The British royal family is a source of fascination around the world.
Two days have shaped our perception of the modern monarchy.
The coronation of Elizabeth II.
And the death of princess Diana.
Defining moments, separated by just forty four years.
This is a dramatisation of events as they happened on two days that shook the world.
It is June 2nd 1953.
In England, James Watson and Francis Crick
have discovered the structure of DNA.
Negotiations are underway to end the Korean War.
In America, Arthur Miller's play the Crucible has opened on Broadway.
And in London, preparations are underway for an event
that will captivate a nation.
The palace of Westminster, London.
Television producer peter Dimmock has had a restless night.
Later today
he is due to direct a live seven hour television broadcast.
It's an event that will notjust make or break his career,
but will determine the future of the BBC.
When my role was first suggested, I thought it was a great privilege,
but I had also never been so frightened in my life.
I was a pilot in the war and faced some scary situations.
But nothing matched how I felt that morning.
In order to be closer to the control room, a friend has offered peter
a bedroom in the palace of Westminster,
but last night he was told that
a princess had once been murdered in this very room.
Already on edge, his nerves have prevented him getting a decent night's sleep.
"By the light of our camera fares, we saw them,
sleeping, resting, defying the bitterly cold night."
Outside, half a million people are sleeping rough.
Rain has been falling sporadically all evening.
And at 4 degrees, it's a bitterly cold night.
"They slept on newspapers, they slept on blankets,
they slept where they had been sitting all day."
Yet despite the weather, no-one is moving from their position.
The crowds hope that today will reverse
the fortunes of a country still recovering from war
and mark the beginning of a new Elizabethan age.
In Buckingham palace,
the 27 year old woman at the centre of today's events sleeps peacefully.
A dutiful member of the royal family,
Elizabeth Windsor has been preparing for today since she was 10 years old
when the abdication of her uncle, King Edward Vlll,
put her in direct line to the English throne.
This destiny was sealed sixteen months ago,
during a commonwealth tour with her husband.
"Less than three months after returning from their Canadian tour
princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Windsor
set off on another commonwealth journey."
It was a trip the precarious health of her father
King George VI prevented him from taking.
A lifelong smoker, he'd been diagnosed with cancer
and had barely recovered from an operation to remove one of his lungs.
For princess Elizabeth, the tour began well.
After their official engagements, the couple went on safari in Kenya,
the princess taking several feet of film with her new cine-cam.
Butjust three days later, at their hunting lodge,
they received news from home.
"This is London. It is with the greatest sorrow th we make the following announcement.
At 7.45 today, February the 6th 1952,
the king who returned to rest last night in his usual health,
passed peacefully away in his sleep earlier this morning."
The king had died of a thrombosis. A single heartbeat later,
Elizabeth became Queen.
"Your Royal Highnesses, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen:
By the sudden death of my dear father I am called to assume the duties
and responsibilities of sovereignty.
I pray that God will help me to discharge worthily
this heavy task that has been laid upon me so early in life."
It's been sixteen months since Elizabeth's accession.
The long wait caused by the complex preparations
and her desire for good weather.
Today, the 2nd of June, the Met Office insists,
is the one day of the year on which the sun is most likely to shine.
The crown jewels are already at the abbey,
transported under armed guard yesterday.
Elizabeth is expected to wear the lighter imperial state crown,
designed and made for the 18 year old
Queen Victoria, the crown is priceless,
set with 2,700 diamonds and four pearls,
worn as earrings by Elizabeth the 1st.
But Elizabeth the 2nd has insisted on wearing
the more traditional St. Edward's crown,
made in 1661 and weighing half a stone,
it had fallen out of use.
Her father, and grandfather wore it
for part of their coronation,
but Elizabeth will be the first modern monarch to wear
it for the whole of the ceremony...
In half an hour, peter will meet his staff
for a final briefing.
A live outside broadcast on this scale is unprecedented.
And peter is feeling apprehensive about the challenge he faces.
Thirty two years old, in the pioneering world of television
he is already an industry veteran.
Past triumphs have included coverage
of the 1948 Olympic Games and the 1949 boat race.
But neither come close to the scale of today's broadcast.
Every camera the BBC owns has been pressed into commission.
