We’re coming up to thirty years since the tragic death of Princess Diana and she remains a hot-button topic for the British royal family. There remain many unanswered questions about her death, but let’s dig into one that we actually have the answer to: the fate of the highly controversial final photos taken of her.
The broad facts of what happened on Aug. 31, 1997 in Paris are well-known. Diana, her partner Dodi Fayed, her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, and driver Henri Paul departed the Hôtel Ritz Paris just after midnight in a black Mercedes, heading for an apartment in Rue Arsène Houssaye. En route, they were pursued by several paparazzi photographers.
At 00:23, while driving at a high speed through the Pont de l’Alma underpass, Henri Paul lost control of the vehicle and it collided head-on with a concrete pillar. Dodi and Henri-Paul were pronounced dead at the scene, and the still-conscious Diana was rushed to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she died of internal injuries at 03:00.
Paparazzi photographers were quickly implicated. They’d already taken photos of the passengers while driving and immediately after the crash gathered around the smashed vehicle to take photos of the victims. Those present were reportedly horrified by this, with one photographer apparently attacked by witnesses who couldn’t believe anyone would be so callous. The French police arrested five paparazzi at the scene and seized around twenty rolls of film.
Nine paparazzi were charged with manslaughter for their roles in the crash, though the charges were dropped in 2002. Three of them who took pictures of the immediate aftermath of the crash were tried for invasion of privacy and eventually convicted, sentenced to pay a symbolic fine of a single euro.
In 2006, the Italian magazine Chi published a photo of Diana in the wreck with the headline “world-exclusive – the last photo” showing her being treated by first responders. Princes William and Harry said they were “deeply saddened” at this and released the following statement:
“We appeal to all forms of media throughout the world to appreciate fully that publishing such material causes great hurt to us, our father, our mother’s family and all those who so loved and respected her.”
In 2007, the coroner investigating the case released a series of photographs showing the immediate aftermath of the crash. None of them show the victims, but were taken while Diana was still inside the vehicle and receiving emergency medical treatment. These were published by The Daily Mail in 2007 and can be seen here.
Should the rest ever be published?
But there are multiple never-published explicit photos of the victims and their mortal injuries. Australian media personality and former paparazzo Darryn Lyons purchased this set with the intention of preventing them from ever being published. Lyons claims to have been offered $3-4 million by The New Yorker for the rights, but has insisted that he will never sell, and that they remain under lock and key.
The only clue as to exactly what those depict comes from Lyon, who has described Diana as looking “like an angel, serene, with a smile on her face and only a small cut on her forehead.” The images of Dodi are apparently so graphic as to be “unprintable.”
It remains to be seen whether any of these images will one day be printed. Lyons is adamant that this will not happen, though clearly some media outlets with deep pockets are still interested. Whatever happens, photographs taken of the victims of a fatal car crash without their consent are going to leave a bad taste in the mouth. Perhaps they should stay under lock and key forever.
