THE DAY THE WORLD WEPT
Think you’ve read all there is to know about Diana? TV producer Jonathan Mayo spent months researching her death and its seismic aftermath. And his profoundly moving minute-by-minute series will hold you spellbound
IT WAS a week that stunned the world — from the sudden and tragic death of Princess Diana to her poignant funeral watched on TV by two billion people. Next weekend, in a BBC documentary, Princes William and Harry open their hearts about those cataclysmic days in 1997, as their lives — and the monarchy — changed for ever. In a powerful and moving series, JONATHAN MAYO reconstructs that week, through the eyes of royals, politicians, Diana’s family and the devastated public . . .
DIANA and Dodi have been enjoying a nine-day Mediterranean cruise on the Al Fayeds’ £12 million yacht Jonikal. As Mohamed Al Fayed hoped, a romance has recently started between his son and the world’s most famous woman. On August 4, an Italian photographer took a picture of them embracing. ‘The Kiss’ as it became known, was later sold for £250,000. Diana has used the cruise to get back at Camilla Parker Bowles.
On the day Prince Charles held a 50th birthday party for Camilla, Diana was at St Tropez in a leopard skin print swimsuit. Dodi had been due to marry his American girlfriend Kelly Fisher on August 9. Instead, today he flies to Paris with Diana and Britain on Sunday. Saturday, August 30, 8am (central European time) THe Jonikal is anchored off Cala di Volpe in Sardinia. Diana is brought a breakfast of fresh fruit and orange juice by Dodi’s butler, René Delorm.
Diana tells René how much she is looking forward to seeing her sons William and Harry. René has recently been busy shielding his boss from angry calls from exgirlfriend Kelly Fisher.
Nearby, two Al Fayed bodyguards — Trevor Rees-Jones and ex-Royal Marine Kez Wingfield — are getting ready for the flight to Paris. They only found out last night and have had little time to sort out security arrangements. 9.30am IN PARIS, acting head of security at the Ritz Hotel, Henri Paul, 41, is on his way to play tennis with his friend Claude Garrec.
Paul is in a good mood — on Thursday he passed his pilot’s annual medical assessment. He tells Claude the Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed are arriving at Le Bourget airport that afternoon and it’s his job to collect them.
The two men drive though the Pont de l’Alma tunnel — an accident black-spot. In 15 years, eight people have died there.
Diana and Dodi are having a swim in a quiet cove. The paparazzi are close by, taking pictures. 11am DIANA calls friend Susie Kassem and says she’s looking forward to coming home. They arrange to meet in London on Monday. Midday THe Al Fayed party are squeezed into three taxis on their way to Olbia airport, where the Al Fayed Gulfstream jet is waiting. With Diana and Dodi is the ‘Reverend’ Myriah Daniels — a holistic healer from California who has been Dodi’s masseuse for six years. Her business card says she specialises in ‘Wholistic Healing for Musician’s Injuries & Caring for the Well Be-ing of People’ (sic). 1.50pm THe jet finally takes off. Dodi and Diana are seated in the luxurious armchairs at the front; they hold hands, talking non-stop.
earlier in the month, Diana had flown on holiday to Greece with her friend Rosa Monckton in the same jet. ‘Look at this, Rosa, isn’t it awful?’ Diana had said, pointing at the pink seats and green carpet covered with pharaoh’s heads. 3.20pm THe Gulfstream lands at Le Bourget. The British embassy does not know Diana is coming, so there is no extra security.
Waiting next to a Range Rover and a Mercedes are Dodi’s regular driver, Philippe Dourneau, and Henri Paul. Dourneau is surprised as he’s never seen Paul drive for the Al Fayeds before. earlier that day, he had to show him how to operate the Range Rover’s controls. 3.40pm THe two-car convoy is leaving Le Bourget. Immediately, Diana and Dodi’s car is surrounded by scooters with photographers riding pillion. It’s Dodi’s first experience of paparazzi up close and he doesn’t like it. He tells Dourneau to lose them, so the Frenchman carries out a swift exit onto the Paris ring road. Diana praises his driving.
In the car behind, Dodi’s healer, Myriah Daniels, begs Henri Paul to slow down. He clips the kerb as they exit the motorway.
On his two-way radio, ReesJones tells Wingfield, riding with Henri Paul, to take the luggage to Dodi’s apartment on the Rue Arsène Houssaye, where the couple will spend the night. 3.47pm DODI and Diana arrive at the Villa Windsor on the Route du Champ d’entraînement — former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The Al Fayeds have taken a 100-year lease on it and Mohamed has told Dodi to show Diana the house. In September, the family are auctioning 40,000 items of Windsor possessions.
