‘I tried to comfort her’: Doctor who tried to save Diana didn’t know who she was

He was first on the scene of arguably the world’s most famous car crash. But the French doctor who tried to save Princess Diana’s life had no idea who his patient was.

It was 25 years ago when Dr Frederic Maillez passed a car crash on his drive home through Paris.

As his instincts kicked in and he stopped to help those trapped in the black Mercedes which had been crushed against a pillar in the Alma Tunnel, he had no idea who it was that he was treating.

“I opened the door of the Mercedes and I found four victims, two are apparently dead, they’re not reacting, they’re not breathing,” Dr Maillez told Metro UK.

But the two victims on the right side of the car were “alive, but in a serious situation,” he said.

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The wreckage of the Mercedes in Paris’s Alma tunnel in which Princess Diana was killed in 1997. Picture: Pierre Boussel/AFP

First medic on the scene, Dr Frederic Maillez, attends the 1998 hearing into the accident. Picture: AFP

“I did this very quick medical assessment and I called emergency services to give them the address of the accident, the number of victims and ask for the necessary ambulances.”

As he waited for help to arrive, he began trying to save the victims – one a young woman.

“My attention was so focused on what I had to do to save her life that I didn’t have the time to think who might be this beautiful woman,” Dr Maillez said.

The medic stayed until emergency services arrived, then headed home to bed, still completely unaware of the gravity of what he was just a part of.

In fact, he didn’t find out until the rest of the world heard the news the following day.

“The next morning, I woke up and my friend Marc turned on the TV and discovered the young lady I treated last night was Princess Diana and she died two or three hours later,” he said.

“That was a huge shock for me.”

CCTV from the Ritz Hotel shows Princess Diana just hours before she died.

Bodyguard Trevor Rees was the sole survivor. Picture: Carl de Souza/AFP

Tributes flow for the ‘People’s Princess’

Fans paid tribute to Princess Diana this week to mark the 25th anniversary of her death.

In the UK, flags were flown at half mast and flowers and messages left outside Kensington Palace in London.

Many more gathered at the unofficial memorial to Diana in Paris, near the place where Dr Maillez stopped on that fateful night of August 31, 1997.

People pay tribute at the Flamme de la Liberte – Diana’s unofficial Paris memorial – 25 years after her death. Picture: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP

Flowers cover the entrance to Kensington Palace in this September 2, 1997 photo as the world reeled from Diana’s death. Picture: Martin Hayhow/AFP

She was leaving the Ritz Hotel with her boyfriend, Dodi al-Fayed, being chased by paparazzi, when their car crashed in the tunnel. The pair, along with driver Henri Paul, were killed. Only bodyguard Trevor Rees survived.

Dr Maillez said even the presence of paparazzi at the crash site hadn’t clued him into who was in the car.

“When I was on the rear seat of the Mercedes, while I was helping Princess Diana to breathe, I realised that there was a lot of flash photography going on.

“I just thought that a lot of people were taking photos. It’s not unusual to see people take photos in Paris. In that case there were loads of flashes,” he said.

‘I tried to comfort her. She didn’t react. She didn’t say anything I could understand,’ said Dr Maillez. Picture: Jean-Loup Gautreau/AFP

“Someone behind me outside of the car told me that the victims spoke English, so I began to speak English to Princess Diana saying that I was a doctor, I’d called the ambulance and everything would be OK.

“I tried to comfort her. She didn’t react. She didn’t say anything I could understand.”

Dr Maillez said that after Diana’s death, he received a letter from her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, thanking him for his efforts at the crash scene.

“She thanked me for what I tried to do and complained a little about the paparazzi’s behaviour against her,” he said. “That was really touching to receive this letter.”