Diana's tragic final phonecall: She wanted to see her boys and make 'fresh start'
Princess Diana was reportedly "desperate to try and make a fresh start,” with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry and “do something different,” right before her death, says a royal reporter and commentator.
Richard Kay, a longtime royal reporter, and friend of the princess said that their final phone call on the night of her shocking death in Paris revealed much. On August 31, 1997, Diana died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris while fleeing the paparazzi. The crash also resulted in the deaths of her companion Dodi Fayed and the driver, Henri Paul. Her death came a little more than a year after her divorce from Prince Charles, finalized on August 28, 1996.
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Kay, speaking in the upcoming ‘Diana’ documentary, said, "I spoke to her that night.” Kay, of course, did not realize how significant that call was until after the news of her death was made public. "[The] police said that the last call she made was to me."
Kay said that Diana was "in quite a good place," and that "she wanted to come back and see her boys." William and Harry were just 15 and 12 then. Diana, per Kay, was also eager to turn a new page in her life. "She was desperate to try and make a fresh start and do something different," said Kay, "to explore a different kind of royalty."
Earlier, a royal expert claimed that Diana would have liked to stay married to Prince Charles and not get a divorce. Former BBC News Royal Correspondent Jennie Bond said that Diana had confided in her after her closest confidante, Patrick Jephson, resigned from his role as her private secretary in 1995, following her shocking interview with Martin Bashir.
During the interview, Diana admitted that her marriage to Charles was over, saying, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”. Diana also admitted that she had been unfaithful with army officer James Hewitt, following Charles’s admission in an interview the previous year that he had also been unfaithful during the marriage. It was the final nail in the coffin for their marriage. On December 20, 1995, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen had sent letters to Charles and Diana, advising them to divorce. It was finalized the following year.
Bond claimed that the late Princess of Wales would have chosen to stay married to Charles and work on royal duties together as separated partners. She also reportedly believed that they made a strong team. Bond said, "Diana was pretty unsettled with the divorce, she didn't want the divorce, she told me, 'It's not something I want'."
"I think she felt somehow they could continue as separated but partners and parents to the two boys, and she really did try to make it work and she wanted to make it work. She found the day of the divorce extremely hard. She did go out, she was seen in public, but she was hurting badly. She told me that it was an extremely difficult day, but she went home and burst into tears," Bond said.