The news of Princess Diana’s death sent shock waves around the globe.
Many unanswered questions and conspiracy theories persist regarding the tragic death of one of the world’s most famous and beloved figures, whose pursuit by paparazzi ultimately proved fatal.
Here is the truth about the crash that killed Princess Diana and how she died. This comes right after the 25th anniversary of the day the “People’s Princess” was taken from us far too soon.
What Caused the Death of Princess Diana?
As midnight approached on August 31, 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash.
Henri Paul, Princess Diana’s driver, was drunk and driving nearly twice the speed limit in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris as he tried to outrun the photographers who followed her every move. The car he was driving with the People’s Princess, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, and their bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones skidded off the road, crashed into a tunnel wall, and then into a pillar. In an instant, Fayed and Paul were dead. Despite the rapid response of emergency services, which arrived on the scene within five minutes and rushed Diana to the hospital, she ultimately succumbed to her injuries. In the end, her injuries on August 31, 1997, at 4:53 a.m., proved fatal.
Aside from her fatal chest wounds, Diana also sustained a concussion, a broken arm, and a cut to her thigh in the accident. Her heart was pushed to the right side of her chest, and she had a fatal tear in her pulmonary vein. Surgeons tried for hours but could not restore a normal heart rhythm in her body. It has been hypothesized that Diana might have escaped the crash with only minor injuries if a seatbelt had restrained her.
Princess Diana and her boyfriend, film producer Dodi Fayed, were in the back passenger seats of the 1996 Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class when they were last seen alive. Trevor Rees-Jones, a member of the Fayed family’s security team, was riding as the front passenger. Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, owns the Hôtel Ritz Paris, and Henri Paul, the hotel’s deputy head of security, was behind the wheel. Only Rees-Jones made it out of the crash alive.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. Her legacy and words lives on. pic.twitter.com/eAGN2nCPUp
— 🛡 Royal Reporter (@royal_reporter) August 31, 2022
Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in which Paul was driving. At the time of the fatal accident, his blood alcohol level was reportedly three times the French legal limit.
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