20 years ago, on the night of August 31, 1997, Princess Diana died in a car accident in the center of Paris. She was so popular and beloved among the people that she earned the nickname “Queen of Hearts,” and her tragic death haunts the British to this day. The circumstances of this car accident were so strange that they raise doubts about the official version of what happened.
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, several scandalous investigations were made public, causing a lot of noise not only in Great Britain, but also abroad.
The results of the official investigations carried out in France in the UK were identical: the accident occurred for several reasons. Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were chased by paparazzi, causing the driver of the car, Henri Paul, to speed. In addition, alcohol was found in his blood, and the seat belts were faulty. This version was later refuted: the driver was not drunk, and the results of the examination were deliberately or accidentally mixed up with others. It also seemed strange that 3 years after the accident, the same paparazzi who was accused of stalking Diana was found dead in a burnt car.
In the film, Diana said that she was in love with Charles, and on the day of their engagement, when asked by a journalist whether there were feelings between them, she answered without hesitation: “ Yes" And the prince said: “ You can say that" She was very offended by this then. And later she became convinced that her husband had loved another woman all his life - Camilla Parker Bowles. Even the birth of sons did not save this marriage. When Diana turned to the Queen for advice, she only said: “ I don't know what to do. Charles is hopeless" Divorce was inevitable.
She felt like an outcast at the royal court. " I was rejected, and therefore I considered myself unworthy of this family. I could start drinking, but it would be noticeable, and anorexia would be even more noticeable. I decided to choose something that would be less noticeable: harming myself rather than others."- admits Diana. She suffered from bulimia for some time, and then began having affairs. Diana told her teacher that the biggest shock in her life was the death of Barry Manaka, her bodyguard, who, in her opinion, was fired and killed after their affair became known.
Journalist Mikhail Ozerov, who spoke with Princess Diana 3 days before her death, claimed that she told him of her intention to go to Paris, despite the reaction of Buckingham Palace, of her desire to build life the way she wanted, and added: “ Don't pay attention to my outburst of emotions. Next time I'll be calmer. Or they will calm me down. It's unlikely that we'll see each other again».
Special services historian Gennady Sokolov conducted his own investigation and came to the conclusion that it was a staged accident, behind which the British secret services stood. Witnesses claimed that on the night of the incident they saw a bright flash in the tunnel, which could have blinded the driver, after which he crashed into a concrete bridge support. If Diana had been wearing a seat belt, she would have had a chance to survive, but the seat belts, according to Sokolov, were blocked. For some reason, the video cameras were not working in this tunnel that night. Immediately after her death, her body was embalmed - according to Sokolov, in order to hide Diana's pregnancy from the Muslim Dodi al-Fayed, whom she was supposedly going to marry. Therefore, the royal family had reasons to want her dead.
Egyptian billionaire Mohammed al-Fayed also conducted his own investigation, during which it turned out that Princess Diana called this period of her life the most dangerous and was afraid that the royal family would want to get rid of her. Mohammed Al-Fayed is confident that the death of his son Dodi and Princess Diana was a planned murder.
No one has ever proven the version that the royal family and British intelligence services were involved in Diana’s death. Over time, more and more questions appear in this mysterious story, and still no one can say with certainty whether the death of Princess Diana was a tragic accident or the result of a planned crime.
Bridge over the tunnel where Princess Diana died
Exactly twenty years ago, one of the most famous women on the planet died. Lady Di, as the British called her, was killed in a car accident. According to the official version, the driver of the car the princess was in was drunk and lost control. But conspiracy theorists blame Queen Elizabeth II. Roman Biryukov, correspondent of the MIR 24 TV channel, looked into the details of Diana’s death.
The details of her last evening are studied second by second. August 31, 1997 - the “people's” and beloved Princess Diana died in a car accident.
A minute and a half before the disaster, Princess Diana, in the company of her lover Dodi al-Fayed, left the hotel. She got into a car driven by a drunk driver, according to the official version. Coincidentally, a Mercedes crashes into the 13th pillar of the tunnel under Place Alma in Paris.
