20 years since Diana's death. The mystery of the death of Princess Diana: Unexpected details two decades later

LONDON, August 31st. /Corr. TASS Igor Brovarnik/. Thursday marks 20 years since Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997), died in a car accident. As a representative of Buckingham Palace told TASS, 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 the rainy weather in London, began to bring photographs of her and flowers to the gates of Kensington Palace, as was the case 20 years ago.

Then the people of the United Kingdom saw her off on her last journey as a 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 proliferation of anti-personnel mines, which often harm civilians.

"TASS/Reuters"

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

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 to the British throne, from 1981 to 1996, but the couple began to live separately 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 accident scene, in his first interview with the press, said 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 to provide first aid medical care, I saw that she had a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. I gave her a heart massage and after a few seconds she started 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.

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, filmed it and showed it to viewers several times. documentaries. The leitmotif of the overwhelming number of messages is “ mysterious death Lady Di cast a shameful stain on the representatives of the world’s oldest monarchy,” “Diana’s happiness was short-lived, she, sincerely loving husband, years of disappointments, jealousy, tears, fruitless attempts to save the family awaited”, “the only joy of the Princess of Wales was her 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 the representatives of “ fair half» 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:"Complicated feelings and complicated attitude to 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:"Certainly she was 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 conquer like this public opinion, you need 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 (whether she is a 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 “Tatyans” who passed away ahead of schedule. 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.

August 31 marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana of Wales. Memorial Twitter account “Diana day by day”, which published events last year her life, has already reported that, “despite all the efforts of the doctors, the princess died.” As in 1997, the press will continue to deal with the scandals of the last months before the accident. But it seems to us that Lady Di is worthy of another memory: they remember the brightest moments of her life.

The newborn daughter of John Spencer and Frances Shand-Kydd could not get a name for a week - all because her parents were expecting a boy. Finally they settled on Diana Frances, in honor of the girl's mother and Diana Bedford (1710–1735). The Duchess of Bedford was also supposed to become Princess of Wales, but the marriage did not take place, and the girl herself died from complications after a miscarriage.

Diana Spencer was educated at home until she was 9 years old, and at the age of 12 she was sent to a prestigious private school. By the way, one of her childhood friends was Tilda Swinton, who also studied there.

The future Princess of Wales was not known as an excellent student and left school at the age of 16, failing two exams.

Perhaps it was difficult for Diana to pore over textbooks because she had another passion - ballet. The girl’s height – 178 cm – prevented her from pursuing it professionally.

But the princess herself joked that she was simply “dumb as two corks.” The notes she made in school textbooks indicate that the princess was really not good at mathematics - she had to add up £2.80 and £8 - but she was attentive in literature lessons and devoted a lot of time to Shakespeare.

In general, the favorite of the British was very self-critical - maybe that’s why she won so many hearts? “I love to sing, but my voice is terrible, and I dance like an elephant,” 17-year-old Diana wrote to her nanny. But that didn't stop her from rocking it with John Travolta at a gala dinner in Washington!

And although dancing didn’t work out for her, Diana still carried her love of music through her life - she was a good pianist.

After studying, Diana worked as a maid and babysitter. She was the first English princess to work before becoming betrothed to the heir to the throne (and the first Englishwoman in 300 years to become the wife of the heir to the throne - the previous was Anne Hyde, who married the future King James II, despite her low birth).

Diana met her future husband through her sister Sarah, who dated Prince Charles for some time. Sarah Spencer did not hold a grudge against her younger sister and said that she played the role of Cupid.

Sarah and Charles

“I thought: this is some kind of joke,” Diana said, recalling the day Charles proposed to her. According to her, she was forced to agree not only by the belief that the prince really fell in love (although Diana already knew about his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles), but also by the desire to help people.

Diana's engagement ring from Garrard (white gold, 14 diamonds and a 12-carat blue Ceylon sapphire) is worth about £94,000 today. Now, of course, it belongs to Kate Middleton, and jewelers around the world continue to create numerous copies of it.

The wedding of the century was watched by a record number of viewers: 750 million on television and 600 thousand live. It is noteworthy that the couple decided not to include Diana's promise to submit to her husband in their wedding vows. It is known that at one time the Archbishop of Canterbury invited Queen Victoria to do the same, but she refused and solemnly swore to obey her less influential husband.

The first joint appearance for Charles and Diana was a charity ball in March 1981, where Lady Di met another “people's princess” - Grace Kelly.

Having become the third most influential woman in the kingdom (after the Queen and Queen Mother), Diana, to their displeasure, took up “unpleasant” charity work. She supported people with HIV and always emphasized: “HIV does not make communication with such people dangerous. You can shake such a person's hand and hug him. God only knows how much they need it.”

The Princess cared for mine victims and worked with the Halo Trust, which clears mines in hazardous areas. Many people she visited in hospitals still remember these visits: a 13-year-old girl whose leg was amputated told reporters years later that she had saved a newspaper article about Diana's arrival at the hospital.