15 cameras line the procession route,
with a further five positioned inside Westminster Abbey.
Live pictures will be broadcast across Britain,
and via specially constructed radio links to France, West Germany and Holland.
In addition, helicopters are standing by to transport recordings
to an RAF airfield where
Canberra bombers will fly them to Canada,
the codename is 'Operation pony Express.'
"This will be the first time television films will be shown in Canada
at the same time that they are seen in London.
And all this because the Canberra can cross the Atlantic
at the same time it takes the earth to rotate on its axis".
The broadcast is costing the BBC 44,000 pounds
and constitutes a media revolution. For peter, it's a huge responsibility.
Peter must now concentrate on his far larger television audience.
"Despite the crowds outside, no one was late.
Everyone involved especially myself knew how crucial
the broadcast was to the very future of television."
Still seen as the poor relation of radio, the BBC's single channel
black and white television service has only been broadcasting since 1936
with a complete break during the second world war.
"Testing, testing 123"
At Buckingham palace, Elizabeth is woken by her ladies maid, Margaret Macdonald.
She's a lifelong employee of the palace
whom the queen has nicknamed her Bobo.
Despite the predictions of the Met Office,
Bobo has bad news.
"It's raining ma'am"
The weather has been the only thing left to chance.
Over the past 18 months, the conscientious Elizabeth has rehearsed
every aspect of the two and a half hour ceremony.
Using the recordings of her father's coronation as a guide,
she strongly believes it is her duty to
preserve the traditions and sacred rights of the monarchy,
and is anxious to ensure the correct execution of every detail.
The State Ballroom at Buckingham palace has been marked out to replicate
Westminster Abbey and white bed sheets have doubled
as her crimson velvet and ermine train.
But it's notjust the Queen's who's been hard at work.
The West End of London has also undergone a huge transformation.
Three sixty foot ornamental arches have been erected over the Mall,
along with stands to seat 100,000 people.
The crown jewellers have painstakingly dismantled and cleaned the regalia,
shortening Elizabeth's choice of the St. Edwards crown
by an inch and a half to make it more feminine.
Overseeing the preparations has been the Earl Marshall of England,
the Duke of Norfolk.
It's a role that has rested with his family since the 15th century.
He has already organised the coronation of George VI's in 1937,
and is a man with a formidable reputation.
"I don't want you to ask me all the details of this that and the other.
Because they haven't been arranged and I've told you after all
what you really want to know."
The design of Elizabeth's Coronation dress is a closely guarded secret.
Made of white satin, and embroidered with pearls,
diamonds and amethysts,
it's been specially designed for maximum impact
under the glare of television lights.
Included on the skirt are emblems of Great Britain and the commonwealth
a politically inspired detail which nearly backfired.
The designs were begun last October,
by the Queen's dressmaker Norman Hartnell.
After painstakingly drawing a Tudor Rose for England,
a thistle for Scotland and a Shamrock for Ireland,
he then mistakenly drew a daffodil for Wales.
An official in the Earl Marshall's office tactfully pointed out that the correct
emblem was in a fact a leek.
"The leek I agreed was a most admirable vegetable,
full of heraldic significance and doubtless of health giving properties,
but scarcely noted for its beauty.
Could he not possibly permit me to use the more graceful daffodil instead?"
When palace officials insisted he use a leek,
the stress of the last few weeks finally overwhelmed him.
He suffered a nervous breakdown and retired to the country.
"My enthusiasm blunted, I went down to Windsor, greatly depressed
I went out to the vegetable garden, pulled up a leek
and suddenly remembered the cap badge of the Welsh Guards.
Perhaps, after all, something could be done with it."
With a design based on the motif of the Welsh regiment,
Hartnell transformed the leek into a fitting addition to the Coronation gown.
When she first saw the dress, Elizabeth declared it glorious.
In just over an hour, the public
will be able to judge for themselves.
Its an hour before the service is due to begin,
and peter Dimmock is preparing to direct the five cameras inside the Abbey.
Already responsible for planning much of today's broadcast,
he will leave others to film the procession to and from Buckingham palace.
Instead he will concentrate on the coronation ceremony.
It's the one element of the television broadcast that has sparked controversy.
