A distraught Princess Diana asked a French firefighter what had just happened moments after the car she was in crashed.
Gourmelon, one of the first responders on August 31, 1997, testified about the accident during the 2007 inquest into Diana’s death. But in his first full interview on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, after leaving the fire service, he revealed the princess’s final words.
The firefighter, who had 22 years of experience, said he initially had no idea that the woman he was treating in the wrecked Mercedes inside the Pont de l’Alma tunnel was Princess Diana. He only knew the crash site was close to the Malar fire station where he was on duty.
According to Xavier, his 10-person team arrived in two trucks and were the first on the scene. The vehicle was completely crushed, and they treated the situation like any other major road accident, checking quickly for survivors.
“Diana said to me, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’ She was lying on the floor in the back of the car. She was moving slightly, so it was clear she was alive. Her right shoulder had a minor injury but I didn’t see any serious wounds or blood. I held her hand, reassured her, told her I was there to help, and we got her out of the vehicle,” Xavier recalled.
He gave her oxygen and stayed beside her. But just minutes later, the 36-year-old princess went into cardiac arrest.
“We’re trained for this. When I saw she wasn’t breathing, I immediately started chest compressions and CPR. After a few seconds, she began breathing again. I was relieved — I truly thought she would survive. As far as I knew, she was still alive in the ambulance. Hearing at the station later that she had died in hospital made me very sad.”
Xavier said the memory of that night has never left him.
“I didn’t know it was Princess Diana until she was placed in the ambulance and a paramedic told me. I was shocked. I had seen her before but didn’t follow the royal family closely. When I looked back inside the car, I immediately recognised her.”
At the scene, Diana’s partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul were already dead. Her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, now 50, survived but was severely injured.
“When I returned to the car, the driver was clearly gone. Dodi was in the back in very bad condition — he also suffered cardiac arrest and died right after being removed. The bodyguard in the front was conscious but trapped. His face was badly injured and he kept asking, ‘Where is she? Where is she?’ We told him to stay still and tried to keep him calm.”
Princess Diana remained beloved for her beauty, compassion, and dedication to helping others — Photo: EPA
After Diana was taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Xavier returned to the station and called his wife.
“She was asleep, and I told her what had happened — that Diana had gone into cardiac arrest but I had managed to get her breathing again,” he said.
An official report later concluded that Princess Diana died from massive internal injuries, including a ruptured blood vessel near her heart.
Diana had become one of the world’s most loved public figures since her 1981 marriage to Prince Charles. At the time of the crash, she had been divorced for a year. Her funeral on September 6, 1997, was watched by over 32 million people in the UK and millions more worldwide.