of England’s mother, pregnant with a Muslim baby’.” Asked in the play why she and her partner kept quiet at the time, Rose says: “We told some close friends. But doctors, like soldiers and police, obey superiors. We want a career.” In the play her character is asked why she has come forward now. She says: “I’m speaking out now because I’m fed up with bullying bosses and corrupt coppers. “It’s time for the truth to come out.” The play includes allegations by Diana’s former lover James Hewitt that she found out about Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles days before their wedding in 1981 and wanted to call it off. Video Loading Watch Next Conway visited the former cavalry officer in Marbella, Spain, where Hewitt gave his blessing to his depiction in the play. In it Hewitt says Diana looked the other way for a long time with Prince Charles but it destroyed her in the end. “They say love is blind,” he adds. Hewitt says the Prince of Wales knew about his affair with Diana from the start, but “he encouraged it so that he could be with Camilla”.

Hewitt is also seen claiming Diana was aware of Prince Philip’s alleged flings and ­“arrangement” with the Queen. Conway said last month: “James told me some quite remarkable things that have never been said in the public domain, particularly about when his relationship with Diana started.” The play also includes claims by Paul Burrell that Diana’s brother Earl Spencer would not allow her to take refuge at Althorp the family home after her marriage split as he did not want to be inconvenienced by the press. Affair: Prince Charles talks to Camilla Parker Bowles at a Polo Match in 1975 (Photo: Rex) BBC ON THIS DAY | 31 | 1997: Princess Diana dies in Paris crash 1997: Princess Diana dies in Paris crash Diana, Princess of Wales, has died after a car crash in Paris. She was taken to hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning where surgeons tried for two hours to save her life but she died at 0300 BST. In a statement Buckingham Palace said the Queen and the Prince of Wales were "deeply shocked and distressed".

Prince Charles broke the news of their mother's death to Princes William and Harry at Balmoral Castle in Scotland where the royal family had been spending the summer. The accident happened after the princess left the Ritz Hotel in the French capital with her companion, Dodi Al Fayed - son of Harrods owner, Mohammed Al Fayed. Criminal investigation Dodi Al Fayed and the vehicle's driver were also killed in the collision in a tunnel under the Place de l'Alma in the centre of the city. The princess' Mercedes car was apparently being pursued at high speed by photographers on motorbikes when it hit a pillar and smashed into a wall. Mr Al Fayed and the chauffeur died at the scene but the princess and her bodyguard were cut from the wreckage and rushed to hospital. The French authorities have begun a criminal investigation and are questioning seven photographers. Tributes to the princess have been pouring in from around the world. Speaking from his home in South Africa, the princess' brother, Lord Charles Spencer, said his sister had been "unique". While it was not the time for recriminations there was no doubt the press had played a part in her death, the earl added.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered at the princess' London home, Kensington Palace and many have laid flowers at the gates. Princess Diana - Biography Princess Diana 1980 - 1989 Princess Diana Lady Diana Spencer smiles at the 41st annual United Cerebral Palsy Awards gala December 11, 1995 in New York City. Lady Diana, the Princess of Wales, received the UCP Humanitarian Award at the fundraising evening. (Photo by Pool/Pool / Getty Images) By Jennifer Rosenberg Who Was Princess Diana? Princess Diana, the wife of British Prince Charles, endeared herself to the public through her warmth and caring. From her picture-perfect wedding to her untimely death in a car accident, Princess Diana was in the spotlight nearly at all times. Despite problems with so much attention, Princess Diana tried to use this publicity to bring attention to worthy causes such as the elimination of AIDS and landmines. She also became truly a princess of the people when she publicly shared her struggles with depression and bulimia, becoming a role model for those who suffer from those ailments.

