French Doctor Recalls Princess Diana's Last Moments: 'I Tried To Comfort Her'
The 25th anniversary of Princess Diana's death is upon us. As many around the world recall where they were when they learned the Princess of Wales had died, those who were present on that fateful evening in Paris, too, are remembering what happened.
Dr. Frederic Mailliez was driving home from a party through the Alma Tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997 when he noticed a smoking Mercedes car. "I walked toward the wreckage. I opened the door, and I looked inside," he recalls to the Associated Press.
What he saw: "Four people, two of them were apparently dead, no reaction, no breathing, and the two others, on the right side, were living but in severe condition. The front passenger was screaming, he was breathing. He could wait a few minutes. And the female passenger, the young lady, was on her knees on the floor of the Mercedes, she had her head down. She had difficulty to breathe. She needed quick assistance."
He ran back to his car to grab a respiratory bag and call for an ambulance. "She was unconscious. Thanks to my respiratory bag...she regained a little bit more energy, but she couldn’t say anything," Mailliez remembers.
"I know it’s surprising, but I didn’t recognize Princess Diana," the French medic continues. "I was in the car on the rear seat giving assistance. I realized she was very beautiful, but my attention was so focused on what I had to do to save her life, I didn’t have time to think, who was this woman."
Soon, someone told him the victims spoke English, so Mailliez stopped speaking French, and began telling them, in English, that he was a doctor. Quickly, Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, and their driver were taken to a Paris hospital, where they died.
"It was a massive shock to learn that she was Princess Diana, and that she died," Mailliez said. "Did I do everything I could to save her? Did I do correctly my job?"
He also shared, "I realize my name will always be attached to this tragic night...I feel a little bit responsible for her last moments."
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