Featured Image Credit: Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images/PIERRE BOUSSEL/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Prince Charles, Royal Family, UK News
Britt Jones
Topics: Prince Charles, Royal Family, UK News
In 1997, Princess Diana died in a fatal car crash in France, and what her final words were has plagued the British public ever since.
Beloved by all, Diana - who was just 36 when she passed away - is still known by the nation as the ‘People’s Princess’ thanks to her caring nature and desire to help those in need.
Even though it has been 25 years since the crash, there has been a lot of confusion about what may have happened on that fateful day.
What we know is that at the time Diana had been traveling in a car with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed on the 31 August in Paris.
The pair were accompanied by Diana’s driver and Dodi’s bodyguard in the car; however, something quickly went wrong after a total of nine journalists chased the princess through the Pont de l'Alma underpass.
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According to reports, the driver, Henri Paul, lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a column in the underpass, killing himself and Dodi almost instantly and leaving Diana and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones severely injured.
Firefighters arrived at the scene along with emergency services to see how they could recover the injured so they could be transported to the hospital.
That’s when firefighter Xavier Gourmelon captured the princess’ final words.
On the 20th anniversary of her death, the French native spoke to Good Morning Britain about what she said to him.
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He shared that when he and his crew approached the scene, nobody knew who was in the crash and didn’t recognise the princess.
He went on to share that she was unconscious when he first approached, but she regained consciousness, with Gourmelon sharing: “She looked at me and said, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened?’”.
The former firefighter said that she appeared ‘agitated’ at first before losing consciousness again.
He said: “I tried to calm her down and tell her we’d look after her, and she fell into a coma again.”
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He explained that when they removed her from the car wreck, things took a turn for the worse.
He explained: “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.”
Noting how he could only see injuries to her shoulder and that she didn’t have any blood on her, he thought she was going to make a full recovery once she arrived at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.
But it was at 4.00am that the princess died after another cardiac arrest which surgeons could not resuscitate her from.
According to Christopher Andersen in King: The Life of Charles III, the news of Diana’s passing reached Buckingham Palace and to her ex-husband’s ears, who apparently was ‘ashen and trembling’ when he heard.
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Anderson said: "He let out a cry of pain that was so spontaneous and came from the heart. Palace staff rushed over to Charles' room and found him collapsed in an armchair, weeping uncontrollably."