Princess Diana's Death Should Not Be Blamed On Paparazzi, Bodyguard Says

Princess Diana's former bodyguard has claimed that her automobile accident should not be blamed on the press.

The former bodyguard of the late royal recently opened up about the incident. According to Ken Wharfe, the paparazzi pursuing the royal were not solely to blame for the mishap. "Yes, some were pursuing Diana, but there weren't, in my view, ultimately the cause of that death," Wharfe told Yahoo UK during the sixth episode of "The Royal Box."

On Aug. 31, 1997, Princess Diana was with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul when they died in a car crash in Paris. Paul lost control of the Mercedes S280 when the paparazzi chased their car at high speed. However, Wharfe said that the press was just a regular part of Princess Diana's life and had a reason to keep her safe.

"From my experience of working with Diana for nine years, every foreign holiday we went on, it wasn't the odd paparazzi that would turn up we're talking 60 to 70 journalists," he explained. "It's in their interest to keep Diana alive and any other member of the royal family. It's their bread and butter."

However, many were convinced that the paparazzi who chased Princess Diana's car were to blame. In fact, even Prince Harry and Prince William had the same perspective.

"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 back seat of the car," Prince Harry told BBC in 2017.

"She 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, they were taking photographs on the back seat, and then those photographs made their way back to news desks," the Duke of Sussex added.

In related news, Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, revealed that the late royal had a premonition of her death. Princess Diana reportedly suspected Prince Charles of plotting an automobile accident to kill her and marry Camilla Parker Bowles.

"Her words were 'these next few months, are the most difficult months of my life. I fear my husband is going to kill me. In an automobile accident. With head injuries. In order that he can remarry,'" Burrell recalled. "That is spooky. She predicted her own death nine months before she died."