PRINCE HARRY HAS criticised the paparazzi for taking photographs of his mother, Princess Diana, while “she was still dying on the back seat of the car” instead of trying to help her following the crash in Paris 20 years ago.
Marking the upcoming 20th anniversary of Diana’s death on 31 August, both Prince Harry and his brother Prince William have candidly spoken out about the impact the loss of their mother had on their lives.
Speaking in a new BBC documentary – Diana, 7 Days – Harry opened up about his feelings towards the people who attended the scene of Diana’s death.
“I think one of the hardest things to come to terms with is the fact that the people that chased her into the tunnel were the same people that were taking photographs of her while she was still dying on the backseat of the car,” Harry said.
“William and I know that we’ve been told that numerous times by people that know that was the case.”
Princess Diana was killed in the car crash in Paris at the age of 36, after the car she was in sped into a tunnel under the Alma bridge as it was being followed by paparazzi.
Speaking of his disbelief of the actions of the paparazzi on the night of the accident, Harry condemned the fact the photographs made their way into newsrooms in the UK.
She’d had quite a severe head injury but she was very much still alive on the back seat, and those people that caused the accident… instead of helping, were taking photographs of her dying on the back seat and then those photographs made their way back to news desks in this country.
In the inquest into Diana’s death in 2008, it was ruled that the gross negligence of her driver, Henri Paul, who was drunk, and the paparazzi were to blame for the crash.
The prince also paid tribute to his father, Prince Charles, for the way he took care of his two sons following Diana’s death.
“One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died,” Harry said.
“How you deal with that I don’t know but, you know, he was there for us.”
During the 90-minute documentary, Prince William said that walking behind his mother’s coffin was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done”.
Prince William, who was 15 when his mother died, said:
“When you have something as traumatic as the death of your mother when you’re 15, as very sadly, many people have experienced, and no one wants to experience, it will either make or break you, and I wouldn’t let it break me.
“I wanted her to be proud of the person I would become. I didn’t want her worried.”
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