Princess Diana 20 years later documentary. The mystery of the death of Princess Diana: Unexpected details two decades later. She invited Cindy Crawford to Kensington Palace

Princess Diana was the fourth child in the family. She has two older sisters and younger brother: Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Lady Jane Fellowes and younger brother Charles Spencer. She also had an older brother, John Spencer, who died shortly after birth.

Her parents divorced when Diana was 7 years old.

Diana grew up on the Sandringham estate, which belongs to the royal family.

She became known as Lady Diana after her father was given the title of Earl. The nickname “Lady Di” stuck to her even after her marriage.

Before marrying Prince Charles and becoming a princess, Diana worked as a nanny and teacher in kindergarten. Her wage was $5 per hour.

Diana's grandmother Ruth Roche was a maid of honor and close friend Queen Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

Surprisingly, she could become a princess elder sister Diana Sarah McCorquodale. Sarah and Prince Charles had an affair in the late 70s. It was thanks to her that Lady Di met her future husband. “I introduced them. “I guess you can call me Cupid,” Sarah later said.

Before their engagement in 1981, the future spouses saw each other only 12 times. Diana was 19 years old, and Charles was 32. “Charles’ father Philip put pressure on his son and insisted on the wedding so as not to discredit the girl’s name,” said Susan Zirinsky, executive producer documentary film"Princess Diana: Her Life, Her Death, Her Truth."

Diana's wedding dress broke all records. The outfit was embroidered with 10,000 pearls, and the length of the train was almost 8 meters. Designed by married couple David and Elizabeth Emmanuel

The engagement ring with a 12-carat sapphire and diamonds was chosen from the Garrard jewelry catalog. And such an atypical step in the then conservative royal palace caused a lot of gossip behind their backs. After all, most members of the royal family choose custom jewelry. Now the ring is on Kate Middleton's hand.

She broke with the royal family's wedding tradition by changing the bride's vows. So, instead of “loving, comforting and obeying her husband,” Diana promised to “love, comforting, respecting and supporting her husband.” Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle followed suit.

Diana became the first member of the royal family to give birth in a hospital. Before Prince William was born in 1982, heirs to the crown were born at home.

Lady Di was a big fan of the Swedish group ABBA. To honor her memory, Kate Middleton and Prince William played the quartet's songs at their wedding party in 2011.

A few months before her death, Princess Diana sold 79 dresses at a charity auction Christie. She sent all the proceeds to the fund to fight cancer and AIDS.

She called her eldest son "Wombat". According to the recollections of William himself, he got the nickname after a trip to Australia, where they met this local cute animal. She called Prince Harry "Ginger".

As a child, Diana dreamed of becoming a ballerina. She attended ballet class. But her height, which was 178 centimeters, prevented her from building a career.

Among Diana's friends there were many world stars: Elton John, George Michael, Tilda Swinton and Liza Minnelli. She was also friends with the famous Hollywood couple Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn and visited them with their sons at their ranch in Colorado.

Princes William and Harry paid tribute to their mother at the White Garden memorial on Wednesday.

Thursday marks 20 years since the princess died in a car accident. Welsh Diana(1961-1997). As a representative told TASS Buckingham Palace, members of the British royal family, including its head Queen Elizabeth II, do not plan to take part in any official commemoration of this tragic anniversary.

“No official events related to the anniversary of the princess’s death are planned with the participation of members of the royal family. The royal family will spend this day privately,” Buckingham Palace reported.

However, Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, paid tribute to their mother on Wednesday at the memorial White Garden near Kensington Palace, which was Diana's official residence until her death. The princes got acquainted with the composition of the garden, consisting of white flowers - tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, as well as palm trees planted around the perimeter of a rectangular pond.

At the same time, fans of the people's princess, this is exactly how Diana remained in the memory of millions of Britons, despite rainy weather in London, photographs of her and flowers began to be brought to the gates of Kensington Palace, as was the case 20 years ago.

Then the people of the United Kingdom spent it in last way How national hero. More than 1 million people took to the streets of London to watch her funeral cortege, while half the country's population - more than 32 million people - watched the funeral broadcast on television.

Symbol of the era

Diana is rightfully considered one of the symbols of the late 20th century. A philanthropist, philanthropist and style icon, she charmed many people with her warmth, while straightforwardness was always her hallmark.

The princess was an active participant in the fight against AIDS, visiting HIV-infected people in hospitals, convincing the public that people with such a diagnosis should not be outcasts.

Diana was not afraid to shake their hands, although at that time there were many myths about this virus, and she also did not shy away from lepers. She opposed the spread anti-personnel mines, from which civilians often suffer.

The People's Princess managed to visit Russia in June 1995, visiting the Tushino Children's Hospital in Moscow, where she was part of charitable assistance donated medical equipment. During her visit to the British Embassy in the Russian capital, she was awarded the International Leonardo Prize, which has been awarded to philanthropists and organizers of activities in the humanitarian field since 1992.

Without a doubt, Diana managed to change the old-fashioned appearance of the British monarchy and become the “queen of people’s hearts,” as she is still called in her homeland.

How did the princess die?

Princess Diana was the wife of Prince Charles, heir apparent British throne, from 1981 to 1996, but the couple began to live separately already in 1992.

Diana died in a car accident on the night of August 31, 1997 in Paris, in a tunnel under the Pont Alma. The driver of the car, Henri Paul, in which the princess was traveling, tried to break away from the paparazzi, and when entering the tunnel at a speed of 105 km/h, he lost control and collided with a column dividing the flow of traffic.

The victims of the tragedy were the princess herself, her lover Dodi al-Fayed and the driver. Only bodyguard Trevor Rhys-Jones survived the car accident. Dodi's father, Egyptian billionaire Mohammed al-Fayed, claimed that the accident was organized by British intelligence services at the direction of the royal family. In 2008, a British court rejected these accusations.

