‘I want to get away’: Princess Diana planned to leave sons in UK and move to US with Dodi Al-Fayed, claims bodyguard
LONDON, ENGLAND: In the book, 'Protecting Diana: A Bodyguard’s Story,' written by Lee Sansum revealed Princess Diana's plans to move to the USA along with her rumored boyfriend, Dodi-Al-Fayed before her death in 1997. Lee Sansum was an integral member of her security team and he claims, Diana had spoken to him about the same.
In his book, he stated the princess told Sansum, "And she said to me, ‘There is nothing I can do in the UK. The papers there attack me no matter what I do." Further he wrote, "Then she told me, "I want to go to the US and live there so I can get away from it all. At least in America they like me and will leave me alone."
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The book which was released on Tuesday, August 23 has already evoked new discussions regarding Princess Diana's death. Sansum was a part of the security team taking care of the royal and her sons, Princes William and Harry, as they holidayed in St Tropez in July 1997. The royal family was staying on businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed’s luxury yacht, the Jonikal. Sansum also mentioned how paparazzi used to be around the yacht every day to click photos of the rumored couple, Dodi-Al-Fayed and Princess Diana. “The press were the bane of her life everywhere, not just in St Tropez,” Sansum wrote in his book.
Sansum, a former private military contractor, remembers asking Diana if her sons, William, then 15, and Harry, 12, would be joining her to go to the US. Diana then explained she would never be allowed to take them and that, if she moved, “I will probably only be able to see them in their school holidays.” Further, he wrote, “You could tell Diana was a wonderful mother, so loving and attentive to her two boys but it looked as if she might have to leave them both behind in the UK to escape from the press, who hounded her relentlessly every single day of her life,” Sansum writes. “It was also to free them from all of the attention they got when she was with them."
“I was alarmed because if we thought the press pack outside was huge now, just for her holiday, it would probably go up ten-fold if she gave them a story as big as this one,” the author writes. “The place would be swarming with paps, desperate to get pictures of the princess who was about to leave it all behind to run off to America,” he further added. The author further stated, “I can tell you that I spent ten days close to her and she was one of the most balanced people I have ever met,” I ought to know. I am trained to spot if someone is unbalanced. It’s part of my job. You look for signs that people give off when they are under stress because it means they might be about to do something. Diana wasn’t excessively angry or out of control. She was normal and very deliberate.”
Sansum also rubbishes reports of Dodi Al-Fayed being just a summer fling intended to make Diana’s ex-boyfriend Dr Hasnat Khan jealous. “They were really friendly and affectionate towards one another, the guys on the security team all thought it was game on and would develop into a serious relationship. You wouldn’t see them kissing in public, so some people misread that as if it wasn’t a romantic relationship but her boys were often around and the paparazzi were always there too, so that naturally made them more cautious and less demonstrative to one another.”
The author also remembers Princess Diana as one of the nicest people he had ever met. In his book, he wrote, “Diana was one of the nicest people you could meet, she was lovely, in fact, just a normal person who clearly loved her boys. He then continued, "The poor woman got slagged off for everything she did—even when it was really normal stuff like working out to stay fit, the press gave her grief about that too. It was so unfair.”