'The Crown' Snubs Prince Harry: Netflix Drama Does Not Use Duke's Theory About Princess Diana Crash in Final Season
The Crown's final season is officially underway on Netflix, and despite Prince Harry also being signed with the streamer, the drama's creator chose to completely ignore his theory about his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales' car wreck. The Duke of Sussex believes that chasing paparazzi's motorbike lights temporally blinded driver Henri Paul, which caused him to slam the car into a column in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel.
The first scene of episode one of season six recreates the moment of the crash and the paps are far behind the vehicle carrying Diana, Dodi Fayed, Trevor Rees-Jones and Paul. This contradicts what the late princess' youngest son truly thinks happened that night in Paris although, an official inquiry ruled that Paul's drunk driving was the primary reason for the collision.
"Above all, the summary conclusion, that Mummy's driver was drunk and thereby the sole cause of the crash, was convenient and absurd. Even if the man had been drinking, even if he was s----faced, he wouldn't have had any trouble navigating that short tunnel," harry wrote in his memoir, Spare.
"Unless paps had chased and blinded him. Why were those paps not more roundly blamed? Why were they not in jail? Who sent them? And why were they not in jail? Why indeed — unless corruption and cover-ups were the order of the day?" he continued.
The deaths of Diana, Fayed and Paul, as well as the injuries Rees-Jones (the only survivor) sustained, were officially investigated from 2004-2008 by the British Metropolitan Police with assistance from Parisian law enforcement. A ruling of "unlawful killing" was announced that found the primary causes behind the collision being the driver's having been under the influence of substances, combined with negligence on the part of pursuing paparazzi.
Nowhere in the findings was the fifth in line to the throne's theory that motorcycle lights caused Henri Paul to lose control of the car and smash into the tunnel column. Series creator Peter Morgan seems to have followed the results of the inquiry and not hearsay on Harry's part, who was not involved in the wreck. However, the fiery-haired princes' theory is not exactly incorrect, as there were eyewitness accounts in the tunnel before the crash.
Eyewitness François Levistre told French authorities during the inquest: "I could see in the distance in my rearview mirror a vehicle surrounded on either side by motorbikes. I said to my wife: 'That must be someone important.' There were more than two motorbikes traveling in tandem on each side of the car. As I was about to start to climb out of the tunnel, I could distinctly see one motorbike cut across the front of the car. There was a large white flash. I did not notice a bang."
Newsweek reported on the eyewitness statement.