Investigator Recalls ‘Emotional’ Conversation With Prince William and Prince Harry After Princess Diana’s Death

TL;DR: 

• Princess Diana died on Aug. 31, 1997, in a Paris car crash at the age of 36.  
• Lead investigator Lord John Stevens had an “emotional” talk with Prince William and Prince Harry about their mother’s death.
• They talked for more than an hour, during which time Prince William and Prince Harry asked questions.
• Prince William and Prince Harry were, per Lord John Stevens, “angry” about the paparazzi’s role. 

Nearly 25 years to the day since Princess Diana’s death the lead investigator is recalling the aftermath. Particularly, an “emotional” conversation with Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, following the 1997 car crash.

The lead investigator spoke with William and Harry alone

While discussing discovery+’s The Diana Investigations docuseries with Us Weekly, lead investigator Lord John Stevens remembered how he found himself having a “difficult” talk with the now-Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex.

“Yes, of course, it was a difficult thing [to do],” Stevens told the publication in an Aug. 16 interview. “So, I went along with two other people who were part of the investigation [including a] detective inspector, and [when we were] outside the door, it was said ‘No, they only want to see you,’ that’s me.”

So he entered Kensington Palace, the London royal residence where William and Harry grew up, and proceeded to have a conversation with them.

Prince William and Prince Harry asked questions about Princess Diana’s death

The investigator went on. He recalled spending more than an hour with Diana’s sons, during which time he “outlined” what happened before answering questions. 

“I outlined what the conclusions were for about 10 or 15 minutes, and then the rest of the time was them asking me questions,” he said. 

Inquiries from William and Harry, who’d been 15 and 12 at the time of Diana’s death, weren’t a surprise for Stevens. “They didn’t know the circumstances of their mother’s death, where [and] when she’d died, what did she say and, beyond that, I don’t want to declare what the conversations were,” he said.

The investigator remembers William and Harry being ‘angry’ about the paparazzi’s role in Princess Diana’s death

Calling himself “quite emotional” about it, Stevens remembered the circumstances surrounding Diana’s death bothering William and Harry.

“What they were angry about, they declared it publicly, were the paparazzi who they thought were very much behind what had taken place by chasing the car and making the car or inducing the car to go at 75 miles an hour,” he explained. 

“They weren’t too happy about that. I can tell you,” Stevens concluded. 

As the investigator mentioned, both Harry and William have spoken candidly about losing their mother. In 2017, they opened up in the documentary, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy. More recently, in 2021, the brothers unveiled a statue of Diana at Kensington Palace’s Sunken Garden. 

The four-part docuseries about the investigations into Diana’s death, The Diana Investigations, premiered on discovery+ Aug. 18.