Princess Diana's Ex-Bodyguard Declares Three Crucial Mistakes Sparked Royal’s Grisly Car Crash Death 27 Years Ago
Late Princess Diana's former personal protection security officer Ken Wharfe (right) believes three mistakes led to her death.
Aug. 31 2024, Published 3:48 p.m. ET
Princess Diana's bodyguard claims three crucial mistakes led to the royal's death — and they could have been avoided.
On the 27th anniversary of Diana's death, RadarOnline.com can reveal her personal protection officer, Ken Wharfe, believes there were three mishaps leading up to the fatal car crash.
For one, the guard-turned-commentator insisted his former employer might still be alive if Ritz security chief Henri Paul had not been intoxicated behind the wheel.
Wharfe claimed: "The one thing that would have saved Diana's life that night would have been if they'd kicked out the chauffeur and for Rees-Jones to have driven."
The Princess of Wales died on August 31, 1997.
Diana, who was 36 when she died, was also in the vehicle with Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, 42, Paul, and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones.
However, Wharfe believes Rees-Jones "couldn't" have made that command, because he was at the "bottom of the pyramid" and it was "very difficult for him to say to others what you should do and what you shouldn't do".
He added: "And that's a shame, because had Rees-Jones taken that command, had he taken that decision to boot out Henri Paul, you and I would not having this discussion."
Rees-Jones was the sole survivor in the crash.
Diana and Prince Charles separated in 1992, five years before her death.
Wharfe also believes the Princess of Wales and her security team made a mistake by alienating local police and making an enemy of the media.
He told the Sun: "The security also failed because of their inexperience to involve the local police, to have a relationship with the assembled paparazzi.
"You cannot treat the paparazzi or the media as an enemy - that doesn't work."
Wharfe recalled befriending the media when he was on the job, telling the outlet that the press was there "to photograph" Diana and "not out to kill" her.
He added: "And so that was the failure of the Fayed security. And that's a tragedy."
Wharfe believes Diana would have survived if she hadn't axed her security detail from the Scotland Yard.
Wharfe was Diana's personal protection officer from 1988 to 1993, continuing with the Royal Protection Squad until 2002.
The royal insider claimed the third and biggest mistake made by the security team was when Diana decided to axe her Scotland Yard security.
Following her split from Prince (now King) Charles in 1992, she decided to cut ties entirely as a way to start her "new life", Wharfe said.
But it wasn't just Diana's decision. Wharfe — who urged Diana to keep the security — claimed the royal family's complacency with her dropping the security detail made matters dire.
Wharfe said: "Had the Queen insisted that Diana retain her Scotland Yard security, Diana would have accepted it."
He also believes Diana would have survived if she and her security team hadn't made an "enemy" out of the media.
Wharfe recalled a conversation between the royal and himself in which Diana had asked him for any advice following his exit.
The retired officer stated: "I said look, I don't know what you're going to do, where you're going to go. But you're going to need us (Scotland Yard). Even if you change your sex, you will always be Diana, Princess of Wales."
He continued: "So I said I urge you, I urge you, not to lose the Scotland Yard security because we have given you that freedom, we've broken rules to allow you to have the normality that you crave for, and there's no reason why that shouldn't continue, even with me gone."
"Four weeks later, she abandoned the entire security."
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