Watching them arrive on CCTV is the villa’s head of security, Ben Murrell. The last time he had seen Dodi was in July when he was with Kelly Fisher.
Kelly wanted to see if there was anything she and Dodi could put in the house they were buying in Malibu. Having welcomed Dodi and Diana, Murrell watches them on the CCTV as they walk around. Many of the 14 rooms are empty and Diana seems disinterested. 4.05pm approx HeNRI PAUL arrives at the Villa and Murrell opens the gate. Paul pulls the Range Rover up
alongside Murrell, winds down the window and, to Murrell’s surprise, pulls him towards the car, saying: ‘Yeah, Ben, you good?’ Paul’s breath smells of food and wine. 4.30pm Diana and Dodi arrive at the Ritz Hotel in the Place Vendôme. Mohamed al Fayed has recently refurbished it at a cost of £100 million. The couple are greeted by 46-year- old Claude Roulet, the assistant to the President of the Ritz. Roulet is nervous.
‘i’ve never spoken to a princess before,’ he tells Diana. ‘How would you like to be addressed?’ She puts her hand on his arm. ‘Just call me Diana,’ she says.
Roulet takes them to the imperial Suite on the first floor. Diana walks to the wrought–iron balcony and draws back the curtains. Outside is a large group of paparazzi. Diana decides not to go shopping for William and Harry, and so a Ritz employee is sent out with a list of presents to buy.
The two young princes are at Balmoral, enjoying the last day of the holiday before school. 4.50pm/3.50pm (UK time) Diana calls her medium, Rita Rogers, in Derbyshire. She confides in her regularly. The call goes to the answering machine, but when she hears the Princess’s voice, Rogers quickly picks up the receiver. Rogers later told police: ‘ There was no talk of marriage or engagement.’ 5.45pm/4.45pm (UK time) DODi plans to do some discreet shopping of his own. He intends to visit a jeweller’s called Repossi across the square from the Ritz to buy Diana a present. Dodi and Rees- Jones leave the Ritz by the main entrance and jump into a car for the 30-second journey to the jeweller’s.
There was a gold ring in the window of Repossi’s Monaco store Diana had liked. Dodi has asked his staff to make sure it would be here today for him to look at.
The owner, alberto Repossi, has broken his holiday to open the Paris store especially. Repossi watches his staff show a collection of rings, as Dodi tries to describe the Monaco ring.
in Knightsbridge, Daily Mail journalist Richard Kay is out shopping when his mobile phone rings. it’s Diana calling from the imperial Suite. The two have been friends for five years.
as they talk, Kay heads to his car for some privacy. Diana explains that she’s decided to withdraw from public life and live as a private person: ‘But i sometimes wonder, what’s the point? Whatever i do, it’s never good enough for some people.’
Diana asks Kay what’s going to be in tomorrow’s paper about her and why the media dislikes Dodi. ‘is it because he’s a millionaire?’ Kay explains it’s nothing to do with Dodi’s money, but rather suspicions about his father.
Diana talks about William and Harry then tells Kay: ‘Unplug your phone and get a good night’s sleep.’ 5.50pm/4.50pm (UK time) Diana calls Balmoral to speak to her sons. William breaks off from playing with his cousins, Peter and Zara Phillips, to chat; then he calls his brother. Harry never likes talking to his parents on the phone, so the call is brief; besides, tomorrow they will see each other.
in Repossi, Dodi has chosen five rings, but he’s not happy with any of them. He walks back to the Ritz with Wingfield, who is keeping an eye out for the paparazzi. 6.20pm ClaUDe ROUleT is back at Repossi — this time to negotiate a discount for all five rings, on Dodi’s behalf. Then he spots a ring on alberto’s wife’s finger he thinks is like the one Dodi is after, and it is considerably cheaper.
angela Repossi takes it off, and cleans it, explaining it’s from a range called Tell Me Yes launching next month.
Roulet heads back to the Ritz with the ring and knocks on the door of the imperial Suite. Dodi motions to him to talk quietly. Roulet tells him about the Tell Me Yes ring and, without looking at it, Dodi says it’s the one he wants. ‘are you going to give Diana the ring this evening?’ Roulet asks.
‘ Perhaps this evening, or tomorrow,’ Dodi replies. 7pm DODi and Diana leave the Ritz. They are going to Dodi’s apartment, then to Chez Benoit restaurant, booked for 9pm. 7.15pm THeY arrive at Dodi’s apartment. There are now more photographers than ever — their lenses are inches from Diana’s face. ReesJones and Wingfield try to block them. inside, Rees- Jones asks Dodi what the plan is. ‘We’re going for a meal.’ ‘Where?’ ‘You’ll find out when you get there,’ Dodi says bluntly. His evening is not going as smoothly as he planned.
