Princess Diana’s Friend Who Spoke to Her Before Fatal Car Crash Reveals What She Talked About During Their Last Phone Call
It’s been more than two decades since Princess Diana‘s death and we’re still learning tidbits about certain things she did while she was alive as well as conversations she had with those closest to her.
Diana’s friend and journalist Richard Kay, who was the last person to speak to her over the phone the night of the fatal car crash in Paris, has shared what they talked about during their final call.
Kay was one of Princess Diana’s closest confidants
Kay is a Daily Mail royal correspondent who was friends with the princess for several years. Their close relationship is something that actually made several other journalists jealous because Kay had regular access to her.
Kay has claimed that the Palace put “enormous pressure” on Diana to cut off contact and have nothing to do with him but she ignored that advice and maintained their friendship.
Kay was the last person to speak to the princess on the phone
Kay was the last person the Princess of Wales spoke to by telephone before her death. During a 2021 documentary about the royal titled Diana, he shared some of what their conversation was about.
“I spoke to her that night. [The] police said that the last call she made was to me,” Kay revealed.
He explained that he believed Diana was “in quite a good place” and seemed excited to start a new chapter in her life when she returned from Paris.
“She was desperate to try and make a fresh start and do something different, to explore a different kind of royalty,” he recalled. “And she wanted to come back and see her boys [Princes William and Harry].”
Diana died from her injuries several hours after the car crash
After speaking to Kay, Diana was in the horrific car accident that took her life.
She and her boyfriend at the time, Dodi Fayed, dined at the Ritz Paris around 10 p.m. and left the hotel before midnight to head back to Fayed’s apartment. As they pulled away in a Mercedes S-280 limousine driven by Ritz security head Henri Paul, the paparazzi gave chase. Their vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed and ended up crashing into a pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Paul and Fayed died instantly but Diana and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones were still alive.
The princess was transported to the La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital. She suffered from a concussion, a broken arm, a cut to her thigh, and severe chest wounds. A tear to her left pulmonary vein caused internal bleeding. Doctors worked for hours to try and save her life but Princess Diana died on the operating table the morning of Aug. 31, 1997.
Rees-Jones, the lone survivor of the crash, sustained severe head injuries and cannot remember the crash or other events from that evening.