Early last summer, the cabinet and church authorities banned the cameras,
fearing the bright lights needed for filming
would prove too much for the young queen.
"The view was that most of the distinguished guests
would not have good views of the ceremony, so why should people at home?
It was as if a privilege was being taken away from them."
There was an immediate and universal outcry,
with 80 Mps tabling a motion against the restriction.
The authorities backed down.
But the Earl Marshall characteristically imposed one significant condition.
"I would like to emphasize that there will not be what television people
probably are getting used to, the ordinary close up. That will not be there."
With seven years of television experience,
peter knows a close-up shot of the newly crowned queen can be a defining moment.
He must decide whether to risk the displeasure of the palace,
ignore the ban and take the shot.
The seven hour live broadcast begins
"...it's surely the greatest moment in television history as we take you now
into the heart of London
to witness these memorable events..."
While peter prepares the cameras inside the Abbey, the first to broadcast
are the cameras next to Buckingham palace
with commentary provided by Barclay Smith.
"Good morning, but not quite the morning we'd hope for.
There's a threat of rain against a dull overcast sky..."
Inside the palace,
Elizabeth and prince phillip wait for their coach to arrive.
If they fail to leave precisely on time,
the meticulous planning will all be for nothing.
The Crown Jewels are taken from the Abbey's Jerusalem
chambers to the main hall, ready for the ceremony.
In the Annexe outside the Abbey, a journalist
from the Daily Mirror is waiting for the royal party to arrive.
Audrey Whiting is the paper's paris correspondent,
but today she has been asked to cover the Coronation.
At precisely 10:26, the British public
see their queen for the first time today.
Ahead of Elizabeth in the Irish State Coach the Queen Mother and
princess Margaret are among the first
to arrive at the abbey.
They are unaware that even today with such public displays of affection towards them,
a damaging scandal is brewing.
In the past month, newspapers in America have reported Margaret's affair
with a 36 year old divorced father of two
group captain peter Townshend.
The Queen, as head of the Church of England,
could never sanction a marriage between them.
In Britain, Fleet street has so far kept a loyal silence.
But the papers are watching and waiting.
"And at last the coach, which all eyes have been waiting,
and such a burst of loving cheering
from these children as would not be heard in the whole of London today.
They have seen the queen on her coronation day,
a memory that going to live surely with those children for their lives.
As the Queen arrives at the Abbey,
peter takes his cue from Broadcasting House central control.
Ten, nine, eight, seven...
And we're on air... and cue Richard.
"Here in the Abbey Church of St peter Westminster,
a great congregation of 7,000 come from every part of the world
awaits the arrival of her majesty..."
in a tiny cubicle overlooking the abbey is Richard Dimbleby,
the nation's best known radio commentator.
He spent six months preparing for today
and knows the historic significance behind every ritual.
"...in the distance, the front rank of the peeresses,
who sit with their tiaras a glitter and a shimmer..."
For Elizabeth, the moment she has prepared
for all her life has arrives.
She enters the abbey to be crowned Queen of England.
"Cue three..."
At no other time in history has one person been exposed to the gaze of so many.
Over 20 million people have gathered round television sets to watch the ceremony
more than half the British population.
"Regina, vivat vivat vivat Regina"
At her father's coronation there had been numerous errors.
The prelates nearly tripped him up
while the archbishop had put the crown on the wrong way round.
"...the Dean of Westminster helped by the mistress of the robes,
puts upon the 'cullobean sindosis',
which translated means the little gown of linen"
But Elizabeth's rehearsals pay off.
During the two and a half hour ceremony she forgets just one curtsey.
As she takes her place in King Edward's chair for the crowning,
her son, four year old prince Charles is brought into the Royal Box.
One day, he too may face such a moment.
"The moment of the queen's crowning is come".
God save the Queen. Long live the Queen. God save the Queen
"God save our gracious queen..."
"cue four"
The atmosphere in the Control Room is tense.
So far the cameras have performed without a hitch.
But as the Queen processes down the Abbey,
she becomes obscured by the page-boys in front.
"...stay with the wide on four, stay on four"
peter knows the moment for the close up has come.
"Close up on 2..."
He cues the camera positioned above the Abbey's west door.
