In a profoundly moving revelation, the firefighter who was first to reach Princess Diana's mangled Mercedes in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel has shared his harrowing account of her final moments. Xavier Gourmelon, who held the Princess's hand and believed she would survive, speaks out in a new Channel 4 documentary, 'The Princess', offering a fresh and heartbreaking perspective on the 1997 tragedy.
Xavier Gourmelon, then a young firefighter lieutenant, was on duty that fateful night of August 31st. His crew arrived at the scene mere minutes after the catastrophic crash. Gourmelon recounts the chaos, describing how he immediately rushed to Diana's side.
'I could see she was very beautiful,' he recalls in the documentary, his words heavy with the memory. 'I held her hand and told her to be calm and still. I said that help was coming and that everything would be alright.' In the dim light of the tunnel, he believed the Princess was merely shocked and had minor injuries, completely unaware of the severe internal trauma that would claim her life.
Gourmelon's testimony provides a chilling, ground-level view of the incident. He details the desperate attempts to save her life, including performing CPR after she went into cardiac arrest. For a brief moment, they managed to restart her heart, fuelling a flicker of hope that she might pull through.
The documentary, which uses archival footage without commentary, aims to reframe the narrative of Diana's life and death through the lens of the media frenzy that perpetually surrounded her. Gourmelon's emotional interview serves as a powerful human counterpoint to the public spectacle, reminding the world of the real woman behind the headlines.
This intimate and raw account from a first responder adds a new, deeply personal layer to one of the most scrutinised events in modern history, forever capturing the humanity amidst the tragedy.
