Lady Di's death
Like everyone knows, on August 1997, Diana, the Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Pont de L’Alma in Paris. She was with her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed, Henri Paul the driver and Trevor Rees-Jones, Diana and Dodi’s bodyguard. Trevor was the only survivor. Dodi and Paul died at the site of the accident. At 2am Diana has taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. During two hours the greatest surgeons took care of the Princess. They massaged her heart with their hand. But at 4.25 am Doctors said Diana died. According to Doctors her last words were for her children: “Boys, boys...”. Reality or myth for William and Harry? Nobody knows...
There were many hypotheses about the reason of the accident. The excessive speed is probably the most important reason. The car was driving at 150km per hour whereas the speed limit under the Pont de l’Alma is 50km per hour. But in 1997 the Royal family did not want the journalists to speak about excessive speed of the car. Why? Mystery... Worse, the Royal Family said that the car was driving at 90 km per hour! It is impossible. A Mercedes in this state in a collision at 90 km per hour is still impossible. At the beginning of their investigation police said that if just Trevor survived it was because he was wearing a seatbelt contrary to the others occupants of the car. But in December 2006 Operation Paget technical’s examination said that none of the occupants of the car was wearing a seatbelt. What’s more, on September 10th 1997 after Henri Paul’s autopsy we have learning that Henri Paul had 1.75 grams of alcohol per litter of blood. The limit is 0.8 grams per litter of blood! As well Henri Paul took “Prozac”, a well-known antidepressant. An employee of the Ritz who taken an antidepressant. The Ritz is it a stressful employer? However since the accident Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi’s father, has said that the accident was a scheme organized by the Royal Family and principally The Queen and Prince Philip. Indeed he says that Diana was pregnant at the moment of the accident. According to Mohammed, It is for this reason that the Royal Family would not have wanted a Muslim in their Family. They did not want a Muslim brother for their grandsons. In this way the Royal Family would have forged Mercedes brakes. But the right reason is another. Indeed, in October 2004, Mohammed was mixed in a political affair. He has bribed two MPs (Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith) for they say at a parliament audience that Mohammed must have the Britsh nationality. It is for this right reason that Royals did not want Dodi in their Family. But on December 14th 2006 Scotland Yard published a report and this hypothesis was contradicted. This report says that Diana was not pregnant and did not want to get married to Dodi. This report confirms that the excessive speed is the main reason for the accident. In addition the paparazzi have an important responsibility. Indeed they followed the car too closely. But in August 2013 Scotland Yard had new information about a possible participation by the elite of the British Army. This information has been told by a member of British Military. But the investigations are still not opened. Therefore the excessive speed and the paparazzi are the reason for the accident.
At the moment of the accident the Queen was with her grandsons, her husband and her son in their castle in Balmoral in Scotland. Charles waited the next day of the accident to announce it to his children. William and Harry wanted to go to the church, it was their only public outing during the five days which followed the accident. But the British were shocked by the behavior of the Queen. They did not accept that she did not put the flag at half-mast in Buckingham Palace whereas flag in the other institutions were at half-mast. During the accident and since May 2nd, 1997 the British Prime Minister was Tony Blair. He guided the Queen to come back to London and put Buckingham’s flag at half-mast because there were any people discontents in London. The Queen and her family went back to London and the Queen made a speech on September 5th, one day before Diana’s burial where she expressed her admiration for Diana and her obligations of grand-mother which obliged her to stay in her castle to support her grandsons. This intervention was very well welcomed by the British. So she proved that her duty of grandmother was more important than her duty as Queen. What’s more she accepted that the Union Jack was put at half-mast whereas the tradition, and the Queen, just wanted royal flag or nothing. She calmed tensions in her kingdom. This event changed the vision of people about the British Monarchy because she disappointed her people. After, with William, Harry and later Kate the opinion of people about the monarchy has become better again. 2.5 billion people were in front of their television for Diana’s funeral.
Queen's speach before Diana's funeral
Diana is now in history. But we can see that the polemic about her death is already open because of the film Diana released in October 2013. It speaks about the last two years of the Princess. It was approved by the British Monarchy. Indeed they accepted that it be filmed at Buckingham Palace. But when the film was released the opinion was not good. According to Hasnat Khan, Diana’s old boy-friend, this movie's story is not true. Indeed, the relations represented in the movie between Diana and Hasnat's family was better in real life than in the movie.
To conclude, 16 years ago Diana died, but she continues to feed the celebrity pages in magazines. Since her death the media-coverage of the events of the Royals are more usual and more controlled. This event allowed the British Monarchy to adapt itself to our modern society. Indeed since the accident it has been present on many social networks.