Diana’s bodyguard is now head of security at AstraZeneca after building a successful new life for himself a quarter of a century after he was left the sole survivor of a crash that killed the princess and her lover, Dodi Al-Fayed.
Trevor Rees-Jones, 54, who has been spotted for the first time in five years on a family shopping trip, lives with his wife, Ann, a teacher, two children and their dog in a £500,000 detached house in Oswestry, Shropshire that he bought four years ago.
His face is covered in marks from the August 31st 1997 car accident that also claimed Henri Paul, Al-Fayed’s chauffeur.
Mr Rees-Jones suffered severe head and chest injuries, spent ten days in a coma, and had his face reconstructed with 150 titanium parts by surgeons working off an old photo of him. Two-married Paratrooper Rees-Jones suffered severe brain damage and was unable to communicate with his family.
Amazingly, he worked for Mohammed Al-Fayed again six months after the crash. He eventually left to pursue a desire to’move forward’. After briefly working for the United Nations, he now has a peaceful family and is a successful professional. He was reportedly a security director at Halliburton’s oil services giant in Houston.
Before relocating to Shropshire in 2005, he began his current position at AstraZeneca. The firm behind the Oxford University Covid vaccin was founded by him. He is described on LinkedIn as being from Shrewsbury, and having extensive experience with international operations. Trevor Rees now appears as his name.
The Sun was told by a source that his current life is peaceful and routine. He doesn’t speak out or court media attention. He has tried to get on with his daily life.
Mr Rees Jones, a front seat passenger of the Mercedes at Paris’s August 1997 collision in Paris was also involved in that crash. He was 29 years old when he fractured every bone in his head and received serious chest injuries. Even though his face was severely broken, the airbag installed in his front passenger seat saved him.
After spending one month in hospital, Rees-Jones was able to talk for the first time after which he resumed playing rugby within a year. This is according to his memoir. After the crash, Mr Rees-Jones said he had virtually no recollection of what had happened and the last thing he remembered was getting into a waiting Mercedes outside the Paris Ritz.
He also remembered that the Princess had called out Dodi Fayed’s name, that a white Fiat Uno had been in pursuit and that the Fayed-employed driver of the fatal car, Henri Paul, had not been visibly drunk.
Trevor Rees Jones (54), was noticed in his BMW waiting for his family, while they went to Morrisons in Shropshire.
Rees Jones (54), was the sole survivor. On the night, he is visible in the vehicle. He was seen in the car on the night.
Mister Rees Jones, (middle, wearing the blue shirt), guarded Diana while on holiday in Saint Tropez in south France in 1997. This was the same year that the fatal crash.
‘I wanted to know what happened,’ he said in an interview shortly before his book, The Bodyguard’s Story, was published in 2000: ‘I wanted to know what happened.’
Addressing wild conspiracy theories that he was covering up a plot to kill Diana by the UK security services, he said: ‘I’m the only person who can tell people for real, and I can’t remember.
“It’ll be easy if you remember. I can tell people and all this c**p will finish.’
After the accident, Mr Rees-Jones worked for Mohammed Al-Fayed several months before finally resigning.
He stated that he wanted to “move on” with his life, and that he would leave Mr Al-Fayed’s service “with regret”.
He replied that he understood Trevor’s need to do all he could to fully recover and to forget the awful events last August.
He claimed that Mr Rees Jones was not angry at Mr Al Fayed, despite the fact that he promoted conspiracy theories concerning the accident.
Following his departure from Harrods Mr Rees Jones went to America in order to join the oil company Halliburton.
One of my friends said, “He was a good worker and, as far as I can tell they offered him a promotion that allowed them to all move to America.”
“He’s done a lot for himself, and nobody would ever begrudge that.”
He has since returned to Shropshire, where he grew up in Oswestry as the son of British Army surgeon Colin Rees and Gill, a nurse. Gareth is his older brother and John, his younger brother.
He enlisted in 1987 in the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment. After serving one tour in Northern Ireland, he was awarded the General Service Medal.
On August 12, 1995, he married his first wife, Sue Jones, in Oswestry, where the couple had met at Fitzalan School. Two years later, he applied for divorce.
On February 15, 2003, he remarried to Ann Scott (a teacher at Belvidere School in Shrewsbury).
In a 2000 interview with the Irish Times, Mr Rees-Jones said he had no personal feelings about Diana, beyond describing her as ‘a woman you could take down the pub, and from me, that’s a pretty high compliment’.
Correctly, he also accepted no responsibility for her death. However, he stated that he still felt responsible that the incident occurred ‘on mine shift.
“I don’t consider it an accident. It was an avoidable one,” he stated. Henri Paul made a terrible mistake by getting behind the wheel when he was aware that he had been drinking.
We were not to declare to Dodi or us that he was unfit to drive. It was an error. The finding was accepted by me. The accident was caused by speed, and it was simple. It was that simple.
When asked why he had returned to work six months after the crash, he replied that it was because of the camaraderie with ‘the lads.
