The eternal mystery behind the death of the most beautiful woman of the century

Princess Diana next to the car accident that killed her

(PLVN) –  “One of the most beautiful women of the 20th century” is another way of calling Princess Diana, the British princess and wife of Prince Charles, by her admirers. Although her life was short, she left an indelible mark in the hearts of those who knew and interacted with the “English rose”. However, until now, her death remains a mystery to everyone.

The gentle woman suddenly shines

Princess Diana’s full maiden name was Diana Frances Spencer, born on July 1, 1961 into an aristocratic family in Sandringham, Norfolk, southeast England. When the Princess was 7 years old, her parents divorced. Earl Spencer was given full custody of the 4 children.

During her school years, Diana Spencer was sent by her father to study at many private schools in England and Switzerland. After graduating, the young girl Diana worked many jobs such as chef, babysitter and kindergarten teacher. Although the job did not pay much, Diana always left people with satisfaction and friendliness. Her bright eyes and youthfulness always attracted people.

Diana first met Prince Charles in November 1977 at a hunting trip organized by the Spencer family. And the gentle, beautiful girl from the Spencer aristocratic family, one of the oldest and most prestigious families in England, was considered by the British Royal Family as the right person to become Prince Charles’ wife.

Princess Diana becomes the wife of Prince Charles

After that, the two quickly fell into a seemingly eternal love. Their love made many fans admire, but also made many haters angry. On July 29, 1981, Diana happily married Charles.

The wedding was held in a grand manner at Buckingham Palace. According to statistics, around 750 million people around the world watched the live broadcast of “The Wedding of the Century”. Their love story was called “The most beautiful fairy tale of the 20th century” by the media. Diana became a modern “Cinderella”. In June 1982, Princess Diana gave birth to her first son, Prince William. And in September 1984, her second son, Prince Harry, was born.

Everyone thought that the British Royal life and beautiful things would come to Diana, but unfortunately, this love affair eventually broke down, even having a tragic ending for Diana.

catastrophic accident

Originally a lively, beautiful and gentle bride, Diana suddenly became the Princess of England. She was no longer the free person she used to be. Her every move became a topic for newspapers to report.

Later, the relationship between Diana and Charles was damaged. The marriage was on the brink of collapse due to Prince Charles’s infidelity. Diana could not accept this and asked for a divorce. After a period of consideration, both of them agreed to sign the divorce papers. Their private life after the divorce was still not peaceful when it was exploited and made a big fuss by the British press.

The British people largely sympathized with Diana. They criticized the oppressiveness of British royal life. Charles’s indifference and infidelity were the main reasons for the disintegration of Diana’s family. Even after the divorce, the media continued to be interested in Diana’s life.

The book “The Dream Princess” tells about Diana’s time as a princess, delving into the feelings between the couple. Then comes her romantic relationship with Dodi Fayez, an Egyptian billionaire.

The British press published many pictures of them on the yacht. This made the British Royal Family hateful. Diana herself complained that she was always being chased by paparazzi – people who specialize in taking pictures of famous people.

In the middle of the night on August 31, 1997, after Diana and Dodi had dinner at the Ritz Hotel in the suburbs of Paris, they got in the car to return to Dodi’s villa in the 16th arrondissement. The hotel sent security guard Paul to drive Diana. Shortly after they left, they were pursued by a group of reporters.

To avoid these “news hunters”, Paul kept accelerating, speeding over 100 km/h. When the car reached the tunnel under the Arma Bridge on the banks of the Seine, a sharp turn suddenly appeared ahead. Diana’s car, due to the high speed, lost control and crashed into the tunnel barrier, then fell into the middle of the tunnel.

Car crashes into tunnel killing Princess Diana

The car crashed so hard that it became a pile of scrap metal. Dodi and the driver died on the spot. Because she was sitting in the back, Diana was only seriously injured. Reporters chased after her, surrounded the pile of scrap metal, and fought to take pictures of the scene. Diana was quickly taken to the hospital, but her chest and lungs were seriously injured and she was bleeding profusely. At 4:00 a.m. on September 1, 1997, she left this world at the age of 36.