"And coming to two..."
The face of the Queen fills the frame.
"...hold it, hold it, hold it two, hold it, hold it, hold it... and back to five"
In an instant, the relationship between the monarchy and the media is rewritten.
In the annexe outside the abbey,
Daily Mirror Journalist Audrey Whiting has been waiting for the service to end.
The Royal party enters for a short break before beginning
the long procession back to Buckingham palace.
Suddenly, princess Margaret arrives and immediately heads towards
an RAF officer on the other side of the room.
"As they came together I saw the princess reach up
and pluck an offending piece of thread, the kind of gesture which could only occur
between two people who knew each other intimately.
Intuitively I said to myself, 'Those two are in love..."'
The RAF officer is divorcee Group Captain peter Townsend.
It's the proof the press have been waiting for.
Audrey cannot believe her luck.
"And there you see the head of the procession as it moves..."
The procession back to Buckingham palace begins.
Thirteen thousand troops, twenty nine bands,
and the twenty seven carriages will take two hours
to travel the seven miles back to Buckingham palace.
"Now comes the mounties."
It's been pouring with rain for the last hour and a half, but the spectators,
many of whom have now been in position for two days, remain enthusiastic.
"No umbrellas allowed here, just newspapers on their heads"
Seven of the carriages are props from a film set, donated by director
Alexanda Korda after the Royal Mews discovered there weren't enough.
"...her majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and
her royal highness princess Margaret...
"You've got to put the phone down. I've got the most amazing scoop"
Audrey arrives at the Fleet Street offices of the Daily Mirror.
She is convinced she has an exclusive scoop.
"Princess Margaret walked right over to him and brushed some fluff from his lapel
she actually touched him in public"
Her editor refuses to publish the story,
saying he does not wish to spoil the Queen's day.
Peter Dimmock's role in today's events is over,
but he's anxious about tomorrow's press reviews.
His worries are proved unfounded.
The broadcast is hailed as a resounding success,
and peter will go on to become the BBC's head of television outside broadcasts.
Twelve days later, the Daily Mirror's rival newspaper, the people,
breaks the news of princess Margaret's love affair with peter Townsend.
It marks the beginning of a more candid approach to royal reporting.
Margaret will fail to win the approval of the cabinet to marry Townsend.
Instead, in 1960 she weds photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones,
retaining her title and place on the civil list.
The executive producer of the television broadcast is peter Dimmock.
"So with this coronation day begins a new chapter
in the long pageant of British history.
Queen Elizabeth will enjoy a long and successful reign,
although she will later face criticism for her formal and unemotional style.
As society no longer finds it acceptable to automatically defer to the monarchy,
the press begin to pay less heed to royal protocol.
44 years later, this trend will reach its tragic climax.
It is August 30th 1997.
In America, Timothy McVeigh has been sentenced
to death for the Oklahoma bombing.
A space module is transmitting pictures
of Mars to NASA control in pasadena.
The rule of Hong Kong has been returned to China by the British.
And in France, the arrival of one woman is
about to trigger a fatal chain of events.
Paris - Saturday morning.
Like every August, the French capital is mostly populated by tourists.
Its residents are on holiday seeking relief from the heat of the city.
But in the suburbs, one man has to remain.
Hallo. Dr Mailliez. Oui.
Thirty seven year old Frederik Mailliez is a doctor
with the private emergency service 'SOS Medicins'
and will not get a holiday until next month.
But at least this will be his last call today.
Tonight he's attending a friends party.
Working doctors' hours, he's looking forward to a night out.
Le Bourget Airport.
Three discreet runways in a suburb
ten miles north of paris, catering for the city's social and financial elite.
The staff are used to famous passengers,
but they are not expecting anyone today.
Only the arrival of a motorbike indicates someone famous might be due to arrive.
Acting on a tip off from a colleague in Italy, the motorbike passenger is
Romwauld Ra, a photographer with the respected GAMA agency.
Founded in the 60's, Gamma made its name
with images of civil unrest in political hotspots
like prague and Vietnam.
But recently, many picture agencies have been forced to focus
more on celebrity photos.
Like many French paparazzi,
Ra follows his subject by motorbike.