Was it an accident

British security specialist Alan McGregor earlier in an interview with The Sun newspaper suggested that the death of the Princess of Wales could not have been a tragic accident, but a planned murder, the preparation of which could have taken six months.

Collaborated with intelligence services Saudi Arabia McGregor was dissatisfied with the security measures at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, where Diana was staying with Dodi al-Fayed shortly before her death. "I saw so many security breaches in that hotel and a number of other strange things, so it was bound to happen sooner or later," he said.

“You could say that all the elements that led to her death were just a tragic coincidence, but part of me believes that the preparation process [of the murder] could have taken six months,” said a British ex-secretary officer.

McGregor wondered why such an important and high-status person as Princess Diana was entrusted to be driven by a chauffeur who worked at the hotel. “It had to be a specially trained driver or a security agent,” he stressed, also pointing out that the Mercedes in which the couple was supposed to leave was driven from a public hotel parking lot in violation of safety precautions.

“Diana often said that she feared for her life, and no one even asked why,” McGregor recalled.

Diana's last words

Former emergency services employee Xavier Gourmelon, who was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the accident, said in his first interview with the press that Diana was conscious for some time and could speak after the car accident. “We were very close and it took us less than three minutes to get to the accident site,” Gourmelon, 50, recalled.

"She was moving a little and I could see that she was alive. I saw that she had a minor bruise on her right shoulder, but other than that there was nothing significant. There was no blood at all," he said in an interview The Sun.

Gourmelon told what happened after Diana was removed from the mangled Mercedes.

"I held her hand and told her to stay calm and not move. She said: 'Oh my God, what happened?' I gave her some oxygen, me and my team were with her after she was taken out of the car "It happened very quickly because we didn't have to cut the deformed body of the car," he noted.

After some time, 36-year-old Diana stopped breathing. “We are all trained in first aid, I saw that she had a cardiac arrest and she stopped breathing. I gave her a cardiac massage and after a few seconds she was breathing again,” the former rescuer shared his memories.

“To be honest, I thought she would live,” he said. “As far as I know, when Diana was in the ambulance, she was alive, and I hoped that she would live. But later I found out that she died in the hospital".

"I know now that she had serious internal injuries, but the whole episode is still in my head. And the memories of that night will remain with me forever. I had no idea at the time that it was Princess Diana. I found out about it “When they put her in the ambulance, one of the paramedics told me that it was her,” added Gourmelon, who took part as a witness in the investigation into the circumstances of the princess’s death in 2007.

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20 years ago, on the night of August 31, 1997, she died in a car accident in the center of Paris princess Diana.

She was so popular and loved by the people that she earned the nickname “Queen of Hearts”

and her tragic death still haunts the British to this day.

The circumstances of this car accident were so strange that they raise doubts about official version 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.


Princess Diana

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.


*Queen of Hearts*




On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, on August 6, the film “Diana: The Story in Her Words” was released in the UK, which became the cause loud scandal– it was immediately called an attempt to make “money from blood.” On video recordings made in 1992-1993. Her teacher of speech techniques during classes, the Princess of Wales spoke extremely frankly about what Buckingham Palace preferred to remain silent about. The tapes were kept by teacher Peter Settelen; he promised not to publish them, but in the end he sold them to television people. He filmed Diana so that later he could sort out the mistakes in her speech, and did not expect that the conversation would turn out to be so frank.


*Queen of Hearts*



Prince Charles and Princess Diana


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.




Princess Diana with sons William and Harry


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.


Barry Manaki and Princess Diana



*Queen of Hearts*


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».


Princess Diana



*People's Princess*


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.


*Queen of Hearts*



Princess Diana


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 wants to get rid of her. Mohammed Al-Fayed is confident that the death of his son Dodi and Princess Diana was a planned murder.


*People's Princess*



Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed


No one has ever proven the version that the royal family and British intelligence services were involved in Diana’s death. Over time in this mysterious story More and more questions are emerging, 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

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 loved by 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.

Princess Diana

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.

*Queen of Hearts*

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, on August 6, the film “Diana: The Story in Her Words” was released in the UK, which caused a loud scandal - it was immediately called an attempt to make “money from blood.” On video recordings made in 1992-1993. Her teacher of speech techniques during classes, the Princess of Wales spoke extremely frankly about what Buckingham Palace preferred to remain silent about. The tapes were kept by teacher Peter Settelen; he promised not to publish them, but in the end he sold them to television people. He filmed Diana so that later he could sort out the mistakes in her speech, and did not expect that the conversation would turn out to be so frank.

*Queen of Hearts*

Prince Charles and Princess Diana

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.

Princess Diana with sons William and Harry

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: to harm myself, not 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.

Barry Manaki and Princess Diana

*Queen of Hearts*

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 worry 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.”

Princess Diana

*People's Princess*

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.

*Queen of Hearts*

Princess Diana

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.

*People's Princess*

Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed

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

Mysteries of the death of Princess Diana: Unexpected details 20 years later

20 years ago, on the night of August 31, 1997, she died in a car accident in the center of Paris princess Diana. 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.






On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, on August 6, the film “Diana: The Story in Her Words” was released in the UK, which caused a loud scandal - it was immediately called an attempt to make “money from blood.” On video recordings made in 1992-1993. Her teacher of speech techniques during classes, the Princess of Wales spoke extremely frankly about what Buckingham Palace preferred to remain silent about. The tapes were kept by teacher Peter Settelen; he promised not to publish them, but in the end he sold them to television people. He filmed Diana so that later he could sort out the mistakes in her speech, and did not expect that the conversation would turn out to be so frank.






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.



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