Channel 4 was told by a French detective that she discovered pieces of the car’s wreckage, as well as evidence of brakes and paint traces.
In June 1997, the Red Cross headquarters at Washington DC is photographed with Princess Diana.
This documentary marks the 25th Anniversary of that tragic night. Investigators gave testimony, and the question was raised about the reasons why Diana’s note, detailing her fears of death in a car crash, had been kept secret for so many years.
The programme heard from French detective Martine Monteil, a former head of the elite Brigade Criminelle police unit, who was at the scene in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel shortly after the crash.
She spoke of how pieces of the car were found, as well as evidence of brakes and paint traces on Diana’s vehicle.
The officer’s testimony is featured in episode one of Investigating Diana: Death In Paris, which began last night on Channel 4.
‘We started to find these little clues,’ Monteil said of the initial crash scene, in an exclusive clip of the interview provided to Mail Online.
“We could see signs of braking. There were pieces of red light coming from another car. There were also traces of paint on the sides of the vehicle. It was important to me that I found things.
Monteil stated, “I even found some little pearls. They belonged the Princess.
This four-part question raises new questions about why the note detailing Princess Diana’s fear of being killed in an accident with a vehicle was not kept in Scotland Yard’s safe for many years.
Diana met Lord Mishcon her personal attorney in October 1995. She expressed her concern that an accident would be made look fake and staged.
The Met Police received a contemporaneous record of his meeting that he had made. After Paul Burrell, Diana’s former butler, produced an identical note of the meeting, it was not handed to the inquest.
Michael Mansfield of Barrister Michael Mansfield stated that his decision to be on the so-called “Mishcon note” ‘demonstrated an serious reluctance for this to be properly investigated from its beginning.
Fayed’s father Mohamed Fayed represented Mr Mansfield.
“If you were an officer of police investigating it, then you would wish to give the account to the French. They did not do this.
They put it in the safe, but they won’t tell anyone about it. It was kept in the safe for several years, protecting a portion of the Royal Family.
“It demonstrates a serious reluctance in having this thoroughly investigated from the beginning.”
Martine Monteil, Brigade Criminelle Chief (right), was the first person to reach the scene. He recalled finding ‘tiny pearls.’
On August 31, 1997, the wreckage from Princess Diana’s car was lifted onto a truck at Paris’ Alma Tunnel.
Diana met her lawyer at Kensington Palace. Mister Mansfield stated that Diana wanted to leave a mark with someone connected to the legal profession.
Former Met chief Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, who headed Operation Paget – which investigated all 104 allegations and conspiracy theories about Diana’s death – said he was first made aware of the note’s existence when he became commissioner in 2000, taking over from Sir Paul Condon.
On the decision to put it in a safe and not reveal it, Lord Stevens added: ‘That was a decision made by Paul Condon – he discussed it with Lord Mishcon and he didn’t think there was anything in that.’
This documentary, which premiered last night, also shows that Prince Philip was contacted by police after Mr Fayed, former Harrods boss, made allegations that he had been involved in the death of Diana.
Officials located ‘pieces from another car’ at scene of crash. Diana died in 2008. The Inquest into her death found that Diana had been ‘unlawfully murdered’ partly due to the ‘gross negligence of the driver
As this video from last night’s documentary shows, investigators discovered paint traces on the vehicle’s side.
Lord Stevens stated that the allegations against Prince Philip weren’t specific. We reached out to him and asked if he would like to respond to any of what has already been said. However, he stated that he did not have any additional information.
Operation Paget declared that Diana died as a tragic accident. Lord Stevens found no evidence of murder conspiracy or cover-ups by MI6.
Diana died in 2008. The Diana Inquest concluded that Diana had been ‘unlawfully murdered’ partly due to the ‘gross negligence of her driver.
Claire Joseph, Claudia Joseph, and Sue Reid contributed additional reporting.
Earl Charles Spencer (the younger brother of Princess Diana) stands beside Prince William and Prince Harry at the funeral for Princess Diana on September 6, 1997.
‘Could Channel 4 afford an English Voiceover? The Princess Diana documentary was criticized by viewers for being too French-language and making subtitles that are difficult to understand.
MailOnline by Jessica Taylor
The first episode of Investigating Diana was viewed by viewers who were unable to see the subtitles. This is despite the fact that the majority of the program was in French.
Channel 4 aired the first episode of Investigating Diary: Death in Paris at 9 p.m. Sunday.
The book covered the shocking death of the Princess Of Wales, as well as the investigation that took place between British and French authorities.
In Investigating Diana’s first episode, Martine Montil (head of Brigade Criminelle) was interviewed by French investigators.
The documentary examines conspiracies surrounding Diana’s murder and shows how police approach the investigation. Viewers claimed that they couldn’t read the subtitles.
Interviews with the police officers who were assigned to investigate Diana’s murder were conducted by The Documentary. Many of these officers speak only French.
Subtitles were added to the bottom, but viewers claimed they had difficulty understanding what was being said.
One user tweeted a picture of someone trying to read small pieces of paper. He said that the microscopic subtitles were really bothering him.
