ROYAL FAMILY NEWSPrincess Diana's Brother Says He Was Initially Told Her Fatal 1997 Paris Crash Was 'Not Too Serious'
Charles Spencer was in South Africa at the time of the Princess of Wales' passing.
Sept. 21 2026, Published 1:55 p.m. ET
Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, recalled the moment he was told about her fatal car crash in Paris that occurred in August 1997.
The 9th Earl Spencer, 62, looked back on the traumatic day in a new interview with the BBC, which aired on Sunday, September 20.
Charles Spencer Was in South Africa When Princess Diana Died
Princess Diana died in August 1997 after injuries sustained from a car crash in Paris.
Spencer, who was vacationing in South Africa at the time, received call in the middle of the night from his sister Lady Jane Fellowes.
She said the late Princess of Wales was involved in a collision, but "it was not too serious."
Princess Diana's Driver Crashed Her Car In a Paris Tunnel
Charles Spencer's sister Lady Jane Fellowes told him Princess Diana died.
"[I] kept getting more and more distressing calls [from my sister]," Spencer added.
"And then my sister Jane said, 'I'm afraid she's died.' It started... as a little prang, and then it became a broken leg, perhaps a head injury, and then death," he said.
Diana's driver, Henri Paul, collided with the 13th pillar in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris while she was in the vehicle.
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Doctors Tried to Resuscitate Princess Diana at the Hospital
Princess Diana perished in the hospital several hours after the car crash.
While Paul and Diana's partner, Dodi Fayed, both instantly died at the scene of the crash, the princess was quickly transferred to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital where she passed away hours later.
Doctors attempted to restart her heart via cardiac massage and electric shocks, however, they were unable to stop her internal bleeding. Her right collar bone was dislocated, and her ribs and arm were also fractured.
Following Lady Di's death, Fellowes, 69, and her other sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, as well as the then-Prince Charles, took a flight to France to bring her body back to London.
Charles Spencer Doesn't Believe in the Conspiracy Theories Surrounding His Late Sister's Death
Charles Spencer previously discussed the conspiracy theories surrounding his late sister's passing.
In the decades since her passing, there have been several conspiracy theories about the car crash and who might have been involved.
“I’ve never believed in the conspiracy theory,” Spencer recently told People. "If somebody was conspiring to kill somebody very high profile like that, I don’t think that would be the manner that it would happen in."
"First of all, nobody planned for Diana to go through that tunnel that night," he went on. "The fact that it ended up tragically being a car crash, I think, is purely a coincidence. By the way, if I thought otherwise, I would say so. I just don’t see it."
Theories about the tragic event included claims the royal family and British intelligence were connected to her demise.
Other conjecture included speculation she may have been pregnant with Fayed’s child when they both died, as well as reports of a bright white flash just before their car entered the tunnel, which reportedly blinded Paul.
