Topics: Royal Family, Princess Diana
As August comes to an end, it's time to reflect on what that month really means for the people in the UK as we pass the 63rd birthday of the late Princess Diana and 27th year of her death.
As the world is set to commemorate her life and death on 31 August, the final words that the mother-of-two uttered before slipping into a coma before sadly passing away are at the forefront of people's minds.
For those who don't know about the tragic event which sent shockwaves across the world, it all began in 1997 when the then 36-year-old Diana was travelling through a tunnel in Paris.
Advert
The 'People's Princess' - the mother of Prince Harry and Prince William and ex-wife of King Charles III - had been enjoying her evening in the City of Love with her rumoured boyfriend Dodi Fayed, when tragedy was just moments away.
Diana's driver, Henri Paul and Dodi’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones were all in the car together and had been travelling through the Pont de l'Alma underpass when paparazzi chased them down and the car would crash.
However, when French firefighters attended the scene, one of them didn't realise that he'd hear the last words she'd ever speak.
According to reports, the driver lost control of the vehicle, leading to the car crashing into a column inside the tunnel, which killed himself and Dodi on impact.
Diana and Dodi's bodyguard were alive, but severely injured and had to be taken to hospital for life-saving measures.
On the 20th anniversary of her death in 2017, Xavier Gourmelon spoke to Good Morning Britain about what she said to him that night.
Claiming that upon attending the scene, no one was initially aware that Princess Diana had been one of the victims.
When she regained consciousness in the back of the car whilst talking to him, she allegedly asked him: "Oh my god, what's happened?"
He said the Princess then became temporarily agitated before losing consciousness again.
"I tried to calm her down and tell her we’d look after her, and she fell into a coma again."
It was during her removal from the car, however, that Xavier says her health rapidly deteriorated.
"At that moment, the doctor said she was in cardiac arrest. So, we gave her CPR and after 20 seconds, she regained consciousness, and we transferred her to the ambulance."
Sadly, after medics at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris attempted to save her life, at 4.00am the following morning the princess died after another cardiac arrest, from which surgeons could not resuscitate her.
