At 36-years-old, the princess was involved in a fatal car crash in Paris after being pursued by paparazzi, and French firefighter Xavier Gourmelon is now speaking out about the night she passed away. In an interview with Good Morning Britain, Gourmelon, who was the last person to see her alive, reveals the heartbreaking last words Princess Diana spoke.
He said, "Nobody knew it was her; no one had recognized her. As I approached, there was a blonde person sitting on the floor, she regained consciousness and looked at me and said, ‘Oh, my God, what’s happened?’" He continued, "[She was] a bit agitated, I tried to calm her down and tell her we'd look after her, and she fell into a coma again."
Gourmelon goes on to say that he was completely surprised that Diana passed away, as he expected her to recover. She died at 4 a.m. on Sunday, August 31, 1997.
In the days leading up to the 20th anniversary of their mother's death, Prince William and Prince Harry have paid tribute to her by touring the newly named White Garden at Kensington Palace, which was replanted in honor of the late princess. Recently, the brothers have also opened up about their relationship with Diana, even recalling the last time they spoke with her in the HBO documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy.
And in a promo for the the new documentary Diana, 7 Days, Prince Harry opened about the details of his mother's car accident,
condemning the paparazzi who caused the crash for photographing Princess Diana in the car as she lay dying.
"I think one of the hardest things to come to terms with is the fact that the people that chased her into the tunnel were the same people that were taking photographs of her while she was still dying on the back seat of the car," he says in the documentary.
"William and I know that. We’ve been told that numerous times by people that know that was the case," Harry continued. "She’d had quite a severe head injury, but she was very much still alive on the back seat. Those people that caused the accident, instead of helping, were taking photos of her dying on the back seat. And then those photographs made their way to news desks in this country."