A poster for the Diana biopic starring Naomi Watts, sparked outrage when it was placed on the exact spot directly above the Paris tunnel where the ill-fated princess was killed in a car crash 16 years ago.

In what has been described as a shameless plug for the movie, many friends and admirers of the late princess came out to voice their disgust at the placement.

"I really don't have any words to describe how I feel about this cynical and shameless attempt to publicize a film that should never have been made" said Rosa Monckton, who for many years one of Diana's closest confidantes. 

"To have made a film so speculative and as this is disgusting enough, but to then advertise it on the spot at which she died is despicable” she continued.

“It is a terrible intrusion into her memory, not to mention the lives of her sons, whose feelings are often forgotten in these stories. I would expect them to take it down right now."

Naomi Watts as Princess Diana

The 4-by-6-foot poster was placed at the Pont de l'Alma, home to the Flame of Liberty, a monument which is regarded by many as an unofficial memorial to the Princess of Wales.

The poster has since been removed. A spokesperson for the film's French distributor, Le Pacte, told Deadline.com that the placement was just “a coincidence.”

Main image via Getty Images