Dates: July 1, 1961 - August 31, 1997 Also Known As: Diana Frances Spencer; Lady Diana Spencer; Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales; Princess Di; Diana, Princess of Wales Childhood Diana was born in 1961 as the third daughter of Edward John Spencer and his wife Frances Ruth Burke Roche. Diana grew up in a very privileged family that had a long history of close ties with the royal family. continue reading below our video Profile of Princess Diana When Diana's paternal grandfather passed away in 1975, Diana's father became the 8th Earl of Spencer and Diana gained the title of "Lady." In 1969, Diana's parents divorced. Her mother's affair helped the court decide to give custody of the couple's four children to Diana's father. Both of her parents eventually remarried, but the divorce left an emotional scar on Diana. Diana attended school at West Heath in Kent and then spent a short time at a finishing school in Switzerland. Although she was not an excellent student academically, her determined personality, caring nature, and cheerful outlook helped her through it.

After returning from Switzerland, Diana rented an apartment with two friends, worked with children at the Young England Kindergarten, and watched movies and visited restaurants in her free time. Falling in Love With Prince Charles It was about this time that Prince Charles, in his early 30s, was under increasing pressure to choose a wife. Diana's vibrancy, cheerfulness, and good family background caught the attention of Prince Charles and the two began dating in mid-1980. It was a whirlwind romance for on February 24, 1981, Buckingham Palace officially announced the couple's engagement. At the time, Lady Diana and Prince Charles seemed truly in love and the whole world was awed by what seemed like a fairytale romance. It was the wedding of the decade ; nearly 3,500 people attended and approximately 750 million people from around the world watched it on television. To the envy of young women everywhere, Lady Diana married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981 at St. Paul's Cathedral. Less than a year after the wedding, Diana gave birth to William Arthur Philip Louis on June 21, 1982.

Two years after William was born, Diana gave birth to Henry ("Harry") Charles Albert David on September 15, 1984. Marriage Problems While Diana, now known as Princess Di, quickly gained the love and appreciation of the public, there were definitely problems in her marriage by the time Prince Harry was born. The stresses of Diana's numerous new roles (including wife, mother, and princess) were overwhelming. These pressures plus the extreme media coverage and post-natal depression, left Diana lonely and depressed. Although she tried to maintain a positive public persona, at home she was crying out for help. Diana suffered from bulimia, cut herself on her arms and legs, and made several suicide attempts. Prince Charles, who was jealous of Diana's extra media attention and unprepared to handle her depression and self-destructive behavior, quickly started to drift away from her. This led Diana to spend the mid- to late-1980s, unhappy, lonely, and depressed. Diana's Support of Many Worthy Causes During these lonely years, Diana tried to find a place for herself. She had become what many describe as the most photographed woman in the world.

The public loved her, which meant that the media followed her everywhere she went and commented on everything she wore, said, or did. Diana found that her presence comforted many who were sick or dying. She dedicated herself to a number of causes, most especially to the elimination of AIDS and landmines. In 1987, when Diana became the first famous person to be photographed touching someone with AIDS, she made a huge impact in dissolving the myth that AIDS could be contracted merely by touch. Divorce and Death In December 1992, a formal separation was announced between Diana and Charles and in 1996, a divorce was agreed to which was finalized on August 28. In the settlement, Diana was given $28 million, plus $600,000 per year but she was to give up the title, "Her Royal Highness." Diana's hard-won freedom did not last long.

On August 31, 1997, Diana was riding in a Mercedes with her boyfriend (Dodi Al Fayed), bodyguard, and chauffeur when the car crashed into a pillar of the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris while fleeing from paparazzi. Diana, age 36, died on the operating table at the hospital. Her tragic death shocked the world. Initially, the public blamed the paparazzi for the accident. However, further investigation proved that the primary cause of the accident was that the chauffeur had been driving under the influence of both drugs and alcohol. Princess Diana death: The two mystery cars | UK | News | Daily Express UK Princess Diana death: The two mystery cars KEY CLUES suggesting Princess Diana could have been killed in a rogue SAS plot were never properly investigated, the Sunday Express can reveal today. 00:00, Sun, Aug 25, 2013 Four key witnesses have come forward to provide unheard evidence surrounding Diana's death As military police officers work with Scotland Yard on the latest sensational claims, we can disclose that police never found two cars being driven suspiciously on the fateful night.

