It's been 10 years

On August 31, 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France, along with her companion Dodi Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul. Fayed's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only car occupant to survive the accident.
Most reports and findings concluded that the cause was a car crash occasioned by a chauffeur, who had consumed too much alcohol and had lost control speeding whilst trying to evade press photographers. There was controversy about the initial finding.


At the entrance to the tunnel, their car lost control, swerved to the left of the two-lane carriageway and collided head-on with the thirteenth pillar supporting the roof, then spun to a stop. There was no guard rail between the pillars to prevent this.



Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul both died at the scene. Dodi Fayed had been sitting in the rear left passenger seat and appeared to be dead. Nevertheless, fire officers were still trying - in vain - to resuscitate him when he was pronounced dead by a doctor at 1.30hrs. Henri Paul was declared dead on removal from the wreckage.


The Princess of Wales, who had been sitting in the rear right passenger seat, was still conscious and crouched on the floor of the vehicle with her back to the road. She was trapped in the wreckage for nearly an hour but the roof was cut off the car and she was eventually freed, alive, from the wreckage, and after some delay due to attempts to stabilize her at the scene, she was taken by ambulance to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, arriving there shortly after 2:00 a.m. Despite attempts to save her, her internal injuries were too extensive: her heart had been displaced from the left to the right side of the chest, which tore the pulmonary vein and the pericardium. Despite surgery, the damage was irreparable. Two hours later, at 4:00 that morning, the doctors pronounced her dead. At 5:30, her death was announced at a press conference held by a hospital doctor, Jean-Pierre Chevènement (France's Interior Minister), and Sir Michael Jay(Britain's ambassador to France).

Many have speculated that if Diana had worn a seat belt, her injuries would have been less severe. This speculation was likely fuelled by early media reports stating that Trevor Rees-Jones was the only car occupant to have worn a seat belt. However these reports proved incorrect: both the French and the British investigations concluded that none of the occupants of the car was wearing a seat belt at the time of the impact.