In an exclusive excerpt from Prince Harry’s new memoir People reveals for the first time how the royal experienced her mother Princess Diana’s last moments before her death.
While attending the 2007 Rugby World Cup semi-final in Paris, Harry, then 23, went through the same tunnel where his mother died 10 years ago. In his new memoir, due out Jan. 10, he talks about the intense pain he felt.
On the night of the semi-final, the prince has his chauffeur drive through the same tunnel that Diana crashed into, at exactly 65 mph.
“We set off, cutting through traffic, past the Ritz, where Mum had her last meal with her friend that August evening. Then we came to the opening of the tunnel. which presumably knocked Mum’s Mercedes off course.” , wrote Harry in his memoirs, continuing:
“As the car entered the tunnel, I leaned forward, watched the light change, saw the concrete pillars zoom past me. I counted them, I counted my heartbeats, and within seconds we were out of the tunnel.” other side. I sat down. he said softly, “That’s all? It’s nothing. Just a straight tunnel.” I always envisioned the tunnel as some sort of treacherous, inherently dangerous passage, but it was just a short, simple, no-nonsense tunnel. There’s no reason anyone could die in it.”
Then he made the driver go through the tunnel again.
“Deep down, I was hoping to feel down that tunnel what I felt when I was given the police files: disbelief. Doubt. Instead, this was the night all doubt vanished. ‘She’s dead,’ I thought. God, she really is gone forever. I’m heading towards the end I pretended to be looking for. And now I could never get rid of it. I thought driving in the tunnel would end or briefly stop the pain, the decade of unrelenting pain. Instead , brought the start,” says Prince Harry.
Her memoir will officially be released on January 10 as an intimate look at the experiences that shaped her personality.
In July 2021, Penguin Random House announced that the Duke of Sussex will write the story of his life in a book, recalls People.
In his book, Harry recalls his mother’s unimaginable death and how his life has evolved since then.
Penguin Random House notes that the book takes “readers back to one of the twentieth century’s most searing images: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watches on in grief and horror.”
