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The former head of Royal Protection in the Metropolitan Police claimed Princess Diana would still be alive today if he had been in charge of her security at the time of her crash.
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Dai Davies was appointed Operational Unit Commander in charge of Royal Protection for the Queen and the Royal Family in 1995, and worked closely with Princess Diana before her death, 25 years ago.
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Diana’s life was cut short at 36 after the Mercedes she and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed were riding in collided with a pillar in Paris’ Alma underpass during a high-speed chase where the couple tried to evade paparazzi.
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Speaking to GB News Breakfast this morning, Dai said he had voiced ‘grave concerns’ about the itinerary of Diana’s trip to France and that the Princess would still be alive today if his officers had bene looking after her in Paris. ‘There are many thoughts that go through my head as we approach the anniversary. The first one is that if my officers had been looking after her in Paris, this would never ever have happened,’ Dai told GB News.
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‘I wish I could tell you a great deal more as to my own thoughts and my own advice to the royal family before she went to the Fayed family for her holiday, but I can’t.’ Mr Davies also said he raised concerns about Diana going to France in the lead-up to her death.
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In July 1997, Diana was seen on holiday in St. Tropez in the South of France with Dodi. During the trip, she stayed in the family’s 30-bedroom villa, Castle St. Therese, with her sons, William and Harry.
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She is said to have grown close to Dodi here, and she stayed in the villa several times throughout the summer before the pair died in Paris. Mr Davies said he raised concerns with the royal family through the Queen’s private secretary when Diana accepted the invitation to go meet Dodi in the south of France with Prince Harry and William.
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‘I won’t go into detail because it’s passed now, but I had grave concerns, one after the itinerary and also what was going on there, but that’s in the history,’ he said. He discussed at length the ‘tragedy’ of the Princess’s crash, which he spent years studying and investigating. ‘I have to say it would never have happened if seatbelts had been worn. I’m pleased, hopefully now that the nonsense of the conspiracy issues have, I hope, been put to bed. I agree with the head of the French authorities, I agree with the judge in France, or two judges’ in France ruling. I gave evidence at the inquest, and I 100 per cent support the findings. Of the inquest, that there was simply no evidence, this nonsense. Everything around it should never have happened. This was an accident.
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‘I’m sorry, we wasted so much public money satisfying the needs of one individual but there we are, that is history. We should all move on. ‘I hope the conspiracy nonsense can be put to bed once and for all, and we remember Diana, for what she achieved, what she stood for, and the way she has changed the royal family for good. I think Prince William particularly emphasizes the way he was brought up and the way he will behave when he is King.’ Pictures: Bystanders gather to mourn the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death in Paris.
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Reflecting on his time working with Princess Diana, Mr Davies said: ‘Where has 25 years gone? It is quite amazing. I had the privilege and pleasure of knowing Princess Diana, an amazing woman. I don’t think in my lifetime I can think of any other woman who has such international fame and I’m delighted in one sense that we are commemorating her, because her good points far outweighed anything derogatory that some people might say.
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‘I remember her saying to me when I first took command back in the mid 90s, “you poor man, do you know what you’ve taken on?” And I can honestly say, having been a street cop most of my life, that when I went into this particular role, I simply did not know I was walking into a civil war. A civil war, it really was, between her husband and herself.’
