The heartbroken firefighter who heard Princess Diana’s final words has told how he was convinced she would survive the crash.
Xavier Gourmelon, who was one of the first on the scene that night, opened up about the crash 20 years on from the tragedy.
He told how the scene was initially like “any other” traffic accident, as he admitted he had not known at first he was treating the famous royal.
He said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
“Nobody knew it was her – no one recognised her.
“As I approached, there was a blonde person sitting on the floor.
“She regained consciousness and looked at me and said, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened?'”
He went on to describe how Diana was “a bit agitated” as he assured her they were going to look after her.
He continued:
“I tried to calm her down and tell her we’d look after her and she fell into a coma again.
“We took her out of the car, put her on a stretcher.
“At that moment the doctor said she was in cardiac arrest, so we gave her CPR and after 20 seconds she regained consciousness.
“It was ordinary in terms of our involvement as firefighters.
“It was extraordinary because of the person involved, but otherwise an accident like any other.”
Mr Gournmelon added that he was saddened to hear that Diana had passed away, as he thought she would survive.
