Princess Diana's last words will haunt you
These Were the Four Words Princess Diana Said Before She Died
Updated on Jun. 30, 2025
Do you remember the moment you first heard about Princess Diana’s death on Aug. 31, 1997? The horrifying car crash that killed Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul in a tunnel in Paris in the middle of the night shook not only U.K. citizens but also millions around the world.
As rumors swirled about what had caused the accident, which occurred shortly after Diana and Dodi left the Ritz hotel in Paris, eyewitnesses were quick to come forward and share their stories. But despite of these tidbits and the unfounded conspiracy theories that followed, the bottom line was that an immense tragedy occurred that night. And Princess Diana’s last words—which weren’t revealed until 20 years after her death—really drove that home.
So what were these haunting words, why didn’t we hear about them earlier and what exactly happened in Diana’s final hours? Read on to find out.
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How long did Princess Diana survive after the car crash?
While the horrible details and pictures of Diana’s accident might suggest that she died at the scene of the crash, the princess, in fact, survived for another 3.5 hours. Diana and Dodi had left the Ritz at 12:19 a.m. on Aug. 31 through the back door with bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones to avoid the paparazzi. But a high-speed paparazzi chase ensued, and just minutes later, at 12:23 a.m., the car’s driver, Henri Paul, lost control over their Mercedes and crashed against a concrete pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
Rescue workers, including firefighter Xavier Gourmelon, came to the scene at 12:33 a.m., finding the princess conscious but agitated. Next was French medic Frederic Mailliez, who arrived at 12:45 a.m. “I walked toward the wreckage. I opened the door, and I looked inside. Four people, two of them were apparently dead, no reaction, no breathing, and the two others, on the right side, were living but in severe condition,” he later recalled. “The female passenger, the young lady, was on her knees on the floor of the Mercedes, she had her head down. She had difficulty [breathing]. She needed quick assistance.” Mailliez explained how Diana “regained a little bit more energy” thanks to his “respiratory bag … but she couldn’t say anything.” He tried to comfort her while calling the ambulance.
The onboard medic, Jean-Marc Martino, worried that the princess was too fragile to be transported, treated her for more than 30 minutes on site before allowing the ambulance to take off at 1:40 a.m. This is why it wasn’t until 2:06 a.m. that Diana finally arrived at the La Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in the southwest of Paris. After almost two hours of emergency surgery, the princess was pronounced dead at 4 a.m.
What where Princess Diana’s last words?
“My God, what’s happened?” Those were reportedly the last fours words Princess Diana ever said. This is according to firefighter Xavier Gourmelon, who gave the princess CPR, thinking at the time that he’d saved her life. “I massaged her heart, and a few seconds later, she started breathing again. It was a relief, of course, because as a first responder, you want to save lives—and that’s what I thought I had done,” he told The Sun two decades after Diana died.
According to Gourmelon, Diana was “alive in the ambulance” and he “expected her to live,” but he learned later that she had passed in hospital: “It was very upsetting. … The memory of that night will stay with me forever.”
You might wonder why Princess Diana’s last words weren’t revealed earlier, and there’s a simple reason: Gourmelon says that French firemen are considered part of the military and are therefore not allowed to talk to the press. So he could share his story only after he’d left his job.
It’s not exactly clear what Diana was referring to in her final words—it could have been anything from the car accident itself to the paparazzi who had chased her on her very last journey (and all the years before) or a mix of both.
What else do we know about Princess Diana’s final moments?
Numerous stories have swirled around Diana’s last moments, and it’s often hard to verify them. One of the things we know for sure? The injuries the princess suffered during the crash. While she didn’t have any visible injuries according to first responders, her collarbone had been dislocated and her rib and arm were fractured. The main injuries, however, were in her chest and lung, which caused internal bleeding, ultimately leading to cardiac arrest and death.
According to David Douglas, a former senior officer in the Metropolitan Police, Diana could have survived the accident if she’d ignored the royals’ no-seat-belt habit. “If they had been wearing seat belts … there was probably an 80% chance that they would have survived the accident,” he claimed in 2022. “It would still have been a terrible accident, they would have been badly injured, but it probably would not have been fatal.”