He usually drives himself, but today
he has asked his editor for help.
Stephan Darmon is an out of work driving instructor
and has never driven for the paparazzi before.
Three months ago, he'd met a Gamma employee
who suggested him as holiday cover.
He has a reputation as a timid man and a cautious driver.
He has never been given a speeding ticket.
"Of course, I am not some sort of innocent;
I was helping the guy to get his pictures.
But I had no idea what I was getting into.
It is another world.
These guys are ready to do anything for a picture."
Shortly after 3.20, a Gulfstream IV
executive jet lands at Le Bourget.
It seems that Ra's tip off is spot on.
Among the passengers is the most famous woman in the world.
Princess Diana is spending one night in paris before returning home
to see her sons William and Harry for the last week of the school holidays.
For the last ten days she has been on board the luxury yacht Tthe Jonical,
owned by Egyptian millionaire Mohamed Al Fayed.
During the summer his son,
Dodi has become her new lover.
Accompanying them has been the world's media.
It's something Diana has lived with since she was nineteen,
when her relationship with prince Charles first became public.
While she welcomes the publicity for her charity work,
she finds the constant intrusion into her private life more difficult to tolerate.
"A normal day I'd be followed by four cars... a normal day,
I would come back to the car to find six photographers jumping around me...
They've decided that I'm still a project after 15, 16 years that sells well.
A month ago, the Sunday Mirror paid an unprecedented 250,000 pounds
to be the first to publish an image of Diana and Dodi kissing.
This one picture would earn Italian photographer Mario Brenner
an estimated $2,000,000.
Ra was also in St Tropez at the time but failed to get a photo of the couple.
Today, he's not going to make the same mistake.
After a day trailing Diana and Dodi, Ra and Darmon
arrive at the Ritz Hotel in the place Vendome.
Now owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, the hotel is a favoured haunt
for the world's rich and famous.
Diana and Dodi are expected any minute.
Atjust after ten to ten the Ritz hotel
security cameras capture Diana and Dodi arriving.
There is an unpleasant scene as the paparazzi rush to get photos.
Even the two bodyguards are powerless to help.
Alexander Wingfield, nicknamed Kez, is an ex-marine normally
based at the Fayed's St Tropez villa.
Trevor Rees-Jones, a former British paratrooper,
is Dodi's personal bodyguard.
Throughout the last two weeks Dodi has consistently
failed to give the bodyguards advance warning of his plans.
"How the fuck did this fiasco happen?
Why wasn't the reception arranged?"
"You never told us where we were going.
If you had, we'd have been able to phone ahead and get things sorted out."
Trevor Rees-Jones is near to breaking point.
Despite an afternoon of following the couple,
Ra is still without his picture.
Diana and Dodi left the car separately,
an established trick to foil the paparazzi
He and Darmon now face a long wait until the couple leave the hotel later tonight.
The Ritz security camera captures a black mini arriving at the front entrance.
Henri paul is deputy head of security at the hotel
and is highly prized for his loyalty and discretion.
Staff call him the eyes and ears of the boss,
the hotel's president Frank Klein.
"You shouldn't be here because Mr Klein won't like it."
I couldn't give a toss, because we work for Mr Fayed and no-one else...
He's meant to be off duty but earlier he has asked the night security manager
to call him if Diana and Dodi reappeared at the hotel.
Trevor has met Henri-paul before and has little time for him.
Neither of the bodyguards are fond of his cigars.
Upstairs, Diana and Dodi's meal arrives at
the 6000 pounds a night lmperial Suite.
Sole with vegetable tempura for Diana.
Grilled turbot for Dodi, washed down with a bottle of Tattinger champagne.
It's been a year since Diana's divorce from prince Charles,
the end of a 15 year marriage which in
retrospect was doomed from the start.
I'm amazed that she's been brave enough to take me on.
And I suppose in love? Of Course...
whatever in love means.
In the Bar VOndome, security manager Henri paul orders another drink.
The bodyguards assume it's pineapple juice.
To them, drinking alcohol on duty is unheard of.
Kez shares a crude joke over the French word for pineapple, "ananas".
"Good ass yeah? An ass... "so you are drinking "an ass" ha ha!
