According to Ken Wharfe, Princess Diana’s former bodyguard, three security errors caused her death.
Princess Diana’s sad demise nearly 30 years ago is hard to believe. World icon, philanthropist, and two boys’ mother died. It’s impossible not to speculate how she would appear, what role she would have played, and how she would have shaped the world today.
Our first meeting with Diana
Former bodyguard Ken Wharfe, who worked with her for six years, treasures her. He complimented Diana’s “wicked sense of humor” and felt “incredibly privileged” to have known her.
Princess Diana struck Wharfe as down-to-earth from the start.
Diana replied, “I don’t envy you, Ken, looking after my kids,” as I entered the room. “They can be a bloody nuisance,” Wharfe told The Sun.
On cue, young William, who was playing the piano, turned and said, “No, we’re not a bloody nuisance!” Harry fell from a table as he spoke.
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Diana stood up and shouted, ‘Come here, both of you!’ before pursuing them out. I hadn’t spoken yet,” Wharfe recalled.
She returned shortly later, shaking her head.
“See what I mean, Ken?” she asked.
That moment changed everything, he said.
You spoke to a parent, a young mother, someone you could relate to instead of a royal.”
His summary of Diana was fun, laughter, and sometimes great melancholy.
A reckless driver
Wharfe, her personal protection officer from 1987 to 1993, believes the People’s Princess would be alive today if important decisions were done differently.
According to Wharfe, who drove the automobile that fateful August night in 1997 was a major mistake.
Diana was with her boyfriend, Egyptian film mogul Dodi Fayed, Ritz security chief Henri Paul, who drove, and Dodi’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, the crash’s lone survivor.
Unfortunately, Paul was drunk and traveling at dangerous speeds when his automobile hit the 13th pillar of Paris’ Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Wharfe believes Diana could have survived if someone else drove.
He said, “The one thing that would have saved Diana’s life that night would have been if they’d kicked out the chauffeur and Rees-Jones drove.”
“He told Dodi Fayed what to do, but he couldn’t speak to him. That’s a shame, because if Rees-Jones had ordered Henri Paul out, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation.
In an attempt to avoid cameras, Diana and Dodi planned to move from the Ritz Hotel to an apartment near the Champs-Elysées. Another major blunder that night was the complete absence of planning and coordination with the local police regarding the automobile trip.
Wharfe believes Dodi and Diana’s security team could have prevented the tragedy by working with local police instead of shutting them out and viewing the press as “the enemy.”
They used fake cars to avoid the reporters. Diana and Dodi secretly exited the Ritz in a black armored Mercedes while Dodi’s usual driver drove a Range Rover at the front entrance.
Henri Paul, who was four times the French drinking limit, was summoned in from home to drive them. The Mercedes crashed at almost 60 mph after the chase.
Lack of security staff
Wharfe said Diana’s Scotland Yard security team dismissal was the biggest avoidable blunder. After divorcing Prince Charles in 1992, she lost royal protection.
Diana decided to break up weeks after Wharfe urged her to reconsider. She remarked, ‘You’ve always given fantastic advise. What advise would you give me?'”
He stated, “I urge you, I urge you, not to lose the Scotland Yard security because we have given you that freedom, we’ve broken rules to allow you to have the normality that you crave for, and there’s no reason why that shouldn’t continue.”
Diana fired her security team four weeks later despite his warning. Wharfe believes Diana would have kept them if Queen Elizabeth insisted.
Security cannot be forced on someone; they must accept it. But the fact that it wasn’t offered, this was her way of saying I want a new life.”
Diana’s death sent shockwaves across the globe, dominating headlines for weeks. While her funeral became a historic moment of mourning, the haunting images of her wrecked car remain etched in the minds of many.
More than two decades later, the debate over what could have saved Diana continues. Ken Wharfe knows the answers: three crucial decisions doomed her that night. Are you with him?