The news of Diana’s car accident shocked Britain and France, and quickly spread around the world. The Paris police quickly launched an investigation, but the final result was not satisfactory.

The Crown Prince was not allowed to pick up his ex-wife’s body.

When Princess Diana died, Prince William was 15 and Prince Harry was 12. The royal family did not tell them the news of their mother’s death, but kept it a secret and let the two boys sleep in like any other morning.

The only concern now was to avoid shocking the two princes with the sad news. Queen Elizabeth ordered all television and radio stations to ban coverage of the accident for fear that her grandchildren would be traumatized.

That also made Prince Harry doubtful when he heard the news of his mother’s death. “Prince Harry asked his father if his mother was really dead,” said Tina Brown (Princess Diana’s biographer).

At this time, a committee of people from Kensington, Buckingham and St James’s palaces, along with the police and the family, gathered to plan the funeral for Princess Diana.

Prince Charles was forbidden by the Queen from taking a private plane to Paris to bring his wife’s body home. Prince Harry begged his father to let him go pick up his mother but was refused. The trip was only accompanied by his former butler Paul Burrell, driver Colin Tebbutt and Diana’s security adviser.

They were forced to set up a makeshift morgue to preserve the body because of the hot weather. When they saw Diana’s body, Burrell and Tebbutt were shocked. “I couldn’t believe she was dead, it was just a silly joke and she would wake up,” Burrell recalled.

The British royal family held a funeral for Princess Diana for a week. Mr. Anji Hunter (former advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair) recalled that there were tense discussions about the funeral organization, including the arrangement of who would walk behind the Princess’s coffin.

 Millions of people lay flowers in memory of Princess Diana

At first, both princes were reluctant, but after listening to their grandfather, Prince Philip, they changed their minds at the last minute. The five people walking behind Diana’s coffin at that time were Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry and the Princess’s younger brother.

Princess Diana’s body was placed in a stone coffin and paraded for more than 6 km with 2 million people watching. The Royal Family then brought her back to her hometown in Althorp, Northamptonshire, to be buried near her parents and relatives.

The mysteries remain

The Paris investigation board has issued a statement that driver Paul was drunk before driving and is fully responsible for this accident. This conclusion is based on the results of Paul’s autopsy.

According to the law, the alcohol content in one liter of blood is 0.5 grams, but the test result in Paul’s blood was as high as 1.75 grams. Immediately, Paul and the Ritz Hotel became the target of public opinion.

The Ritz Hotel protested this finding. Paul’s co-workers said they did not smell alcohol or see Paul drink before driving. The hotel showed a videotape of Paul leaving to drive Diana. His gait was normal, showing almost no signs of intoxication.

As for why Paul’s blood alcohol level was so high? New Zealand forensic pathologist G. Spulot gave the following explanation: The method used to test Paul’s blood alcohol level was mistaken. Hospital blood bottles are usually used to hold blood only. Before the blood is collected, these bottles are usually filled with mold-resistant water. When Paul’s blood is added, it can easily cause a chemical reaction, leading to fermentation of blood sugar. Therefore, the alcohol level in his blood will naturally be high.

The paparazzi who followed Diana also became the subject of fierce condemnation. The “intense pursuit” caused Paul to increase his speed too much, leading to the disaster. After the accident, they only knew how to take pictures and did not help the victim. Diana’s brother – Count Sphans strongly condemned the press. He said: “The newspaper offices encouraged reporters to do everything to take pictures of Diana. Your hands helped death take my sister’s life.”

Dodi Fayez’s father insisted: “Diana was murdered by the British security service.” In the six years after the accident, he tried to investigate the real cause of the accident. The Egyptian News Agency also claimed that the deaths of Dodi and Diana were caused by a racist plot.

“This is a conspiracy! This accident was planned by the British Intelligence Organization. Because they could not accept the love relationship between Diana and Dodi,” said an Egyptian official.

