Guernsey Press

Harry asked driver to replicate journey Diana took in Paris before her death

In 2007,he was driven through the Pont de l’Alma tunnel at the same speed as the car that was carrying his mother and Dodi Fayed before it crashed.

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The Duke of Sussex said he asked a driver to replicate the journey his mother Diana, Princess of Wales took in the lead-up to her death.

While in Paris for the 2007 Rugby World Cup semi-final, Harry, who was 23, was driven through the Pont de l’Alma tunnel at the same speed as the car that was carrying Diana and Dodi Fayed before it crashed in August 1997.

Harry said in his autobiography Spare there was “no reason anyone should ever die inside” the tunnel, adding the drive was “a very bad idea”.

Rugby Union – IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 – Semi Final – England v France – Stade de France
Harry had been in Paris for the Rugby World Cup (David Davies/PA)

“But the lip was nothing. We barely felt it.

“As the car entered the tunnel I leaned forward, watched the light change to a kind of water orange, watched the concrete pillars flicker past. I counted them, counted my heartbeats, and in a few seconds we emerged from the other side.

“I sat back. Quietly I said: Is that all of it? It’s… nothing. Just a straight tunnel.

“I’d always imagined the tunnel as some treacherous passageway, inherently dangerous, but it was just a short, simple, no-frills tunnel. No reason anyone should ever die inside it.”

Harry says in his autobiography he thought the drive would “bring an end, or brief cessation” to a “decade of unrelenting pain”.

He adds: “It had been a very bad idea. I’d had plenty of bad ideas in my 23 years, but this one was uniquely ill-conceived.

“I’d told myself that I wanted closure, but I didn’t really.”

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