Prince Harry Slams Paparazzi Who Took Photos Of Dying Princess Diana, Opens Up About Last Phone Call


In a new BBC interview, Prince Harry and Prince William lashed out at the photographers who took pictures of their dying mother, Princess Diana, after her 1997 Paris car crash, instead of helping her.

The interview with the young royals is part of Diana, 7 Days, a BBC documentary commemorating the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death.

Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed when the car she was in crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. Dodi Fayed, Diana’s companion, and Henri Paul, the driver, also died. Trevor Rees-Jones, Diana’s bodyguard, survived. An inquest into the accident found that it was the driver’s negligence and the pursuing paparazzi that caused the crash.

In Diana, 7 Days, Harry, who was 12-years-old when his mother died, talked about coming to terms with Diana’s death (via Express).

“I think one of the hardest things to come to terms with was is the fact that the people that chased her into the tunnel were the people taking photographs of her whilst she was still dying on the backseat of the car.”

Prince Harry revealed that he and his older brother, Prince William, were aware of this, having been informed on numerous occasions by those privy to the case.

“She’d had a severe head injury.”

“Instead of helping, [they] were taking photographs of her dying on the back seat,” he said. “And then those photographs… made their way back to news desks in this country.”

Prince William, who was 15-years-old at the time of the crash, also opened up about his mother’s struggle with paparazzi and the close scrutiny of her life.

“We’d go looking for her to talk to her or play and she’d be crying and when that was the case it was because of the press.”

According to the Duke of Cambridge, Princess Diana had to deal with paparazzi everywhere she went, even when she was just doing “day to day stuff” like going to the gym.

Seeing his mother in such distress over having so little control of her own life created a lasting impact on William. The royal admitted that the “damage” for him was being so little and just wanting to protect his mother from it all.

Prince William also revealed that paparazzi went to extraordinary lengths to get buzzworthy photos of Diana.

“[They] followed her, chased her, harassed her. Called her names. Spat at her. Tried to get a reaction to get that photograph of her lashing out.”

Meanwhile, Prince Harry admitted that he still grapples with the fact that he cut his final phone conversation with Princess Diana short. According to Mirror Online, he recalled that he wanted to get off the phone because he was busy playing with his toys.

“It was tea time for us, and I was a typical young kid playing with my toys. I was told my mother was on the phone, and I was like, ‘Ugh I really want to play.'”

Per a previous Inquisitr article, Prince Harry has also spoken out about having to walk behind his mother’s casket during her London funeral. According to the 32-year-old prince, he doesn’t think that any child should have been asked to do something like that “under any circumstances.” He also said that it’s probably not something that would be asked of a child today.

[Featured Image by Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images]

Share this article: Prince Harry Slams Paparazzi Who Took Photos Of Dying Princess Diana, Opens Up About Last Phone Call
More from Inquisitr