[ad_1]
This Monday, August 31, marks the 23rd anniversary of the death of the princess Diana of Wales, the most emblematic figure of current British royalty after Queen Elizabeth.
In 1997, when the tragedy occurred, the princess had been legally divorced from him for less than a year. Prince carlos, although more than four years separated from him. But despite having gotten rid of the royal family, she was still the most famous and most photographed woman in the world.
Weeks before the accident, Diana had enjoyed part of the summer with her children, the princes William and Harry -12 and 15 years old respectively- in the heavenly waters of Saint-Tropez, in France.
The boys subsequently departed for the Queen’s summer home in Balmoral, Scotland, with their father, while she returned to France to spend a few days on the Queen’s yacht. Dodi Al-Fayed, an Egyptian businessman she was dating, who was the millionaire’s son Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Much has been said and written about Diana and Dodi’s romance. That they were madly in love, that she didn’t really want him and was using him to forget another love, that they were about to get married and even that the princess was pregnant.
The truth will never really be known, but the only certainty that the last days of their lives were spent together.
August 30th
At 11:30 a.m. on August 30, 1997, the princess and the businessman left the yacht in southern France to board a plane that would take them to Paris. On Dodi’s agenda for that day, he had only one commitment: to pick up a ring at a jewelry store near his father’s hotel, The Ritz.
The couple arrived in Paris in the afternoon, being greeted by a group of rather aggressive paparazzi. At around 4:00 p.m. they moved to the hotel, where they rested in the Imperial suite for a while before parting ways.
Diana went on an appointment with a stylist and he set off to the jewelry store. In the meantime, Lady Di called her children to Scotland, who did not pay more attention because they wanted to continue playing, something they regret to this day.
The princess did not give it much importance either because the next day she would fly to London to meet them before they entered class.
Later, around 7:00 p.m., the two left for Fayed’s apartment to change clothes before going to dinner.
The couple left the businessman’s apartment to go to dinner at a restaurant, but the harassment from the paparazzi forced them to change their plans and opt for the hotel to be able to eat with some privacy, which they did not achieve either.
People in the hotel restaurant kept looking at them, so they were forced to ask to have their food delivered to the same suite where they had stayed earlier.
Rumors say that Dodi wanted to propose to Diana that night, so he wanted to return to his apartment, however, the paparazzi were not going to leave them alone.
Henri Paul, the Ritz’s chief of security, devised a plan to lose photographers who were eager for another shot of the new couple.
Dodi’s car and his driver would leave through the front door, while Paul – who according to the investigation would have been drunk – would pick up his famous passengers and the businessman’s bodyguard at the back door, Trevor rees-jones. The plan, however, did not work as in the other sector there were also photographers to follow them.
What happened next remains unclear to this day.
August 31
They were running around 00:20 when they went through the tunnel Bridge of l’Alma, without the paparazzi losing track of them. In a matter of minutes, and without anyone being able to explain it, the vehicle crashed into a concrete pillar killing Diana’s boyfriend and Paul on the spot.
Dodi’s bodyguard was left with serious injuries to his face, while Diana was seriously injured although she remained conscious. Witnesses of the place even assured that she murmured things like: “Oh my God” and “God, how it hurts … how it hurts.”
Most of the photographers who were at the scene began to hang around the scene and take photos instead of helping Diana, although one of them said that he tried to get her out of the vehicle but her feet were trapped, so she decided to wait for the firefighters. Later the police would arrest the other paparazzi who were following her.
While waiting for emergency services, Lady Di was immediately attended to by Frédéric Maillez, a doctor passing through the area who stopped to help. He kept her alive with the few resources he had until the ambulance and emergency equipment arrived 15 minutes later.
Despite having no visible injuries, Diana was in shock. She was then transferred to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, a journey that was fraught with complications. In addition to not taking her to a closer medical center, they also stopped the vehicle for several minutes meters from the hospital, according to paramedics because her pressure began to drop rapidly.
Once they arrived at the hospital, it was determined that the princess had internal injuries and needed urgent surgery, since in simple terms her heart had moved to the right side of her chest as a result of the impact, tearing the pulmonary artery and the pericardium.
In the operating room her heart stopped and despite efforts to revive her for more than an hour, 36-year-old Diana was finally pronounced dead at four in the morning.
Her body was collected by her sisters and ex-husband, who took her back to London, where she had an emotional funeral followed by millions of people around the world.
The news shocked the entire world and transformed her into a legend that haunts the royal family to this day.
[ad_2]
