On 31 August 1997,
Diana, Princess of Wales died as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash in the
Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in
Paris,
France. Her friend,
Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the
Mercedes-Benz W140,
Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene; the bodyguard of Diana and Dodi,
Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only survivor. Although the media blamed the
paparazzi following the car, an 18-month French judicial investigation found that the crash was caused by Paul, who lost control of the car at high speed while
drunk. Paul was the deputy head of security at the
Hôtel Ritz and had earlier goaded the paparazzi waiting outside the hotel. His inebriation may have been exacerbated by
anti-depressants and traces of a tranquilizing
anti-psychotic in his body. The investigation concluded that the photographers were not near the Mercedes when it crashed.