EXCLUSIVE: Princess Diana's Brother Charles Spencer Reveals Queen's Alleged First Reaction to Fatal Paris Car Crash — 'What Is She Up to Now?'
Queen Elizabeth allegedly had a terse reaction to the initial news that Princess Diana was in a car accident.
Sept. 22 2026, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Princess Diana's brother claims Queen Elizabeth II was initially irritated when she learned her former daughter-in-law had been involved in a car crash, only to later discover the horrifying gravity of the situation, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Charles Spencer recalled the late monarch's alleged exasperated reaction to the first news of Diana's accident, which came as the princess continued to dominate headlines around the globe a year after her explosive divorce from then-Prince Charles.
'What Is She Up to Now?'
The queen was reportedly slightly annoyed at first reports that Princess Diana had been in a car accident.
"When the Queen had heard the first news of Diana’s being in a traffic accident, she had asked tetchily, 'What is she up to now?'" Spencer writes in his new memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, released on Tuesday, September 22.
He went on to add, "This, before the seriousness of it all became clear," as the first reports emerging from Paris following the August 31, 1997, crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel failed to convey the horrific severity of what had happened.
Princess Diana Initially Survived Paris Crash
Spencer claimed Queen Elizabeth reacted 'tetchily' to the first reports that Princess Diana had been in a car accident.
The crash killed driver Henri Paul, who was legally drunk at the time.
The princess' then-boyfriend, Harrods heir , was killed at the scene, while Diana initially survived the horrific wreck, along with her bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones.
Despite the Mercedes slamming into a pillar at high speed, none of the four occupants had been wearing a seat belt.
Diana initially survived the impact and was conscious in the mangled Mercedes, reportedly asking a first responder, "My God, what's happened?" before her condition rapidly deteriorated, eventually going into cardiac arrest before being resuscitated and transported alive to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4:00 a.m.
Princess Diana Made Headlines for New Romance Prior to Her 1997 Death
Princess Diana became even more famous and sought after as her first post-divorce romance with Dodi Fayed heated up.
By the time of the Paris crash, Diana had spent the summer of 1997 sending the world's press – and reportedly the royal establishment – into a frenzy with her sensational romance with Dodi and their headline-grabbing escapes aboard his family's luxury yacht, Jonikal.
The luxury vessel belonged to Dodi's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, who invited Diana to use the yacht as an escape from the relentless glare of life in London.
The princess jumped at the chance, spending her first July as a divorced woman on an extended South of France getaway, even bringing her sons, then-15-year-old Prince William and Prince Harry, then 13, along for part of the sun-soaked vacation.
Dodi joined Diana aboard the Jonikal just days into her Saint-Tropez getaway with William and Harry after his father reportedly summoned him to the Riviera to meet up with the princess.
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Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed crouched from the paparazzi shortly before their car sped off into the night and crashed.
After the boys returned to the U.K., Diana and Dodi's whirlwind romance quickly heated up, with their steamy PDA aboard the yacht splashed across newspapers worldwide, and the royal family reportedly taking notice as Charles' ex-wife became an even hotter target for the relentless paparazzi following their divorce.
Diana and Dodi flew from the South of France to Paris on August 30, while the paparazzi followed close behind.
The couple left Dodi's apartment for a romantic dinner in central Paris, only to have their plans derailed by the relentless swarm of shutterbugs, forcing them to retreat to the Ritz Paris, which was owned by Dodi's father.
Upon leaving the Ritz, an intoxicated Paul sped through the streets of Paris in an attempt to shake the pursuing pack of paparazzi before losing control of the Mercedes and slamming into a concrete pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel.
