A Royal Accident
Princess Diana was killed in a horrible car accident while driving through a Paris tunnel on Sunday, August 31, 1997 at 12:35 A.M. ("Princess Diana Dead after Car Crash.”). She was 36 when she passed away and had recently gone through a divorce with Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (“Diana Killed in Car Accident in Paris”). When the crash occurred, she was accompanied by a new man she was seeing at the time, Emad Mohammed Al-Fayed, who was driving the limousine racing to get away from paparazzi (2). There were no eyewitnesses who saw the car accident, and because the crash transpired in a tunnel, many people have fabricated conspiracy theories about how the wreck actually occurred (2). There are three popular conspiracy theories. Some individuals believe that she was trying to fake her own death, and it went terribly wrong (“Princess Diana: Conspiracy Theories”). Others claim that the British secret services took her out because they thought she was a threat to the throne (3). The most probable cause is that it was the paparazzi’s fault because they were taunting the couple and prompted them to drive recklessly in order to escape (3).
Character Analysis: Princess Diana was one of the most adored members of the royal family (“Princess Diana”). Internally, she was a compassionate, strong, shy natured human being who loved and supported children and the needy with a passion (1). When Diana was young, her family life was far from perfect. At age six, Diana’s mother left her father to go live with another man, leaving Diana and her sisters in the middle of a custody battle ("Diana: In Search of Herself"). A psychologist confirmed that this rough childhood resulted in Diana having a hard time trusting others and this is where her shy nature originated (2).
Princess Diana was a beautiful lady. She was 5’10 and only weighed 130 pounds (“How Tall Is Princess Diana Height and Weight”). Her complexation was perfect and she had beautiful bright blue eyes and golden blonde hair (1). She looked exactly like you would imagine a real princess would look. She was well put together all the time. Her outfits were always fancy and had bright beautiful colors. In public, not only her looks were perfect, but you could clearly see she was a happy person. At any given moment she had a big glowing smile on her face as if she was always ready to have her picture taken.
Diana was not interested in fame, instead she was more focused on helping others. After marrying Prince Charles and joining the Royal family, all of the fame from the media and paparazzi made her feel uncomfortable, and resulted in her pursuing her own interest and doing what made her happy (“Princess Diana”). She stated that “Being a princess isn’t all it’s cracked up to be” (Princess Diana Quotes). This quote from Princess Diana proves how humble she was. Princess Diana worked hard to benefit society in a positive way. She participated in hours of community work from helping homeless people to assisting individuals who were suffering with AIDS and HIV (1). When asked about her community service, Princess Diana made a comment that “The biggest disease this day and age is that of people feeling unloved.” (2). This particular quote from Diana proves her understanding and belief that everyone deserves to be loved, no matter what illness or disadvantage they are suffering from.
Diana’s marriage was no fairytale love story. Princess Diana and her husband, Prince Charles, did not get along in their later years of marriage, which eventually, after a lot of hard work to preserve their marriage, led to divorce (1). The stress from their failing marriage caused Diana to suffer with depression and bulimia, which she struggled with for years ("Diana: In Search of Herself").
Even prior to Diana and Charles’ divorce, Diana was still a highly talked about celebrity and the paparazzi continued to follow her every move (“Princess Diana”). Diana devoted herself and her time to her sons, Harry and William, and she took advantage of her fame by fighting against the use of land mines (1). When Diana started seeing Emad Mohammad Al-Fayed, a famous Egyptian movie producer, the paparazzi went crazy (“Emad Mohammad Al-Fayed- Egyptian Film Producer”). They would continuously track Emad and Princess Diana’s whereabouts and eventually became the cause of the couple’s death (1).
Princess Diana’s death occurred in the privacy of a British tunnel. Therefore, it is not clear exactly how the limousine crashed. As a result of the unseen accident, many individuals have formulated conspiracy theories about how the crash might have transpired. Princess Diana was a very loved and admired person and when she died thousands of people were heartbroken. Her admirers could not seem to accept that their beloved princess was killed so quickly due to an accident. Thus, to help them cope with her surprising death, they created ridiculous conspiracy theories about how she died.
Descriptive: The first conspiracy theory is that Princess Diana was attempting to take her own life. (“Princess Diana: Conspiracy Theories”). She did have many internal and external conflicts such as her dramatic divorce with Prince Charles, suffering with bulimia and depression, and the uncomfortable feeling she had about the press following her every move ("Diana: In Search of Herself"). So perhaps this could be a probable explanation, but when you think about the type of person that Diana was, you realize that she is not the type of person who would selfishly want to disappear. True, she did have many issues in her life, but the things she was passionate about easily outweighed the negative things haunting her. She cared greatly about her two sons that she loved dearly, she fought hard and passionately against the use of land mines and helped individuals who were suffering from AIDS and HIV (“Princess Diana”). Diana was clearly not the type of person that would vanish. She was striving to make a difference in the world and her efforts were unfinished.