After a detailed analysis of police files we can disclose: l A British solicitor told officers about two mystery vehicles which seemed to be fleeing the crash. Neither has ever been traced. Gary Hunter felt one of the vehicles was “shielding” the other, suggesting one of the cars could have hit Diana’s Mercedes. Two French witnesses also said they thought a motorbike was implicated. This has never been found. Compelling evidence has emerged that Diana’s Mercedes was involved in another collision seconds before the main impact but analysis of the debris was deeply flawed. Military sources revealed that last week it was decided the Army should “review” any evidence linking any SAS officers to Diana’s death after a new investigation by Scotland Yard. Two officers from the Special Investigations Branch, the Army’s Special Branch, based at Land Forces Command in Andover, Hampshire, have been told to look at all available evidence and report back to the Provost Marshall. The claims of military involvement surfaced in a letter written by the mother-in-law of an SAS soldier, known as Soldier N, to his commanding officer, claiming he threatened to kill his estranged wife and their daughter.

Debris: Possible evidence of an earlier crash seems to have been ignored She also claimed: “He told her [the daughter] that it was XXX who arranged Princess Diana’s death and that has been covered up. Diana, 36, died with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, 42, and Ritz Hotel security official Henri Paul when their Mercedes crashed in the Alma tunnel underpass in Paris 16 years ago on Saturday. An inquest jury decided Dodi and Diana were unlawfully killed and blamed Henri Paul, who had been drinking and was speeding. Evidence from police files strongly suggests the Mercedes was being chased by unknown people in a car and on a motorbike. Neither French or British police could identify any photographers who could have been responsible, which suggests the people tailing Diana were not paparazzi. The Sunday Express has analysed police files and spoken to officials in France and Britain to see if there is any credible reason to suspect that Diana was killed intentionally just after midnight on August 31, 1997. The driver: Henri Paul has been blamed with the death of the Princess, was he set up?

KEY WITNESS 1 London solicitor Gary Hunter was staying in a hotel overlooking the Alma tunnel with his wife Teresa. He died in 2004 but his statement to the inquest jury read: “At 12.25am I heard the noise of an almighty crash followed immediately by the sound of skidding tyres and then immediately a further very loud crash. At 12.25am I heard the noise of an almighty crash followed immediately by the sound of skidding tyres and then immediately a further very loud crash London solicitor Gary Hunter “I jumped out of bed to the open from where the sound had come. From the same direction, there was the continuing sound of a car horn.” He returned to his bed briefly but then heard more sounds, returning to the window “to see that a small dark vehicle had completed its turn into Rue Jean Goujon immediately followed by a larger white vehicle”. He went on: “I believe this vehicle to have been a white Mercedes. “It completed its turn immediately behind the smaller dark vehicle. Both vehicles were travelling at inordinate speed." “The white vehicle was almost touching the rear bumper of the smaller dark vehicle.

I thought the white car was shielding the small black car from behind. “At the junction with the roundabout with wheels screeching, they turned right and out of my sight.” Teresa, 56, told the Sunday Express last night: “I was asleep all the time so I don’t know what happened, but my late husband never changed his account. He was absolutely sure of what he saw and heard.” KEY WITNESSES 2 & 3 Frenchman Jean Pascal Peyret said he heard the sound of TWO crashes as he drove through the tunnel with his girlfriend, Severine Banjout. Speaking via a video link from Paris, he told the inquest that as he drove up the slope exiting the underpass: “I heard two noises, one after the other. The first the sound of an impact and then another sound which was a much heavier, bigger impact.” Although Mr Peyret said he did not see any vehicles nearby, Severine, now his wife, insists she saw a lone motorcyclist in her side window, which was travelling very fast.

