Kathrine Frich
The rumours dragged Rees-Jones into the spotlight.
When a global icon dies suddenly, the world struggles to accept the facts.
Decades pass by, yet whispers of secret plots refuse to fade.
Sometimes, it takes the people who were actually there to set the record straight.
A dark night
It has been nearly three decades since a high-speed journey through Paris shocked the globe. Princess Diana died following a devastating crash. Her partner Dodi Fayed and security chief Henri Paul also lost their lives.
The group was fleeing journalists in a Mercedes-Benz. Suddenly, Paul lost control. He struck a central column, and only one man made it out alive.
Trevor Rees-Jones was working as a bodyguard that evening. He survived the crash, but his ordeal was far from over.
Swirling conspiracies
Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed soon pushed a series of wild allegations. He suggested the crash was a targeted assassination orchestrated by British secret services to stop a potential wedding.
The rumours dragged Rees-Jones into the spotlight. Sky News cited by Ladbible reported claims that the bodyguard was faking memory loss. Theorists even suggested a United Nations role was his reward for staying quiet.
An official police investigation called Operation Paget shut down these ideas in 2004. Detectives cleared Rees-Jones of any wrongdoing and officially ruled the crash a tragic accident.
Carrying the weight
The former bodyguard firmly rejected the dark rumours. Speaking to PEOPLE magazine in 2000, he made his feelings very clear.
“I’m not bitter at Mr. Al Fayed. Personally, I think he’s made himself look stupid with these attacks and the extraordinary claims he’s made,” he told the publication.
Even so, the tragedy left a permanent mark. The survivor felt a deep sense of duty.
“It’s not so-called survivor’s guilt,” he told PEOPLE. “It’s the fact that I was paid to look after Dodi and his guest, and they died on my shift. I’ve got this hanging over me for the rest of my life.”
Finding peace
Other responders also shared haunting memories. French firefighter Xavier Gourmelon told Good Morning Britain he did not recognize the princess upon arrival. Her final words were, “Oh my God, what’s happened?”
Today, Diana rests on a secluded island at the Althorp Estate. Trees deliberately obscure the memorial. It offers her the deep privacy in death she rarely found in life.
Sources: Ladbible, Sky News, PEOPLE, Good Morning Britain
