The Queen responded to news of Lady Diana’s car crash in Paris by suggesting ‘someone must have greased the brakes’, according to a TV Documentary which airs tonight.
Lady Diana was killed when the car she was travelling in crashed in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris in August 1997.
In the documentary, ‘Diana: 7 Days That Shook The Windsors’, which airs on Channel 5 tonight, a ‘string of key players reveal details of her death and the funeral’, writes the Mirror.
And in it are claims the Queen said she thought someone must have “greased the brakes” on the car upon hearing the news from her private secretary.
These latest claims echo what was reported in a book by royal biographer Ingrid Seward in 2015.
Seward spoke to the Daily Mail:
At first it was thought that, though the car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel was serious, Diana had not been killed.
According to one witness present when the Queen heard the initial news, she mused out loud: ‘Someone must have greased the brakes.’
That astonishing remark reveals something of the extraordinary and complex relationship between her and Diana.
Also in tonight’s documentary, Anji Hunter, who was head of government relations for then Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaks of the ‘high tensions’ in the build-up to Diana’s funeral.
Hunter was on the palace committee which set up to organise the funeral.
She recalls:
The most tension in the room always came from Charles Spencer’s people.
The programme also claims Prince William, who was only 15 at the time, initially refused to join the procession, insisting he wanted to grieve in private.
Prince Harry‘s reaction was also revealed. The 12-year-old actually asked his father, “Is it true that Mummy’s dead?”‘ after the news was broken to him.
‘Diana : 7 Days That Shook The Windsors’ airs tonight (Tuesday) at 9pm on Channel 5.