She told police: “I quickly understood that the motorcycle could have been implicated in the collision and that its rider was trying to get away from the place.” Seconds from diaster: Diana turns to look back. Had she felt a bump from another car? KEY WITNESS 4 Frenchman Olivier Partouche, now 41, was nearby when the Mercedes went into the tunnel at 12.20am. Police Lieutenant Marc Guillemois took a statement from him at 9.05am. It says: “I could quite clearly see a dark coloured car travelling in front of a Mercedes limousine brake in order to enable a motorbike to draw level. “I had the impression there were several people in the dark vehicle travelling in front of the Mercedes. “I cannot say whether there was a pillion passenger on the following motorcycle or not. “I thought there were flashes coming from the motorbike, which, I would remind you was positioned behind the car containing the VIPs.” At Diana’s inquest Met Police crash expert Sergeant Anthony Read said Mr Paul’s attempt to avoid a white Fiat Uno, which it had hit with a “glancing blow”, started a chain of events that caused the death crash.

Police photographs show debris around the entrance to the tunnel, 147ft away from the main crash scene, indicating a collision between the Mercedes and the Fiat. Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, the only survivor, also said he thought the car was being followed by a motorbike and two cars, one of which was a white hatchback. At the inquest, Michael Mansfield QC suggested: “If someone wanted to engineer a crash along the expressway, that is utterly possible, isn’t it?’’ Additional reporting by Peter Allen in Paris. Related articles Princess Diana - Biography - IMDb Princess Diana Biography Showing all 50 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (2) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (2) | Trivia (27) | Personal Quotes (13) Overview (5) 5' 10" (1.78 m) Mini Bio (2) Princess Diana was born July 1, 1961 at 7:45pm weighing 7lb 12oz at Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk, England. She had her christening at Sandringham Church in Norfolk.

Her full name is Lady Diana Frances Spencer. On July 29, 1981 she married her Prince Charming - Prince Charles of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II . On June 21 1982 her first son was born - Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis Windsor. Two years later, on September 15 1984, Diana's second and youngest son was born - Prince Henry Charles Albert David Windsor. Later on she said that the time she was expecting Harry was the best time she and Charles ever had they were getting along so well. On August 26 1996, the "Fairy-Tale" marriage was over. A year later on August 31 1997, much of the world was in a state of mourning - their beloved Princess died in a car accident with boyfriend Dodi Fayed , along with the driver of the car. The only survivor was Dodi's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones. Diana today is still remembered by many as the "People's Princess". She will always be remembered.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Lexie <Lexiie22@hotmail.com> Princess Diana was born Diana Frances Spencer on July 1, 1961. Her parents were Edward John Spencer and Frances Ruth Burke Roche, Viscount and Viscountess Althorp, later Earl and Countess Spencer. When she was 6 her parents split up and her mother got married to Peter Shand Kydd. Diana lived with her father her two older sisters and her younger brother Charles. When she was about 8 she was sent to boarding school. After that she went to another boarding school and then finally to a school in Switzerland where only French was spoken. She was not what one would call an academic, and actually would be considered a high school drop out. When she was at her final boarding school in England she met Prince Charles for the first time. He was dating Diana's sister Sarah at the time and Diana was so exited about finally meeting him that she could not concentrate on her O level exams the following week. It was only when her grandfather died that she inherited the title of Lady. Diana lived in an apartment with roommates and was a nanny and a school teacher when she got engaged to the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles .

