How Prince Harry Remembers The Day Princess Diana Died

In recent years, Prince Harry has spoken on a number of occasions about how the death of his mother, Princess Diana, impacted and has continued to impact him since the day news broke of the 1997 Paris car crash that ended her life.

August 31, 2023 will mark the 26th anniversary of the princess' death, which occurred when the car she was traveling in with boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, collided with a structural pillar in a road tunnel while they were being chased by paparazzi.

The driver of the car, who lost his life with Diana and Dodi, was found to have been speeding and to have over the legal limit of blood alcohol for driving at the time of the accident. None of the car's occupants were wearing seat belts.

Though Harry has spoken about his grief and how it has affected him in later years in interviews, he gave the most detailed account of the events following the crash as he experienced them in his 410-page memoir, released in January, titled, Spare.

Newsweek looks at how Prince Harry described events on the day he learned of his mother's car accident in Spare.

Woken With Tragic News

In the closing weeks of August 1997, Princes Harry and William were spending their annual summer vacation at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with their father, Prince Charles (now King Charles III), their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and extended family.

In his memoir, Harry described to readers the form of this annual vacation, including the adjacent bedrooms shared by himself and William, as well as the dinners, games and activities that were held.

On the evening of August 30, the prince recalled that he had played through the halls of the castle with William and took a turn playing the bagpipes of the queen's piper before heading to bed.

In the early hours of August 31, he wrote that he awoke to Charles "standing at the edge of the bed, looking down. His white dressing gown made him seem like a ghost in a play."

Harry revealed that Charles seemed in "shock" as he "sat down on the edge of the bed" and told him gently: "Darling boy, Mummy's been in a car crash."

After describing his internal pleas that his mother would be OK, the prince wrote that his father told him: "I'm afraid she didn't make it."

"These phrases remain in my mind like darts in a board," Harry explained. "He did say it that way, I know that much for sure. She didn't make it. And then everything seemed to come to a stop."

The prince, who was 12 at the time, recounted that he can't remember what he said, if anything, in response, but did note the absence of any tears.

"Pa didn't hug me," he told readers. "He wasn't great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis? But his hand did fall once more on my knee and he said: 'It's going to be OK.'

"That was quite a lot for him. Fatherly, hopeful, kind. And so very untrue."

Church Service

Harry has stated that his memories of this time are not complete as he has tried to retrace his experiences, though he wrote that after spending two hours in bed after being told about his mother's death, he accompanied the royals to church.

"It was Sunday. So, as always, we went to church," he told readers. "I've seen photographs of us going into the church that day, but they bring back no memories. Did the minister say anything? Did he make it worse? Did I listen to him or stare at the back of the pew and think about Mummy?"

Reports from the time state that the clergy at Crathie Kirk—the Church of Scotland place of worship near Balmoral attended by the royal family—did not alter their service to include a reference to Diana out of respect for the high emotions on the day.

After church Harry recounted that they royals viewed floral tributes outside the castle where the press photographed him holding hands with his father. In the timeline of the week between Diana's death and funeral, the floral tribute viewing actually took place on September 4, the day before the royals traveled from Scotland to London.

Denial

After returning to Balmoral from church on August 31, Prince Charles flew to Paris with Princess Diana's sisters to escort her body back to Britain and to thank the medical team at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital for their attempts to save her life.

During this time, Harry wrote that he was consoled by his denial that his mother had died, instead half-believing that she had gone into hiding to escape the press and paparazzi.

"Her life's been miserable, she's been hounded, harassed, lied about, lied to. So she's staged an accident as a diversion and run away," he wrote. "The realization took my breath away, made me gasp with relief."

In a 2023 interview with Anderson Cooper promoting his memoir, Harry revealed that he held onto a part of this belief for "many, many years," and that Prince William had shared a similar thought with him.

Of the days after the news of the princess' death was broken to him, Harry described his memories of meeting mourners in London with tear soaked hands and of the painful experience of walking behind his mother's coffin on the day of her September 6, Westminster Abbey funeral.

There are no formal plans to mark the 26th anniversary of the princess' passing, however, both William and Harry paid tributes to their mother earlier this year by contributing to the annual Diana Awards ceremony.

The awards were set up to continue the princess' legacy of supporting young people and championing their ability to inspire change.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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