Dermot Murnaghan has relived the chilling moment 25 years ago when he had to announce live on air that Princess Diana had died, after initially being told she'd survived the Paris car crash that killed her.
Today, August 31, marks a quarter of a century that the most famous woman in the world died when the Mercedes she was travelling in with rumoured love interest Dodi Fayed struck a pillar in an underpass, killing her, Dodi and the car's driver, Henri Paul. Initially, after being treated at the scene, it was reported across the world that Diana had escaped with non-life threatening injuries, before the tragic news was received that she'd lost her life.
Dermot was on-air hosting ITN News for ITV at the time and, recalling the shocking way events unfolded in the early hours of the morning in 1997, in an interview with Christine Lampard on Wednesday's Lorraine, he explained how he was just told to read statement that had suddenly come in, confirming Diana had died.
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"It was kind of news to me as well," he told Christine. "During the course of the evening, by the time it was confirmed that the Princess had passed away, we'd been on the air for about three hours as the story had developed from a serious car accident that the Princess had survived we were told. There was reports of broken collar bones and things like that, non-life threatening."
He continued: "So when I was told to break that news that was confirmed from sources on the wires and our own sources in Paris and in London, I hear in my ear: 'Just read the statement. Just read that statement, which I had not read before.
"So for me, I'm computing, just as the audience are computing, comprehending that we've gone from a serious incident involving the Princess and her entourage, to her being dead. And I'm absorbing it, I was glad to get that slight space to get my brain around what I'd just announced to the nation."
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