Few events in modern history have frozen the globe in collective disbelief. Twenty-eight years ago today, news broke that Diana, Princess of Wales, had died in a car crash in Paris. Streets fell silent, newspapers rewrote their front pages, and television screens all over the world repeated the same headline: The People’s Princess was gone.
In the early hours of August 31, 1997, the 36-year-old stepped into a black Mercedes with her companion Dodi Al-Fayed. Ritz Hotel security chief Henri Paul drove, while bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones sat in front.
Minutes later, the car slammed into the 13th pillar of the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. The impact killed Dodi and Paul instantly. Rescuers pulled Rees-Jones from the wreck alive. Doctors fought to save Diana, but at 4 am, her heart stopped.
That night, Diana and Dodi dined at the Ritz, owned by his father Mohamed Al-Fayed. Photographers swarmed the hotel’s front entrance. To evade them, the couple slipped out the back in a waiting Mercedes at 12:20 am.
By 12:23 am, the car hit the pillar inside the Alma tunnel at more than twice the speed limit. Witnesses reported a violent crash followed by silence.
Off-duty doctor Frederic Mailliez rushed to the scene and tried to help. Diana, conscious but gravely hurt, reportedly whispered, “Oh my God… leave me alone.”
Medics transported her to Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, where surgeons tried in vain to stop the internal bleeding. At dawn, the future Queen of England was gone.
Diana lived, and died, in the glare of cameras. She transformed from a nursery assistant into the world’s most famous woman. She navigated a turbulent marriage with now-King Charles, used her platform to campaign for AIDS patients and landmine victims, and insisted on raising her sons with compassion.
When she died, the world reeled. Outside Kensington Palace, mourners stacked flowers higher than the gates. Millions lined London’s streets. An estimated 2.5 billion people watched her funeral on television, as Elton John sang and two young princes walked behind their mother’s coffin.
Her youngest son, Prince Harry, in his memoir Spare, described driving through the tunnel himself. “No reason anyone should ever die inside it,” he said. He and Prince William later agreed the report “raised more questions than it answered.”
This week, reports suggested Prince Harry may partner with Netflix on a documentary about his mother.
