It's been almost 25 years since the tragic death of Princess Diana which sent shockwaves around the world.
The royal was just 36-years-old when she died following a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, that also killed her companion Dodi Fayed and the vehicle's driver. The car crashed into the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in the French capital, with emergency services racing to the scene and comforting Diana, writes the Mirror.
One of the emergency crew was firefighter Xavier Gourmelon, who when he first saw Diana had no idea who she was. He didn't believe the "blonde woman" in the back of the car was seriously injured as she had her eyes open and was conscious as he comforted the mother of two.
Before she was taken out of the car, he held her hand and comforted her, telling her to stay calm. Diana then asked him: "My God, what's happened?" Just moments later she suffered a cardiac arrest.
Mr Gourmelon previously told The Sun : "I massaged her heart and a few seconds later she started breathing again. It was a relief of course because, as a first responder, you want to save lives — and that's what I thought I had done.To be honest I thought she would live. As far as I knew when she was in the ambulance she was alive and I expected her to live. But I found out later she had died in hospital. It was very upsetting.
"I know now that there were serious internal injuries, but the whole episode is still very much in my mind. And the memory of that night will stay with me forever. I had no idea then that it was Princess Diana. It was only when she had been put into the ambulance that one of the paramedics told me it was her."
Despite doctors' best efforts, Diana was declared dead at 4am local time, 3am in the UK, at Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris.
Tonight, Channel 4 will be showing the first episode in a four-part series called Investigating Diana: Death In Paris, which will recount the dual inquiries into the incident. The first was by the French Brigade Criminelle in 1997, the second by the Metropolitan Police in 2004.
The documentary, a co-production between Channel 4 and Discovery Plus, will be told as a "gripping and forensic police procedural" and explore "how powerful individuals, the press and the internet created and fuelled conspiracy theories that overwhelmed facts and called into question the very nature of truth".
It will feature interviews with detectives from both forces, some of them speaking publicly for the first time. The series will also examine the public's "insatiable demand for answers, which fuelled unprecedented press interest and the proliferation of online chatrooms, where speculation on the 'real cause' of Diana’s death became one of the first viral sensations of the early internet".
Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our weekly Showbiz newsletter here
READ NEXT:
- Love Island 2022 only had one smoker who had to leave villa to light up
- EastEnders star Samantha Womack shares update after breast cancer operation
- Jake McLean 'had secret beautician girlfriend when he died in horror crash'
- Stacey Solomon shares adorable snaps of Flower Girl baby daughter Rose on wedding day
- Strictly Come Dancing's Kaye Adams says show 'transformed her life