It seems that only the British intelligence services believe in the version about drunk drivers. There are too many inconsistencies. The driver, Henri Paul, suffered from a stomach ulcer and had not drunk for several years. In addition, for some reason the security cameras in the tunnel were not working that night. Most of those close to the princess. On that fateful evening, a real hunt was underway for Diana.
“The people who caused the car accident, the paparazzi, took pictures of her while she was sitting in the back seat of the wrecked car. She had horrific head injuries, but she was still alive, still breathing, and could see the same faces of her photographer tormentors who had beaten her to death. And now they were taking her last pictures. And then they sold them to agencies for a lot of money,” said Princess Diana’s youngest son, Prince Harry.
“Like a pack of dogs, they followed her everywhere. They tracked her down, spat at her, shouted, tried to provoke her into responding with anger, an emotion that would look good on camera,” recalls the eldest son of Prince Charles of Wales and Princess Diana, Prince William.
But conspiracy theorists blame the queen for Diana's death. Allegedly, the details of this “purely English murder” were discussed at Buckingham Palace. The reasons are simple. After her divorce from Prince Charles, Diana washed her dirty linen in public. She called the royal court a bunch of two-faced and deceitful people. In addition, Elizabeth II could not allow the son of an Arab billionaire to become a relative of the Windsors. It is Diana's possible pregnancy from al-Fayed that is called the main reason for the murder.
But the whole world remembered her like this. Influential, actively campaigning in support of the homeless, AIDS and cancer patients. launched a campaign to introduce a ban on the use of mines in war zones. And even 20 years later, she is still in the hearts of the British.
“I’m only 23. But Diana is my story too. My mother told me how she came to Africa. For me personally, she is a symbol of kindness,” says a passerby.
“I think she's a good person. Modern British women should look up to her, not Kim Kardashian,” says another.
“When she died, I was not yet born. But I know well what she did for our country. I think we all owe her a debt of gratitude." - Prince William, Prince of Wales and Princess Diana's eldest son.
2.5 billion people watched the funeral live. Millions of distraught fans came to see the princess, at least from afar, in a closed coffin. She did not become the queen of Britain, but she forever remained the queen of style, fashion and people's hearts.
Exactly 20 years ago, the world was shocked by the news of the tragic death of Princess Diana. During her lifetime, she became a national hero and changed the image of the British monarchy in people's minds. Lady Di charmed with her sincerity and warmth. Londoners carry her photographs and flowers to the gates of Kensington Palace; the day before, her mother’s memory was honored by her sons Princes William and Harry in the White Garden.
An old chronicle is like a feature film. Not a true story - a fairy tale: a beautiful dress, a real prince, a luxurious carriage. And a modest girl who became a princess. Is it possible not to love this?
What a shock her death was for everyone. His eldest son, William, was 15 at the time. “It either makes you stronger or kills you. I was on the edge. But I really wanted her to be proud of me. So I persevered,” he said.
All these 20 years, he basically did not visit Paris - Lady Di’s last city. I decided this spring. He and his wife Kate were here at the Alma Tunnel, the site of the car accident. The gilded torch, installed before the tragedy as a symbol of French-American friendship, has long been a memorial to Diana.
The details of her last evening are known to everyone. Surveillance video from the Ritz shows Diana and her boyfriend, the son of Egyptian tycoon Dodi Al-Fayed, walking into the hotel lobby. In a moment they will get into the car. They will try to hide from the paparazzi at breakneck speed. They will crash into a concrete support. He will die on the spot. She's later at the hospital. The jury will render a verdict: guilty - the driver who got behind the wheel while drunk; passengers who did not wear their seat belts. Finally, the photographers who created the emergency.
There is another version: the cause of the accident was a car, which by that time was allegedly already in the tunnel. The police found fragments of the Fiat Uno. Eyewitnesses also saw a white car zigzagging away from the scene of the accident. Among them is the doctor Frederick Miley. He then provided the princess with first aid. “You know, I don’t believe in fate, but it seems to me that it was no coincidence that I ended up there. I hope that the words that I whispered to the princess at least somewhat eased her suffering,” Miley said.