It is said that when Diana died, she was pregnant with Dodi’s child. The British royal family could not accept the former princess marrying a Muslim, and even less could they accept the future King William of England having a half-brother. For these reasons, they took action to eliminate Diana.

It can be seen that Diana’s special status turned the seemingly ordinary accident into a thrilling one. This accident involved the British Royal Family, Egyptian billionaire Fayez and the French entertainment and business world. It also involved the media, known as the “King without a Crown” of Britain and France. This event also prompted Europe to launch a debate on “The issue of the media and the right to protect private life”. However, this issue has not yet reached a final conclusion.

Who caused the death of one of the “most beautiful people on the planet in the 20th century”? This question still has no exact answer. There is also no evidence to prove that the British security organization planned to cause this traffic accident. However, suspicions always remain, especially when the billionaire Dodi family is determined to pursue the case and request the British and French police to continue to investigate to the end.

In 1999, a French court ruled that the accident was caused by the driver, Paul, who was drunk and driving at twice the speed limit. This result was no different from what had been announced, causing outrage among the British and European public, who believed that the French prosecutor had done nothing more than what had already been done.

Decades later, Princess Diana’s death remains a mystery.

A three-year investigation by British police also concluded that the driver was drunk and driving at high speed to avoid paparazzi. The investigation report also confirmed that Diana was not pregnant and had no intention of marrying Dodi.

In 2007, another inquest was held before the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The jury heard from 240 witnesses before concluding in April 2008 that Diana died as a result of the wrongful actions of her driver Paul and the paparazzi.

In 2013, British police investigated an anonymous complaint from a former soldier alleging that the British SAS was involved in Diana’s death. They concluded there was “no credible evidence” to support the claim and refused to reopen the investigation.

However, there are still many unexplained mysteries surrounding Princess Diana’s death, enough to keep conspiracy theories alive. For example, no video footage of the accident has been produced, despite the tunnel being equipped with surveillance cameras. Some witnesses say they saw a flash of white light in the tunnel before the accident, while others say there was no such thing.

And police have never found the white Fiat seen in the tunnel, which may have collided with Princess Diana’s Mercedes before the crash.

Pauline Maclaran, co-author of the book “Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture,” said conspiracy theories about celebrity deaths are not only popular but also long-lasting.

“It’s human nature to refuse to believe that something as random as a car accident could kill someone as special as Diana. When you idolize someone, it’s hard to believe that they could end their life in such a trivial way,” Ms Maclaran said.

Diana had a premonition of her death?

A royal insider said that Diana did not write a diary every day. She only wrote when she was very happy or very sad. In her diary, she wrote: “I know that one day someone will read it. But I write not to make others understand me but to help me understand myself.” The strangest thing in the diary is that she had a premonition that she would die at a young age. In it, she wrote: “I cannot imagine myself when I am old. It seems that I do not like living that long. That is an important reason for me to live every day to the fullest.”

Before giving birth to William, Diana had thought about suicide but was not sure how. In her diary, she wrote: “Sometimes I wonder if it would be best if I ended it all. I really hate my life.” But after William was born, and then Harry, Diana devoted all her love to her children and had no more intention of suicide: “I will kiss them until I die. William and Harry are the two most precious treasures.”

From the beginning of her marriage, Diana did not see herself as a queen: “I knew I would never sit on the throne with Charles. It was a mystery.”

After her divorce from Charles, Diana devoted her diary to her lover James Hewitt. She was terrified when Hewitt went to fight in the Gulf War. She said that an astrologer had told her she would spend the rest of her life with James Hewitt: “James Hewitt is completely different from Charles.” But soon after, Diana began to appreciate Charles, writing: “He is a good father and always sympathizes with any problems I have.”

Finally, she also said that the happiest period of her life was her love affair with Dodi: “He made me realize that I was very beautiful. No man had ever done that.” Especially, she wrote: “I thought he was going to propose.”