Shortly before Diana's death, 79 of her dresses were sold at Christie's - the proceeds were also donated to charity.

Diana also supported the Centrepoint Foundation, one of the goals of which is to give young disadvantaged Britons a chance at education. She raised her own children more democratically than the principles of the royal family required: she even took them to school herself when the princess’s busy schedule allowed it.

Little William was, according to the recollections of friends, Diana’s main consolation: and we know that she often needed consolation. 8-year-old “Wills” was pushing tissues under the bathroom door after hearing his mother crying in the bathroom.

Other people Diana could open her soul to were George Michael, Gianni Versace, Bryan Adams and Elton John. The latter dedicated the song “Candle in the Wind 1997”, or “Goodbye England’s Rose” to her - a remake of the original version written in memory of Marilyn Monroe.

Diana and Charles filed for divorce in August 1996. The couple signed an agreement that prohibited them from disclosing details of their family life.

There were rumors that Elizabeth did not want to organize a royal funeral for Diana, who died in a car accident on August 31, 1997. As a compromise, a royal ceremony was held, which nevertheless deviated from the canon, “like the princess herself during her lifetime,” the British press wrote.

Do you believe that the tragic death of Princess Diana happened 19 years ago? 19 years! But, despite the fact that almost two decades have passed, Princess Diana is still loved by the people. To mark this sad anniversary, let's remember a few facts about "Lady Di".

1. Before she became a princess, she worked in a kindergarten
And even earlier - as a cleaner and babysitter.

2. She always dreamed of becoming a ballerina
But her growth prevented her from doing this.

3. Her sister initially dated Prince Charles
That's why she met him.

4. At 19, she became engaged to a prince.
And when she was 20, they got married.

4. At the age of 19, she became engaged to Prince Princess Diana, facts

5. She was the first person to refuse to recite the obedience to her husband portion of the wedding vow in the history of court weddings.
Kate Middleton later did the same.

6. She strived to give her children a normal childhood.
And she took them everywhere - from Disneyland to AIDS clinics and homeless shelters.

7. She was incredibly generous
And participated in many charitable projects.

8. And also a wonderful sister
According to Diana's brother, Charles, when he went to school, she could not concentrate on her lessons because she was worried about her younger brother, and asked the teacher to let her go to see how he was doing. Isn't it cute?

9. She wasn't a very good student
She failed her final exams twice and repeatedly joked about her "bad" education.

10. Lady Di hated tiaras
They gave her a terrible headache!

11. She was always at odds with the kitchen.
Diana’s personal chef said that she couldn’t cook, no matter what she did.

12. She was a wonderful mother
She once invited Cindy Crawford to Kensington Castle only because she found out that her 13-year-old son was crazy about her.

In an interview with the BBC, Princes William and Harry said that they adhere to one of the main versions of the tragedy, according to which it was journalists who provoked the fatal accident in Paris, and each of them should bear collective responsibility for the death of their mother.

Prince William: “Like a pack of dogs, they followed her everywhere. They tracked her down, spat at her, screamed, tried to provoke her into responding with anger, an emotion that would look good on camera.”

Prince Harry: “One of the worst: my mother and I were driving to the tennis club, and my mother was so tortured by guys on a motorcycle that she parked the car and chased after them. Then she came back to us and cried and couldn’t stop. It was terrible to see my mother so unhappy.”

A car with a drunk driver at the wheel, a security guard from the Ritz Hotel, Diana herself, who always, except for this one time, wore a seat belt, and her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed walked away from the paparazzi at a speed of 195 kilometers per hour through a Paris tunnel. The driver lost control and their Mercedes crashed into a guardrail. Dodi and the driver died on the spot, the guard survived, Diana died in the hospital on the operating table that same night.

Prince Harry: “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 doing it latest pictures. And then they sold them to agencies for a lot of money.”

The press tried to shift responsibility for Diana's death onto Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. The queen herself was accused of organizing the car accident. More respectable publications scolded her for not publicly throwing ashes on her head enough.

Subjects reproached the queen for remaining in quiet Scotland when London was struggling and choking in hysterics. People wanted to see the grieving monarch in mourning at Buckingham Palace, but she was not there. She was in Scotland, seven hundred kilometers from London. These days, Elizabeth decided to be a grandmother, not a queen: she believed that it was more important to be with the little princes than with her nation, and she did not want to take them to London before the funeral and left them to mourn in peace and quiet.

Diana died on the night of August 31st. Charles, who was with the children at Balmoral Castle, wanted to wake up his sons and immediately tell them the news. But Elizabeth II forbade disturbing the last happy dream of their childhood.

Prince William: “All newspapers were removed from our sight, all televisions were turned off. We didn’t know there was such a huge reaction in the world to her death.”

Details in the story NTV correspondent Lisa Gerson.