Firefighter Who Tried to Save Diana After Car Crash Revealed Her Last 5 Words: "It Was Very..."

The 'People's Princess,' as Princess Diana is affectionately known, died on August 31, 1997, along with her partner Dodi Fayed, and the car's driver Henri Paul, when their vehicle crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in France. Her untimely loss of life affected her admirers deeply in addition to creating a vacuum for the royal family. Decades after her death, firefighter Xavier Gourmelon revealed her final five words before she passed out and never returned. Before being rescued from the car, the Princess of Wales appeared conscious and her eyes open, according to Gourmelon. He urged her to remain calm and held her hand. The firefighter continued by saying Diana subsequently questioned him, “My God, what has happened?" before going into a mini cardiac arrest. 

Gourmelon told The UK Sun, that he tried to perform CPR, "I massaged her heart and a few seconds later she started breathing again. It was a relief of course because, as a first responder, you want to save lives — and that's what I thought I had done." He went on to say that he was saddened to hear of her passing because he had thought she would live. "To be honest I thought she would live. As far as I knew when she was in the ambulance she was alive and I expected her to live. But I found out later she had died in hospital. It was very upsetting," he said. 

As a duty officer at the Malar fire station, Xavier claimed that at first, he was unaware that he was called to rescue Diana at the collision scene. “We were very close to there and it took less than three minutes to reach it. My ten-man team was in two trucks and we were the first to arrive." He continued by describing the car's status, saying that it was severely damaged. However, his team moved swiftly to examine the casualties and attempt to resuscitate them. “The woman, who I later found out was Princess Diana, was on the floor in the back. She was moving very slightly and I could see she was alive," he recalled. 

“I could see she had a slight injury to her right shoulder but, other than that, there was nothing significant. There was no blood on her at all," he admitted. Gourmelon went on to say that Diana was safely pulled from the wreckage by his team. Additionally, he said that her heart had begun to beat once more following CPR. The firefighter acknowledged that was still troubled by the memories of that awful night.

“I know now that there were serious internal injuries, but the whole episode is still very much in my mind. And the memory of that night will stay with me forever." He concluded by saying, "This is the first time I have spoken to the media. As a fireman, you are part of the French military so you are forbidden to talk. Now I have left the fire service I felt it was OK."