They got married in the summer of 1981 and on July 21 1982, Prince William Arther Phillip Louis was born. On September 15 1984, she had Prince Henry Charles Albert David. Her marriage started to fail then. In 1992 she and Prince Charles separated and in 1996 they divorced. She then lost the privilege of being called Her Royal Highness. In 1996 she fell in love with Dodi Fayed , the son of the owner of Harrods Department Store in London. On the night of August 31 1997, they were both tragically killed in a motor accident when the car they were in collided with a beam on the Pont D'Alma near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Her funeral was held on September 6 1997, just 9 days before Henry's 13th birthday. She is buried on an island at her ancestral home at Althorp. - IMDb Mini Biography By: CRR Spouse (1) Trivia (27) Buried on an island in Althorp, Northamptonshire, England, UK.

Has two sons with Prince Charles: Prince William (b. 21 June 1982) and Prince Harry Windsor (b. 15 September 1984). Former daughter-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip . "Candle in the Wind", the Elton John song about Marilyn Monroe , was changed to fit her, and performed by John at her funeral. Coincidentally, both women died at age 36. Had her look-alike puppet in the French show Les guignols de l'info (1988). Her death was used by Jean-Pierre Jeunet as a plot device for Amélie (2001). Invited Supermodel Cindy Crawford to Buckingham Palace for dinner, when Prince William had a secret crush on the model. Distantly related to actor Humphrey Bogart , who was her seventh cousin. Once referred to Camilla Parker-Bowles as a rottweiler. Appeared on the cover of People Weekly magazine a record-breaking 81 times. The "Goodbye Diana" issue (9/22/97) racked up sales of almost $3m making the issue the magazine's best-seller in its existence.

Fell in love with Dodi Fayed after a food fight on his father's yacht Jonikal. Sister of Earl Charles Spencer (b. 1964), Sarah Spencer (b. 1955) and Jane Spencer (b. 1957). Told an intimate friend that, while walking down the aisle in Saint Paul's Cathedral, she thought about turning back like "Elaine" did in The Graduate (1967). Loved animated movies, especially the ones that were musicals. Best friends with Lúcia Flecha de Lima, Rosa Monckton , Sarah Ferguson , Lana Marks , Lady Annabel Goldsmith and her daughter Jemima Khan , Selina Scott . When her photo made the cover of Time magazine after her untimely death, the Commemorative Issue sold more than 1 million copies at the newsstands. Was a longtime friend of the late American pop star Michael Jackson . When Diana went to the LA Fitness Centre in Isleworth, the owner Bryce Taylor planted a camera and caught her exercising in a leotard. The photos were sold for over £100,000 to The Mirror.

They printed them saying they were exposing the lapse in royal security, but Diana didn't buy the explanation and took them to court. They reached an out-of-court settlement. This incident impelled Diana to withdraw from public life. Diana's interview with Martin Bashir was watched by 23 million people in the United Kingdom. Was a huge fan of ABBA , Duran Duran , Tom Jones and Bryan Ferry . Diana's last holiday with her two sons was in the South of France in July 1997. A South Asian song, called "Diana Diana", was featured in the Tamil film, Kaadhal Kavidai (1998). It was sung by South Asian singer Hariharan in her memory. Second cousin of Guy Van Pelt . Their great-great grandfather was Franklin Work (1819-1911), American stockbroker and protégé of Cornelius Vanderbilt .

Princess Diana: Crash tunnel opened to public - Telegraph Princess Diana: Crash tunnel opened to public Isabel Atherley joined pedestrians in the tunnel By Peter Allen in Paris 4:25PM BST 07 Oct 2007 France has taken the extraordinary step of opening the underpass in which Princess Diana died to members of the public. So much to lose in Diana inquest It led to unprecedented scenes, with tourists among those posing for pictures next to the notorious 13th pillar, which Diana's Mercedes crashed into in August 1997, killing her, her lover Dodi Al Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul. The usually hugely busy stretch of road on the banks of the river Seine in Paris was completely shut off to traffic from dawn, allowing pedestrians to wander inside. A handful of traffic police kept order, with just a few cones diverting cars and lorries elsewhere. The decision to let ordinary members of the public inside on foot for the first time in ten years came on the eve of the historic visit to the French capital by the English jury examining Diana's death at a High Court inquest.