Investigators will never be able to find either the white Fiat or its driver. The British media will write that the fragments of the car were planted by those who wanted to disguise the accident as a regular accident. The British intelligence services allegedly acted on orders from the royal family. The newspapers will write: when the black Mercedes drove into the tunnel, suddenly a bright flash cut through the twilight. Perhaps the latest laser weapons were used, Richard Thomplison, a British special agent, said a little later. And many will believe him.
Diana really got in the way. At first I made a scene for my husband. Then she changed lovers like gloves. I was actually going to marry Al-Fayed. And she even allegedly expected a child from him. Elizabeth II certainly could not be happy about the half-brother of the heir to the throne, the Arab prince. The very fact of pregnancy is still being debated, but lawyer Virginie Bardet, who defended the photographers at that trial, has no doubts.
No one has ever proven the version of the involvement of the royal family. Many biographers of Lady Di believe that the queen would not have done such a thing, the price was too high if even one piece of evidence of a crime had appeared.
“Lady Contradiction” - from the very beginning she seemed to be deliberately bringing the tragic end closer. She didn’t love her, but she got married. She knew: the groom was courting her sister Sarah, sympathized with her neighbor Camilla, and only wanted an heir and a clean reputation from Diana. But I went for it. She was not afraid to shake the hand of an AIDS patient and admit to adultery with a groom. She fought against landmines and did not leave a penny to charities. She was desperately trying to be needed - looking for love. I found it - worldwide, but I didn’t become happy. She just really wanted at least one person in the world to love her not because she was a princess. After all, this is exactly what happens in a fairy tale.
Olga Oksenich, TV Center.
More than 20 years have passed since Princess Diana died in a car accident, but new facts about her life continue to appear regularly in the press. In the InStyle review - all the most interesting and unexpected things about the “Queen of Hearts”.
1. She was the fourth of five children in the family
Princess Diana had two sisters, Sarah and Jane, and a younger brother, Charles. Another Spencer child, a boy named John, was born in January 1960 and died a few hours later.
2. Her parents divorced when she was 7 years old.
Diana's parents, Francis Shand Kydd and Earl John Spencer, separated in 1969.
3. Diana's grandmother served at court
Ruth Roche, Lady Fermoy, Princess Diana's maternal grandmother, was the Queen Mother's personal assistant and companion. They were very friendly, and Lady Fermoy often helped her in organizing holidays.
4. Diana grew up on Sandrigham Estate
Sandrigham House is located in Norfolk and belongs to the royal family. On its territory there is Park House, where Princess Diana's mother was born, and then Diana herself. The princess spent her childhood there.
5. Diana dreamed of becoming a ballerina
Diana studied ballet for a long time and wanted to become a professional dancer, but she was too tall for this (Diana’s height is 178 cm).
6. She worked as a nanny and teacher
Before meeting Prince Charles, Diana was a nanny. She later became a kindergarten teacher. At that time, Diana received about five dollars an hour.
7. She was the first royal bride to have a paid job
And Kate Middleton is the first to have a higher education.
8. Prince Charles first dated her older sister
It was thanks to her sister Sarah that Diana met her future husband. “I introduced them, became their Cupid,” Sarah Spencer later said.
9. Prince Charles was a distant relative of Diana
Charles and Diana were each other's 16th cousins.
10. Before the wedding, Diana saw Prince Charles only 12 times
And he became the initiator of their wedding.
11. Her wedding dress broke all records
The ivory wedding dress created by designer duo David and Elizabeth Emmanuel made history. More than 10 thousand pearls were used to embroider the dress, and the train was almost 8 meters long. By the way, this is the longest train among all princess wedding dresses.
12. Diana deliberately left out part of her wedding vows
Instead of the traditional promise to “obey” her husband, Diana vowed only to “love him, comfort him, honor him and protect him, in sickness and in health.”
13. She was the first royal to give birth in hospital.
Before her, representatives of the royal family practiced only home births, so Prince William became the first future monarch to be born in a hospital.
