Three fatal security lapses led to Princess Diana’s tragic death—at least, that’s what her former bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, believes.
It’s almost unimaginable that nearly three decades have passed since that fateful night. The world lost a global icon, a compassionate humanitarian, and, most heartbreakingly, two young boys lost their mother. It’s hard not to wonder how Diana would have shaped the world today—what causes she would champion, how she would look, and what role she would play in modern society.
Meeting Diana for the First Time
Ken Wharfe, who served as Diana’s bodyguard for six years, remembers her warmly. He admired her “wicked sense of humor” and considered it “an incredible privilege” to be part of her life.
From their very first encounter, Diana’s down-to-earth nature was evident.
“As I walked into the room, I was introduced, and Diana said, ‘I don’t envy you, Ken, looking after my kids. They can be a bloody nuisance,’” Wharfe recalled in an interview with The Sun.
Right on cue, a young Prince William, who had been attempting to play the piano, spun around and objected, “No, we’re not a bloody nuisance!”—just as Prince Harry tumbled off a table.
“Diana immediately got up and said, ‘Come here, both of you!’ before chasing them out of the room. I hadn’t even said a word yet,” Wharfe remembered.
She returned moments later, shaking her head.
“You see what I mean, Ken?” she said.
That moment changed everything for him.
“Suddenly, instead of talking to a royal, you were speaking to a parent, a young mother, someone you could truly relate to.”
That, he said, summed up Diana—full of warmth, laughter, and, at times, deep sadness.
A Dangerous Driver Behind the Wheel
As Diana’s personal protection officer from 1987 to 1993, Wharfe insists that she might still be alive today had different choices been made.
One of the most critical errors, he believes, was allowing Henri Paul to drive the car that night.
Diana and her boyfriend, Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, were being driven by Paul—security chief at the Ritz Hotel—while Dodi’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, sat in the front passenger seat. Tragically, Rees-Jones was the sole survivor of the crash.
Paul had been drinking before getting behind the wheel and was speeding when the car slammed into the 13th pillar of the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris. Wharfe is convinced that Diana’s life could have been saved had someone else been driving.
“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,” he stated.
“But he couldn’t do that because he couldn’t speak to Dodi Fayed—he told him what to do. 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 be having this discussion.”
A Fatal Attempt to Outmaneuver the Paparazzi
That night, Diana and Dodi were originally meant to take a short drive from the Ritz Hotel to an apartment near the Champs-Elysées. However, a poorly thought-out plan to evade the paparazzi proved disastrous.
Instead of coordinating with local police, as would have been expected for someone of Diana’s status, her security team attempted to outsmart the press using decoy cars. A Range Rover was stationed at the Ritz’s front entrance with Dodi’s regular driver, while Diana and Dodi discreetly exited through the back in an armored black Mercedes.
Henri Paul—who was found to be over four times the legal alcohol limit in France—had been called in from home to drive them. What followed was a high-speed chase that ended in catastrophe, with the car crashing at over 60 mph.
The Lack of a Proper Security Detail
Perhaps the most preventable mistake, according to Wharfe, was Diana’s decision to dismiss her Scotland Yard security team.
After her separation from Prince Charles in 1992, she eventually opted to forgo royal protection altogether. Wharfe recalls warning Diana against this decision just weeks before she let them go.
“She said, ‘You’ve always been great with advice. If there’s one piece of advice you’d give me, what would it be?’”
His response was direct:
“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, and there’s no reason why that shouldn’t continue.”
Despite his plea, Diana dismissed her security team just a month later. Wharfe firmly believes that had Queen Elizabeth insisted she keep them, Diana would have agreed.
“You cannot force security on somebody, they have to say ‘yes, I’ll take it’. But the fact that it wasn’t offered, this was her way of saying, ‘I want a new life.’”
A Death That Shook the World
Diana’s sudden death sent shockwaves across the globe, dominating headlines for weeks. While her funeral became one of the most widely watched events in history, the haunting images of her wrecked car remain etched in the memories of many.
More than 25 years later, the debate over what could have saved Diana continues. But for Ken Wharfe, the answer is clear—three fatal decisions sealed her fate that night.
Do you agree with him?