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29 years after her tragic death in Paris, Princess Diana remains in the memory of millions of followers, family, friends, and employees who still mourn what happened. Ken Wharfe, one of her former bodyguards, is one of them.
In an interview with Marie Claire, Wharfe reflected on his work alongside the Princess of Wales and his resignation four years before her death in the Paris car accident.
As he noted, he had a relationship with Diana as an employee, but also as one of her closest friends with whom she would go out to party and be entertained amid the constant controversies she experienced with the royal family and her then-husband, King Charles III.
In his statements, Ken said it was complicated "to strike the balance between security and entertainment, because you couldn't easily get involved in a private meeting or family event and start feeling part of the party (...) And I will tell you why that was difficult, because Diana herself often involved you in it."
Added to this, Wharfe claimed that the lack of royal security caused "her terrible accident in Paris," as it was a fact that protecting her was complicated, but the deficiency of the royal security was the cause of her pursuit and subsequent death in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, in Paris, where she was accompanied by her then-partner Dodi Al-Fayed, her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, and the driver Henri Paul.
"She relied on a security service that, in my opinion, was unprofessional and lacked the level of planning, coordination, and communication necessary to provide her the best protection possible," Ken stated and added: "Sadly, it simply did not exist."
Wharfe noted that the closeness he had with Diana and the interaction with her personal environment made his protection work easier during the years he collaborated with her: "If you integrated into that environment, you were in the best position possible to provide effective protection."
What happened to Princess Diana? How did she die?
Diana of Wales died 29 years ago, on August 31, 1997, in a major car accident that occurred at the Pont d'Alma in Paris. It is known that she was being chased by the press after details of her romance with businessman and heir Dodi Al-Fayed were revealed.
Both the millionaire and the driver Henri Paul died at the scene, while Diana was declared dead hours after arriving at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. The bodyguard, Rees-Jones, survived the incident, though with serious injuries and memory loss.
As the only survivor, conspiracy theories about what happened and who was responsible for the crash against a bridge pillar were directed at him. After his recovery, Trevor Rees-Jones attributed the accident to Henri Paul, stating that he was driving under the influence of alcohol and that he was going at high speed.
[Publicidad]