Another conspiracy theory that individuals have formulated about Princess Diana’s death was that the British government directed the secret service to get rid of her (“Princess Diana: Conspiracy Theories”). It is said that the British government viewed her as a threat to the throne (1). The people who created this conspiracy theory probably did not trust the government. When asked “Do you think Princess Diana was killed by the British Government?” sixteen out of twenty people believed that the British Government was not behind her death. Diana was not a threat to the throne because the British Government is a monarchy (“The British Monarchy”). A Monarchy government is the type of government that keeps the power within one Royal family (2). The only way you can become a Monarch without being in the Royal family, is to marry into the royal family (2). Diana was once part of the British Monarchy, but after her and Prince Charles got a divorce she was no longer capable of holding any power within the government (2). This proves that Princess Diana was not a threat to the British government. Also, the British Government would not want to put their future leaders, Prince William and Prince Harry, through the life altering event of losing a mother at such a young age.
The third, most probable conspiracy theory is not much of a “conspiracy theory”, states that the limousine accident that transpired in the tunnel was simply an accident caused by the paparazzi (“Princess Diana: Conspiracy Theories”). The limo was traveling at a very fast rate of speed because Princess Diana and the new man she had been seeing, Emad Mohammed Al-Fayed, were racing to escape the taunting paparazzi (“Diana Killed in Car Accident in Paris”). There were no tricks to Princess Diana’s death, the limousine driver simply lost control of the vehicle and since they were traveling at such a fast pace, things took a drastic turn for the worse and the limo became a death trap (2).
The beloved Princess Diana died at age 36 in a tragic car accident that broke the hearts of many individuals on Sunday, August 31, 1997at 12:35 A.M. ("Princess Diana Dead after Car Crash.”). The Princess was accompanied by Emad Mohammed Al-Fayed, a new man she had being seeing after her and Prince Charles’ divorce (“Diana Killed in Car Accident in Paris”). Princess Diana was an extremely popular, admired and loved person who strived to make a difference. She fought against the use of land mines and cared for the needy. She was a loving person whose life ended way too early. Princess Diana was not finished contributing to the world, she had much more love to give. Since her death occurred so suddenly and there were no eye witnesses and crash that transpired in a tunnel, many individuals all around the world began fabricating ridiculous conspiracy theories about how the wreck occurred (2). There have been many crazy conspiracy theories made up about how Princess Diana died. Out of all the conspiracy theories made up, only about three of them make a little bit of sense. The first conspiracy theory is that Princess Diana was so tired of her life, suffering with bulimia and depression, and sick of the paparazzi following her every move, that she decided to take her life into her own hands and fake her own death (“Princess Diana: Conspiracy Theories”). This conspiracy theory can be proven wrong when you look at her personal life. She was not the type of person who would purposely leave her two sons without a mother. The second conspiracy theory is that the British government thought she was a threat to the throne and assassinated her (3). This conspiracy theory can be proven wrong because she was not a threat to the throne since only the Royal family has access to the throne and she was no longer part of the family (“The British Monarchy”). The final and most probably conspiracy theory is that the accident was the paparazzi’s fault for chasing the couple and causing them to drive quickly and eventually crash into the side of the tunnel.(3) Although all of the evidence points to the paparazzi being the culprit of Princess Diana’s death, the mystery remains unsolved.
Princess Diana before she died:
The limo after the crash:
Princess Diana's grave:
Works Cited:
"Diana: In Search of Herself." Psychology Resource Center for Students. Psychology Resource Center for Students. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
"Emad Mohamed Al-Fayed | Biography - Egyptian Film Producer."Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
"How Tall Is Princess Diana Height and Weight | Celebrity Height and Weight." Celebrity Height and Weight Finder. 26 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
"Princess Diana." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
"Princess Diana Dead after Car Crash." CNN. Cable News Network, 31 Aug. 1997. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
"Princess Diana - The Conspiracy Theories." LondonNet. LondonNet, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
"Princess Diana Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
"The British Monarchy." The Official Site of the British Monarchy. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
Whitney, Craig. "Diana Killed in a Car Accident in Paris." The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 Aug. 1997. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
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