The firefighter who heard Princess Diana utter her last words said that the memories of that fateful night will ‘stay with him forever’.
Xavier Gourmelon, 58, was one of the emergency responders who rushed to the devastating scene inside the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France, in 1997.
Take a look at what he had to say here:
It’s been almost three decades since the deadly car crash in the early hours of August 31, 1997, which rocked the Royal Family and the entire world.
Diana, who was just 36, was briefly visiting the French capital with Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, who is the son of Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed.
The couple were travelling in a black 1994 armoured Mercedes-Benz S 280 saloon, which was driven by Henri Paul, the deputy head of security at Al-Fayed’s hotel, the Hôtel Ritz Paris.
They had hoped to avoid paparazzi by allowing a decoy vehicle to leave first and departing from the hotel’s rear entrance.
Trevor Rees-Jones, who was a member of the Fayed family’s personal protection team, was in the front passenger seat while Diana and Dodi were in the back.
None of the car’s occupants were wearing a seatbelt.
They drove through the Place de l’Alma underpass while the vehicle carrying Diana was being ‘swarmed’ by paparazzi, according to eyewitnesses.
Princess Diana died in the deadly incident in Paris on 31 August, 1997 (Diana Archive/Getty Images)
According to reports, Paul lost control of the Mercedes near the entrance to the tunnel and struck a car, before then slamming into a pillar that supported the roof of the underpass.
The vehicle then spun, hit the stone wall of the tunnel and finally ground to a halt – leaving those inside either dead or seriously injured.
Dodi and Paul were pronounced dead at the scene, while emergency services rushed to rescue the Princess of Wales from the wreckage.
That’s when firefighter Xavier Gourmelon heard Diana’s final words – although he didn’t even recognise her at the time.
On the 20th anniversary of her death, the French native spoke to Good Morning Britain about what she said to him, explaining that his crew weren’t aware a royal was in the car.
He went on to share that Diana was unconscious when he first approached, but she then suddenly woke up.
Gourmelon recalled: “She looked at me and said, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened?’”
He explained that the Princess seemed ‘agitated’ and so he attempted to ‘calm her down’ – but she then lost consciousness again.
Diana and Dodi are partially visible behind Rees-Jones and Paul in an image taken shortly before the crash (Jacques Langevin/scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk via Getty Images)
Discussing what happened after she was rescued from the car wreckage, the former firefighter said: “At that moment, the doctor said she was in cardiac arrest.
“So, we gave her CPR and after 20 seconds, she regained consciousness, and we transferred her to the ambulance.”
Gourmelon said he thought that Diana would go on to make a full recovery – but sadly, she succumbed to her injuries at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.
The 36-year-old suffered another cardiac arrest at the hospital and medics could not save her.
Speaking to The Sun about his experience in 2017, Gourmelon said: “To be honest I thought she would live. But I found out later she had died in hospital. It was very upsetting.
“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.
“I had no idea then that it was Princess Diana. It was only when she had been put into the ambulance that one of the paramedics told me it was her.”