Another thing worth noting about Princess Diana’s final moments is that she was surrounded by people who had no clue who she was. “It was only when she had been put into the ambulance that one of the paramedics told me it was her,” said firefighter Gourmelon. “I was so shocked. I knew who she was, but don’t follow British royalty closely. I went to the ambulance and looked in, and that’s when I recognized her.”
Medic Mailliez was also too busy trying to save Diana’s life to notice who his patient was. “I know it’s surprising, but I didn’t recognize Princess Diana,” he said later. “I realized she was very beautiful, but my attention was so focused on what I had to do to save her life, I didn’t have time to think, Who was this woman? Someone behind me told me the victim spoke English, so I began to speak English.” Mailliez later revealed it was a “massive shock” to learn he had treated Diana.
Believe it or not, paparazzi didn’t only chase Diana on her final journey—they even took pictures of the dying princess trapped in the Mercedes through the car windows. The images were offered for purchase immediately after the crash, but no media outlet bought them. Pixilated versions were shown to the jury in Diana’s inquest in 2007 but never to the public.
What were Dodi Fayed’s last words?
While Princess Diana’s last words are well documented at least by one source, there’s little known about Dodi Fayed’s last words. In the reenactment of the car crash scene on the Netflix series The Crown, Dodi voices concerns about Diana after getting into the car and rushing toward the tunnel. “Are you OK?” he asks, holding her hand. Diana says “yes” and nods. Moments later, Dodi is dead and Diana is fighting for her life.
What were Princess Diana’s last words to her children?
Princess Diana called her sons Prince William and Prince Harry just hours before her death—but the chat was short, and neither of the brothers can really remember Princess Diana’s last words to them. As William and Harry said in the ITV/HBO documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, they were in Balmoral Castle in Scotland, one of the family’s many royal estates, at the time, having fun with their cousins, when Diana phoned them from Paris. Eager to get back to playing around and “having a very good time,” according to William, who was 15 at the time, they cut the call short.
“If I’d known that that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother, the things I’d have said to her,” the prince said in the documentary. “Looking back at it now, it’s incredibly hard. I have to deal with that for the rest of my life: not knowing that it was the last time I’d speak to my mum, how differently that conversation would have panned out if I’d had even the slightest inkling that her life was going to be taken that night.” Harry, who was 12, said he “can’t necessarily remember” what Diana said either, “but all I do remember is regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was.”
In an episode of The Crown “recreating” this last phone call, the three briefly discussed Diana’s relationship with Dodi on the phone. In the show, the princess promised her sons she wouldn’t marry him and that she’d return home to them as possible. The scene moved viewers to tears … but since not even Harry and William themselves remember what had actually been said during the call, it really is just pure speculation and quite a bit of creative license.
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Reader’s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone’s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth’s daily snack to Prince William’s confessions about his home life. We’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on Princess Diana’s last words, Astrid Hofer tapped her experience as a London-based journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering topics including the British royal family. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- BBC: “Diana, Princess of Wales, killed in car crash”
- BBC: “The final evening”
- The Standard: “Princess Diana’s last hours: the paparazzi, the car chase, the crash”
- ITV: “William and Harry: The moment we heard our mother’s voice for the last time”
- CNN: “Princes William and Harry recall their last words with Princess Diana”
- The Sun: “Di hero’s first interview: Firefighter who heard Princess Diana’s final words tells how he thought he’d saved her life after giving her CPR”
- The Guardian: “Diana documentary reveals William and Harry regret ‘rushed’ last call”
- The Guardian: “Ambulance driver defends slow Diana journey”
- Newsweek: “Diana had 80 percent chance of survival if she wore seat belt—Investigator”
- The Independent: “Princess Diana: First medic on scene of fatal crash ‘still feels responsible’ as 25th anniversary nears”
- The Independent: “Diana 1961-1997: The tragedy – A hole was torn in her heart … she could not be saved”