In fact, Henri paul is drinking Ricard, an aniseed aperitif popular in France.
Only the barman, Alain Villaumez, later claims to notice the affect
it's having on him.
Ra and Darmon have now been waiting for Diana and Dodi for over an hour.
Suddenly, Henri paul emerges from the hotel entrance and approaches them.
Darmon, a novice in such situations, finds his behaviour strange.
Henri paul began playing games with us,
saying they would be out in ten minutes, then five.
Henri paul has now been told Dodi no longer wants to leave in a chauffeur
driven car from the front of the hotel.
Instead, he wants Henri to drive him and Diana from the back entrance,
to try and shake off the paparazzi.
The bodyguards are finally told of Dodi's plan by Henri paul.
While he will drive the couple from the hotel's back entrance,
Dodi wants Kez and Trevor to leave in a decoy car from front.
"No chance is he leaving without a bodyguard."
This contravenes all their security training.
Henri paul is neither a bodyguard nor a chauffeur.
And this plan will leave Diana and Dodi without a back up vehicle.
"...no way in a million years is it going to be without me.
I'll be coming if we go with this."
But Henri paul tells them the plan has been agreed by their boss,
Mohamed Al Fayed.
Fayed will later claim that he told Dodi not to play any tricks
and to be nice to the paparazzi.
But right now, the bodyguards are powerless to argue.
Kez seizes his last opportunity to speak to the couple.
Finally Dodi agrees one bodyguard can accompany him and Diana.
Kez offers to go but Trevor is insistent.
He's Dodi's personal bodyguard, and he will be the one to travel in the car.
Henri paul stays with Diana and Dodi in the service corridor,
while Trevor checks outside.
Some photographers are waiting,
their suspicions aroused by Henri's earlier taunts.
Dodi's plan is a failure from the start.
The Rue Cambon, the back entrance of the Ritz hotel.
Tests will later reveal Henri paul has drunk more than three times
the legal alcohol limit and has taken both an anti-depressant and a tranquilliser.
The Mercedes S-280 has been hired at the last minute
and doesn't have tinted windows.
As the car door closes, a paparazzi moves in.
He takes what will be one of the last photos of Diana and Dodi alive.
Henri warns the photographers not to try and follow,
as they will never catch them.
Ra gets a tip-off that Diana and Dodi have left from the rear of the hotel.
The Mercedes is heading south, down the one-way Rue Cambon.
By the time the car turns right on to the Rue de Rivoli,
the paparazzi have already caught up.
Several are in pursuit, including Ra and Darmon.
At the place de la Concorde Henri paul is forced to stop at a red light.
He now faces a dilemma.
The most direct route to Dodi's apartment is right, down the Champs-Elysses.
But in a car without tinted windows,
the avenue's many sets of traffic lights will offer too many photo opportunities.
As Ra tries to contact a colleague to let him know where they are,
Henri paul makes his decision.
Instead of turning right, he drives straight on,
taking a longer route along the River Seine.
Two miles away, SOS Medecin doctor Frederik Mailliez leaves
his friend's birthday party in the Boulogne district of paris.
He's on call again in just a few hours.
As Henri paul turns right onto the Cours La-Reine,
Ra and Darmon are the first to follow the Mercedes.
"Once it had turned into the dual carriageway,
itjust took off - almost supersonic."
The speed limit in central paris is 50km an hour.
By accelerating to over 100km an hour,
Henri paul easily outpaces the paparazzi.
The car goes through the first of two tunnels, under the pont Alexandre III.
No one in the car is aware that
the next tunnel has one of the worst accident records in paris.
In the last fifteen years, crashes under the pont del' Alma
have left eight people dead and eight more severely injured.
In the right hand lane is a white Fiat Uno.
Henri paul tries to avoid it,
but he clips it with the right wing of the Mercedes.
As the Mercedes goes over the notorious hump at the entrance to the tunnel,
Henri paul loses control.
"You're losing it, you're losing it, slow down"
The car crashed at full speed into the thirteenth pillar.
Dodi and Henri paul are dead, killed almost instantly.
Despite some protection by the car's airbag,
Trevor still has severe facial injuries.
Diana is semi-conscious and appears relatively unharmed.
Thirty seconds later, Ra and Darmon are the first to arrive.