Related Articles 03 Oct 2007 The Atherley family from Tamworth, Staffs, said they were 'amazed' to be allowed down. 'We heard it was open so thought we had to come and have a look,' said Adrian Atherley, travelling with his wife Helen, and children Rhys and Isabelle. 'It's amazing that it's been opened in this way. We must be among the first English people to come down here since Diana died.' An entourage of at least 50, including the 11 jurors, will accompany Lord Justice Scott Baker, the coroner, on a visit to sites linked to the 1997 tragedy. These will include the crash scene in the Pont D'Alma tunnel, the Ritz Hotel, and the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, where Diana was declared dead. Such is the sensitivity of the visit that Michèle Alliot-Marie, France's Interior Minister, has assigned specialist officers to every site. These will include armed members of the RAID anti-terrorist unit, CRS riot police and undercover agents from the domestic intelligence agency DST. Their deployment has as much to do with diplomacy as security fears, said government sources in Paris.

'Everyone is aware that the British party will be working in public and in very prominent places which naturally poses a security risk,' said one. 'But France also wants to highlight that its conduct throughout the last ten years enquiry has been exemplary. 'As far as the Diana investigation is concerned, there can be no mistakes. 'France is also, like Britain, seeking complete transparency, and that is why the Alma underpass has been opened in this way.' The French are adamant that their own inquiry into the accident - which concluded that it was caused by driver Henri Paul being drunk and driving too fast - left no stone unturned. They were buoyed last week by the European Court of Human Right's decision to throw out a complaint by Mohammed Al-Fayed against the French Government, whom he accused of failing to conduct their investigation properly. Strasbourg declared Mr Al-Fayed's claim was 'inadmissible' and 'unfounded', especially as its findings tallied exactly with those of the exhaustive British enquiry. A Paris judicial source said: 'All of us are convinced we got it right, and have nothing to hide.

'Princess Diana died because of a tragic road accident which took place on one of our main roads.' The stretch of grey tarmac surrounded by thick concrete walls and pillars in the Alma underpass will be an early port of call for the jury, who are expected to travel to Le Bourget airport, north of Paris, by private jet (exactly as Diana did ten years ago). They will be instructed to 'familiarise' themselves with the area after hearing scene-setting evidence and being given maps and photographs. After meeting in front of the Paris Ritz in the historic Place Vendôme at midday on Monday they will be driven on exactly the same route which Diana's Mercedes took, across Place de la Concorde, and then down on to the banks of the River Seine. There they will travel along the underpass which Henri Paul chose to use, for whatever reason, as a route to Dodi Al Fayed's central Paris flat. After an evening supper break, the jury will return to the tunnel at night. It will be shut of to traffic this time, allowing them to wander through and inspect the 13th pillar where the fatal collision took place.

The tunnel is completely unchanged in 10 years, although very few people have walked through it in that time. It is one of the busiest roads in Paris, with traffic continually roaring through. Later on Monday night the jury will follow the three mile route a SAMU ambulance took in 1997 to the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital, down-river and on the other side of the Seine. Ian Burnett, QC, counsel for the inquest, has already stated that 'there are issues raised' about the way in which the French emergency services responded, and these will be uppermost in the jurors' minds as they travel the route, and tour the hospital. They will also be taken on a walking tour of bars which Henri Paul is alleged to have visited before taking the wheel of the Mercedes. In a preliminary hearing at the High Court, Lord Justice Baker joked: 'I am not taking the jury on a pub crawl'. The jury will return to the Ritz on Tuesday. There, among other things, they can inspect the ornate corridors where CCTV cameras captured Diana and Dodi's last hours together.