14. She practiced parenting methods that were unconventional for the royal family.
Princess Diana wanted her sons to live ordinary lives. “She made sure that William and Harry experienced everything: Diana took them to the cinema, made them stand in lines, bought food at McDonald's, rode roller coasters with them,” said Patrick Jephson, who worked with Diana in for six years.
15. She had many famous friends
Diana was friends with Elton John, George Michael, Tilda Swinton and Liza Minnelli.
16. ABBA was her favorite band
It is known that Diana was a big fan of the Swedish pop group ABBA. The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William paid tribute to Diana by playing several ABBA songs at their 2011 wedding.
17. She had an affair with a bodyguard
Barry Mannaki was part of the royal security team, and in 1985 he became Princess Diana's personal bodyguard. After a year of service, he was removed due to his too close relationship with Diana. In 1987, he crashed on a motorcycle.
18. After the divorce, her title was taken away from her
Princess Diana has lost her title "Her Royal Highness". Prince Charles insisted on this, although Queen Elizabeth II was not against leaving Diana the title.
19. She invited Cindy Crawford to Kensington Palace
Diana invited supermodel Cindy Crawford to tea to please Prince Harry and Prince William, who were then teenagers. In 2017, on the anniversary of Diana's death, Cindy Crawford shared a throwback photo of the Princess of Wales on Instagram. “She asked if I could come and have tea with her the next time I was in London. I was nervous and didn't know what to wear. But when I walked into the room, we immediately started chatting as if she were a regular girl,” Crawford wrote.
20. She is buried on her family's island
Diana is buried at the Spencer family estate of Althorp in Northamptonshire. The estate has been in the Spencer family for over 500 years. The small island also houses a temple on the Oval Lake, where anyone can pay tribute to the princess.
The Airplane observer reflects on how from an ordinary aristocratic girl, through the joint efforts of the media and a significant part of the female population of many countries, who passionately desire to have just such an idol, a myth was created, forever captured by a paparazzi flash on August 31, 1997 in the tunnel in front of the Pont Alma on the Seine embankment in Paris...
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It was here that Princess Diana fell to her death 20 years ago. And the whole last week was dedicated to this memorable and mournful date. They talked about it in the news, wrote about it on the Internet, and several documentaries were made about it and shown to viewers. The leitmotif of the overwhelming number of messages is “the mysterious death of Lady Di left a shameful stain on the representatives of the world’s oldest monarchy”, “Diana’s happiness was short-lived, she, who sincerely loved her husband, faced years of disappointment, jealousy, tears, fruitless attempts to save her family”, “her only joy The Princess of Wales became sons - William and Henry", "Candle in the Wind", as he called Diana in his song Elton John, - a woman with a warped fate and a tireless warrior with the troubles of ordinary people."...
And all this “food for the mind and heart” was greedily consumed by representatives of the “beautiful half” of humanity. Moreover, it seems to me that the Russian ladies did this with no less enthusiasm than the British ones. It's an amazing phenomenon. What is its nature? In the uniqueness of Diana's personality? Or in the unique coincidence of the image of the “Cinderella princess” created by the media and the mass demand for such a character that has matured in society?
I asked my friends: how do you feel about the English princess?
Irina Mekhanoshina, notary:“I perceive Diana as a victim of a tragic coincidence. She was a deeply unhappy person. Because I didn’t get what I hoped and expected. But she was not naive...”
Alexandra Antushevich, TV journalist:“How naive? She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, into an aristocratic family of blue blood. She entered the society of the English aristocracy. She knew what she was getting into."
Natalya Grigorieva, journalist:“Complex feelings and a complex attitude towards the legend of Diana. I don't agree that she is a victim. She was a strong and willful woman. What she did wasn't always good."
Natalya Kukushkina, trade union leader:“In a purely feminine way, I sympathize with her. On the other hand, she knew what she was getting into. It was a deal. Nobody deceived her."
Elena Beglyak, editor:“She was definitely a strong woman. She looked quiet and modest, but she acted completely different. This is what attracted people. I believe that this is a manner of behavior found by some instinct, a natural quality, not calculation.”