A Twitter user posted another joke about the same thing and showed a picture of a woman looking at something while she squinted.
They said: “Trying to understand the subtitles.”
Someone suggested that subtitles were flashing too fast on the screen and should have stayed there longer.
One viewer said: ‘I know Princess Diana died in France, but with so much of Investigating Diana being in French, with English subtitles, I really can’t be a****.’
The authors wrote, “Will could allow the subtitles be larger and more visible for just a bit longer.”
However, viewers that did not have trouble with subtitles were able to praise the documentary’s interviews. One viewer said it was “wonderfully detailed”.
Martine Monteil was interviewed by the documentary as the Brigade Criminelle’s head at the time.
She explained that while it could be classified as a traffic collision, it cannot be treated like a normal accident.
As they had difficulty reading the subtitles, Twitter users pointed out a problem with the program’s subtitles.
Later, Ms. Monteil revealed that her “very fine” investigation of the scene of the accident led to the recovery of key pieces of evidence.
She said, “We started to discover these little clues. Signs of brake were evident.
«Pieces from another car. Paint traces were visible on the car’s side.
Elle added, “I even discovered some tiny pearls. These belonged to The Princess.
Interviews were also conducted with a paparazzo, who was traveling in the same car Diana died in that night.
Eric Gigou describes him as a both suspects, witnesses’ and he said he had taken several paparazzi into prison.
Jacques Langevin, a photographer, said to the program: “Whether photographers chased after the car or no, it’s not what caused this accident. That is not the truth.
Channel 4 documentary claims Princes William & Harry have not learned key details about the death of their mother for over a decade.
Claudia Joseph for Sunday Mail
The Channel 4 documentary claims that Prince William and Harry did not learn the key details about their mother’s death for nearly a decade.
An investigation by Lord Stevens from Scotland Yard into the death of Lady Stevens revealed that both princes only had a ‘limited understanding’ of what happened in Paris 1997.
Nine years later in December 2006 Lord Stevens was invited at Kensington Palace by Harry and William to discuss his detailed findings and to give them an overview of their report.
He said it was a difficult session that they had, and lasted around 90 minutes. He was then 24 and 22 years respectively, but he received’very pertinent’ questions from both the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex.
Lord Stevens stated that he was aware of all the details of the events, starting with the incident outside of Ritz with car and ending in the death of the body.
“I was able to spend an hour with them and give them all the details. I answered their questions for half of the time.
Ex-chief of Scotland Yard Lord Stevens revealed in her investigation that they had only a ‘limited understanding’ of what happened in Paris in 1997. (Pictured are William, Diana, and Harry during a Heads of State VE Remembrance Service at Hyde Park, 1995).
“I sat beside them, and they sat together at the sofa. Their belief in me was confirmed.
“They wanted to find out the facts about the death and what happened to their mother in all aspects.
‘Some of the questions were in detail – which I answered, because they hadn’t been told of the circumstances.
‘I think that was an important thing to do, for them – and I think they appreciated that. It was very emotional.
It was so intense that, to be honest, none of us really wanted coffee. Their mother was murdered and they had many pertinent questions. I was there to help them.
Lord Stevens says in the documentary that he had been in contact with Prince William during his first fact-finding phase of his inquiry.
We exchanged letters to find out what William knew about William’s mother and her routines before she died.
Lord Stevens also revealed to us that neither the princes believed or agreed with the accusations made by Mohammed Al Fayed father of Dodi who was also killed in the crash on August 31, 1997.
In years following the accident, Harrods had offered numerous theories and accusations. These included that the Princess was actually pregnant when her death occurred and that certain members of royal families were involved in an elaborate murder plot.
The subsequent report found that all conspiracy theories – some 104 in total – were entirely without foundation.
Before the publication of the report, Lord Stevens tried to inform Al Fayed about its contents. However, Al Fayed refused to attend weekly meetings throughout the three-year investigation.
He stated that he had gone to Harrods to get the results of his legal team and refused to meet me. “We presented the findings of his report to him through his legal team and he declined to see us,” he said.
In the documentary, Lord Stevens also details how he interviewed Prince Charles at St James’s Palace about a note written by Diana – and left in the pantry of Kensington Palace for her butler, Paul Burrell, to find.
She predicted in it that she would be killed by a ‘brake failure’ and a serious head injury.
It was later suggested that disgraced BBC journalist Martin Bashir – who used bogus papers to con the princess into granting him an interview for Panorama, in 1995 – had exacerbated her sense of paranoia at the time the note was written.
Lord Stevens says that the allegation needed to be examined. He also said, “Whether it’s future King of England, or someone else.” It is necessary to get there. You are not above the law.
“I was not afraid of the Establishment. The decision to visit Prince Charles was made because of the Burrell Letter and the allegations made in that Burrell letter.
“Princess Diana” had said that her husband was planning to kill her. It was necessary to verify if the statement had any truth. We also needed to hear his response.
“It was something I’ve never seen before. It’s quite extraordinary.” It was noted that he didn’t mind participating in any form or manner.