In order to give the jury as complete a picture as possible, the jury will also be taken to the place intended to be the couple's ultimate destination that night - Dodi Fayed's apartment in the eighth arrondissement, at the top of the Champs-Élysées. The flat has now been sold by Dodi's father, Mr Al-Fayed, and the jury are unlikely to go inside. Intriguingly the jury will operate in Paris as if they were in a British court room - with all official procedures expected to be followed. Officials will declare when the court is 'in session', with 'adjournments' taking place for legal reasons or for lunch breaks. The sight of an English court operating on Paris streets will be an unprecedented one in Paris, with High Court officials doing everything they can to make sure everyone, including French citizens and numerous other foreign nationals who will be milling about the French capital, adheres to the correct procedures. British press have been warned, for example, that jury members can only be filmed in such a way that does not reveal their identity, although rear shots of the backs of their heads are permissible. The jury will return to England on Tuesday afternoon.

Policeman who spoke to dying Princess Diana blasts 'DIY' security who failed to stop crash | Royal | News | Daily Express ROYAL Policeman who spoke to dying Princess Diana blasts 'DIY' security who failed to stop crash A POLICEMAN who spoke to Princess Diana on her deathbed has blasted the "DIY" security team who failed to prevent the road traffic accident in which she died. 00:00, Fri, Aug 29, 2014 Daniel Bourdon discounts all conspiracy theories about an assassination as "fantasy" [PA / GETTY] Daniel Bourdon discounts all conspiracy theories about an assassination as "fantasy", saying that the tragic royal should still be alive today. His words will be another blow to Mohammed Al-Fayed, the multi-millionaire businessman whose staff were directly responsible for Diana's safety on August 31 1997. A drunk driver, Henri Paul, drove the Mercedes which crashed into an underpass wall in central Paris, killing himself, the Princess, and her lover, Dodi Al-Fayed. Dodi's father, Mr Al-Fayed, has always claimed that Diana was murdered by British secret agents under the orders of the Royal Family.

I never thought that she was going to die. It was when I saw the defeated doctors leaving the block that I knew she was lost Daniel Bourdon But numerous investigations have found zero evidence to support such claims - ones which have now been further debunked in Mr Bourdon's new book, 'Diana: That Night'. In it, Mr Bourdon recounts how he was one of the members of the Paris Criminal Brigade ordered to guard the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital, where Diana was taken straight after the crash. "Along with my team, we were ordered to secure the ground floor of the Salpetriere hospital. It was especially necessary to stop a paparazzi stealing a photo," he said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper. Beyond driver Mr Paul, Diana had been in the care of a single bodyguard called Trevor Rees-Jones, a former British soldier who was badly injured in the crash but survived. "The Princess did not have a level of security and protection that an icon like her deserved," said Mr Bourdon. "It was DIY, and that allowed a chain of circumstances that had a tragic outcome." Mr Bourdon said Diana had been so badly injured in the accident that it was "impossible to save her".

"And yet," he said. "I never thought that she was going to die. It was when I saw the defeated doctors leaving the block that I knew she was lost." Related articles Seventeen years after her death, shocking state of Diana memorials revealed It was while guarding Diana's body in the hospital morgue that Mr Bourdon spoke to her, thinking most of all about her young sons, the princes William and Harry. "In this room, I thought about her children, abut mine. Later, there was an echo of Diana's exit in my own life because the mother of my first wife, the mother of my children, also died in a road traffic accident." Referring to Diana, Mr Bourdon said: "I stayed at her side for 15 minutes. It was a poignant moment. Her face was magnificent. "It was like she was sleeping. I spoke to her. I told her how sad I found her fate. I felt such a feeling of waste." Mr Paul had more than three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, and was speeding in an attempt to evade paparazzi at the time of the crash.

Following consideration of allegedly new evidence last year, Scotland Yard again rejected the possibility that the SAS was involved Diana's death. A legal source close to Mr Al-Fayed insisted that "everything possible" had been done to protect Diana's safety on the night she died, and that the conspiracy theories were "still valid". Most read in Royal

Question: In what city did Princess Diana die?
Answer: Paris