Galina Mavrina, entrepreneur:“The Russians have a saying: it’s either good or nothing about the dead.” She was an extraordinary person. Various. Look how many people in the world loved her. To win public opinion in this way requires a strong character. What right do those who never knew her personally have to discuss her?
Nadezhda Paramonova, manager:“Everyone is not an angel. All are not white and not fluffy. She was probably not quite the same as they tell us about her. But, by the way, the proverb that is often quoted goes like this: it’s either good about the dead, or nothing but the truth.”
Yes. That's probably true. When a young woman dies (princess or not) it is always very unfair and wrong. What remains are small children, unrealized opportunities, elderly parents... And after each such departure, a fairy tale is almost always born: how kind, beautiful, smart, simple she was... Such a fairy tale is needed by those who remained to live. Another thing is to whom, with what pressure and who tells this tale.
Princess Diana was born in 1961, my friend - the same age as her - died of cancer the same twenty years ago. She left behind a daughter, a husband, inconsolable parents and several friends who remember her. She was kind, beautiful, smart, simple...
I understand that these are probably two difficult cases to compare. Who is Tatiana and who is Lady Di? But for some reason I feel more sorry for Tatyana. And all the “Tatianas” who passed away prematurely. For some reason, I feel somehow awkward when they tell me with great emphasis that Diana was “like a child,” “naive,” “modest”... For some reason, I don’t really believe it...
A few facts from the biography of Lady Diana
Why did Diana break up with Prince Charles?
In 1981, the wedding of 20-year-old Diana Spencer and 32-year-old Prince Charles was watched live by 750 million people. Young Diana saw Charles only a few times before the wedding, but she seemed like a suitable bride for him: from a noble family, with an unblemished reputation, beautiful, modest, well-mannered. The formal reasons for the separation, as Diana said, were that Charles treated her coldly, they could not see each other for weeks, and soon after the birth of their second child in 1984, she learned that her husband had resumed his relationship with the married Camilla Parker-Bowles. In fact, the spouses had few common interests, and the significant difference in age also affected them.
Why was Diana so loved?
Diana Spencer bore little resemblance to any member of the British royal family. Quite open, spontaneous and relaxed, not at all like her prim husband or Elizabeth II, who is perceived as a state symbol. In many ways, Diana managed to create the image that remained in the memory of her admirers thanks to her charitable activities. And, yes, the way Prince William’s wife Kate Middleton behaves now is a direct imitation of Diana.
Is it true that the royal family did not want Diana's lavish funeral?
Diana's death on August 31, 1997 led to one of the most serious crises in the history of Buckingham Palace. By that time, Diana was already divorced from Charles and was not formally part of the royal family (and also did not hold the title). Diana's funeral was watched live by 2.5 billion people - still one of the most watched broadcasts in television history. National flags in Great Britain were flown at half-mast, Diana was buried with the honors due to a royal person.
But everything could have been different. As Britain's Channel 4 reported in September 1997, Queen Elizabeth II wanted Diana to be buried as an ordinary British citizen. According to these reports, Prince Charles insisted on a lavish funeral befitting a member of the royal family.
How did Princes William and Harry cope with their mother's death?
On the day of Diana's death, Harry and William were with their grandmother at Balmoral Castle. William was 15, Harry was 12. The teenagers were protected from detailed information about the car accident (at first they only knew about the fact of death) - they even hid televisions and radios in the castle. Shortly before the twentieth anniversary of their mother's death, the sons gave several interviews at once. William admitted that he did not understand why so many people were condoling Diana's death - after all, they did not even know her. As he grew older, he realized the important role the Princess of Wales played in British society, and admitted that he was truly sorry that Diana could not meet his wife Kate Middleton and see their children. Harry said he tried to “bury his head in the sand” and force himself not to think about his mother. He believed that if he could ignore thoughts of her, he would cope with the loss faster. Almost 20 years after her death, at the insistence of his brother, he turned to psychotherapists, and only then was he able to understand his feelings.
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