"At that very moment, I was shocked because it wasn't a nice sight.
I walked back for a few seconds.
His actions will later cause world wide revulsion.
Whilst running towards the car, I had taken two photos.
I took a third when I walked back after seeing Al Fayed in the car.
All this lasted less than about ten seconds"
Ra doesn't call the emergency services as he thinks he hears someone else doing it.
But as he has first aid qualifications he takes Diana's pulse,
speaking to her in English.
"Be cool, doctor is arriving, doctor is arriving"
Dr Frederic Mailliez is travelling home in the opposite direction
when he sees the car.
Several of the pursuing paparazzi have now arrived.
He immediately realizes the seriousness of the accident
and calls the emergency services.
"There was a smell of blood, fuel and burning.
I began examining the young woman in the back...
I could see she was beautiful but, at that stage, had no idea who she was."
Dr Mailliez is aware of the photographers, but they don't get in the way.
As the woman has no obvious severe external injuries,
Dr Mailliez thinks she has a good chance of survival.
When the emergency services arrive, he continues his journey home.
Diana is finally taken by ambulance from the Alma Tunnel.
Doctors have spent almost an hour at the scene trying to stabilise her.
Her condition is far more serious than Dr Mailliez realised.
She has severe internal haemorrhaging and suffers a heart attack.
The BBC breaks the news in the middle of its late film Borcellina.
"We interrupt this film to tell you we are getting reports
that Diana princess of Wales has been badly injured
in a car crash in France."
The channel stays on the air transmitting
its international 24 hour news service on BBC1 for the first time.
The initial reports of the crash are confused.
...has been badly damaged,
she has been taken to hospital we don't at the moment
know which hospital she is in, nor do we know the extent of her injuries
What they are saying is that the princess is in the intensive care unit of
a south east paris hospital, she has concussion,
a broken arm and apparently serious cuts to her thigh..."
I'm worried... by the lack of any news or the lack of any statement,
one wonders if one is being told the whole truth at the moment."
Despite massive injections of adrenaline, and continued cardiac massage,
the medical team are unable to make Diana's heart beat unaided.
In the operating theatre at the petie-Salpetriere,
Diana, princess of Wales, is pronounced dead.
Time of death is recorded as 4am.
Ra and Darmon are arrested along with five other members of the paparazzi.
They are charged with involuntary manslaughter and failing to help
at the scene of an accident, under France's 'Good Samaritan' law.
Their cameras, film and motorbikes are all confiscated.
In a rare show of restraint, picture editors who have learnt
of Diana's death are beginning to decline the photographs of the accident
that have made it onto the wires.
Dr Frederick Mailliez rises early on Sunday morning to start work.
He is totally unaware of the news events that have unfolded overnight.
He discovers the woman he treated last night in the Alma tunnel was Diana,
princess of Wales and that she has died, despite his initial optimistic prognosis.
During the next few days he will be besieged
by journalists offering huge sums of money for Diana's last words.
I began to feel a little as she must have felt.
I could not go anywhere without being followed, pestered and bullied.
You get very paranoid indeed.
As the rest of the world wakes to the news of Diana's death,
it is immediately assumed that the crash was caused by the paparazzi
chasing the car at high speed.
"They killed Diana..."
"its my fault, its everybody's fault..."
"It would appear that every proprietor and editor,
of every publication that has paid for intrusive
and exploitative photographs of her, encouraging greedy and
ruthless individuals to risk everything in pursuit of Diana's image,
has blood on his hands today..."
A post mortem will later reveal that the Ritz security manager
Henri paul was three times over the legal alcohol limit.
Romwauld Ra, Stephan Darmon and the remaining paparazzi
are eventually cleared of all charges.
Ra's photographs of the crash are never published.
Despite a nation-wide search, the white Fiat Uno is never found.
The only man able to shed light on exactly
what happened during the three minute car journey from the Ritz to the Alma tunnel
is the sole survivor, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones.
He will recover from his injuries,
but his memory will remain blank from the moment he stepped into the car.
In June 1953 television had ignited the nations enchantment with its new monarch.
Today, August 31st 1997,
media intrusion is blamed for killing the nations Queen of Hearts.