Rees- Jones and Wingfield go back downstairs to speak to the photographers. Wingfield, in French, tells them to not to hassle the couple and not to take pictures ‘while they’re in transit’. He shakes hands with some of them to calm things down. 8.25pm/7.25pm (UK time) in lOnDOn, Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, and his family are at the Dominion Theatre. He’s taken them to see a production of Beauty and The Beast before Diana arrives home tomorrow.
Ritz assistant Claude Roulet is walking home when he spots Henri Paul drinking alone in a bar. Roulet tells him he’s going to eat before he heads to Chez Benoit to wait for Dodi and Diana. 9.35pm aFTeR enjoying a bottle of champagne, Diana and Dodi emerge from the apartment. The Princess has changed into white jeans, a sleeveless top, black blazer and high-heeled Versace shoes.
She’s wearing a pearl bracelet Dodi gave her. Dodi has a brown suede jacket, jeans and cowboy boots with heels that make him look taller.
as their Mercedes drives off, the paparazzi are so desperate to keep up, they drive their scooters onto the pavement. Pedestrians press themselves against walls to avoid being run over.
Both bodyguards follow in the Range Rover. They still have no clue where they are going.
as they drive down the ChampsÉlysées, about 15 paparazzi on scooters and cars surround the Mercedes. Dodi says angrily, ‘it’s too much! it’s mad!’ and tells driver Dourneau to head to the
Ritz; they will eat there. Dourneau looks in his rear-view mirror.
Diana has her hand on Dodi’s knee. ‘ Don’t worry, don’t worry,’ she reassures him. But the evening is starting to unravel. 9.45pm DODI is on the phone to Claude Roulet telling him they’re heading to the Ritz. Roulet immediately calls the hotel to warn security — but it’s too late. The couple have already arrived at the main entrance — and it’s chaos.
Rees- Jones opens the car door for Dodi and the photographers rush forward. wingfield tries to block the camera lenses with one hand and steer the couple into the building with the other.
CCTv in the Ritz captures a stony-faced Diana striding through the lobby. Dodi covers his face as he walks into the hotel and then turns on wingfield. ‘how did this fiasco happen?’ he demands.
‘You never told us where you were going!’ wingfield snaps back. 10.05pm The Ritz night security manager, françois Tendil, is so concerned by the paparazzi outside that he calls henri Paul, whose shift had finished three hours ago.
‘ I’m not far, I’ll be there in a minute!’ Paul tells him. 10.08pm Paul arrives at the front of the hotel in his black Mini. It takes him a few attempts to park. he walks into the lobby smoking a cigar and looking jovial.
he joins bodyguards wingfield and Rees- Jones, who are eating in the bar.
Paul orders a yellow drink, which wingfield assumes is pineapple juice. It is, in fact, a Ricard pastis — a liquorice-flavoured alcoholic aperitif.
Paul has had about five other Ricards before he arrived. In addition, he has taken two prescription drugs to treat depression and alcoholism. The labels on the bottles back at his flat warn against driving when taken with alcohol. 10.10pm Paul walks out of the bar and a barman watches him bump into a customer. 10.30pm News has spread that Princess Diana is at the Ritz. scores of tourists have joined the crowd of photographers outside the main entrance, filming on video cameras everyone who arrives or leaves. each time a blonde walks into the hotel, the tourists cheer. 11.10pm The bodyguards are sitting outside the Imperial suite waiting for orders. henri Paul is wandering around the ground and first floor, occasionally popping out of the front of the hotel to talk to the waiting paparazzi. 11.15pm ClauDe ROuleT is now at home, worried about how things are going back at the hotel. he phones the Ritz and is surprised when henri Paul answers. Paul tells him not to worry: ‘I have the situation in hand.’ 11.40pm wINgfIelD and Rees-Jones can hear laughter coming from Dodi and Diana’s room. henri Paul arrives and tells the bodyguards there has been a change of plan. Dodi has devised a way to give the paparazzi the slip.
he and Diana will leave for his apartment from the back of the Ritz in a car driven by Paul. as it’s only a five-minute journey, they won’t need a bodyguard.
The two Britons are furious — they think it’s a terrible plan. ‘No f*****g chance is he leaving without a bodyguard,’ Rees- Jones snaps at Paul. They tell him this plan needs to be checked with Mohamed al fayed’s london hQ. ‘It’s been okayed by Mr Mohamed,’ Paul reassures them. 11.55pm The photographers at the front of the Ritz are surprised to see henri Paul yet again. he looks relaxed, even excited. ‘Diana will be coming out in ten minutes!’ he tells them. The more experienced