Information on Princess Diana- surrounding her death

On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car
crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the
driver of the Mercedes S280, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth
passenger in the car, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured but survived.
Although the media blamed the behaviour of the paparazzi who followed the car, a French
judicial investigation in 1999 found that the crash was caused by Henri Paul, who lost control
of the Mercedes at high speed while he was intoxicated and under the effects of prescription
drugs. Paul was the deputy head of security at the Hôtel Ritz at the time of the crash and had
goaded the paparazzi waiting outside the hotel earlier. His inebriation may have been made
worse by anti-depressants and traces of an anti-psychotic in his body. The investigation
concluded that the photographers were not near the Mercedes when it crashed.] After hearing
evidence at the British inquest in 2008, a jury returned to a verdict of "unlawful killing" by
Paul and the paparazzi pursuing the car.
Diana's death caused a substantial outpouring of worldwide grief, including numerous floral
tributes and her funeral was watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people. The Royal
Family were criticised in the press for their reaction to Diana's death, although they were
simply following established protocol. Public interest in Diana has remained high and she has
retained regular press coverage.

Diana’s life
Bodyguard Ken Wharfe- “She was very generous, if it was your birthday you always
received a card and a generous gift. That was Diana!”
Diana had a knack for seeming to be open with people—offering the same small glimpses to
everyone, while effectively masking what was really going on. "People adore her because
whenever she speaks to them she reveals some small nugget of information about herself or
her family," observed Catherine Stott in The Sunday Telegraph in 1984. "Nothing she says is
ever embarrassing or indiscreet. People feel that they are getting more than they actually are
from her." As one of Diana's former aides explained it, Diana knew just how far to go:
"People would ask her the most intimate questions, and she knew how to answer them
sweetly while actually blowing them off. But because all those intimate details were out
there, people felt they knew her."
"I don't go by a rule book, I lead from the heart, not the head," Diana said. Her meagre
formal education enhanced her appeal as well. She frequently belittled her intelligence,
saying she was "thick as a plank" or had a "brain the size of a pea." While she lacked
intellectual curiosity and discipline, she had a practical, canny mind. "She was an entirely
intuitive person," said journalist and historian Paul Johnson. "She was not particularly good
at rational processes, but she could get on well with people because she could grasp ideas if
they had emotional importance to her. She was very quick, and quick to sense what people
wanted." One secret of her charm, according to interior designer Nicholas Haslam, a friend
for several years, was "she could appear to be talking about something to anyone. She was a
conversational chameleon."