Bodyguard For Princess Diana Speaks Out About Fateful Night

Lee Sansum says if he had been with Princess Diana on August 31, 1997, she would still be alive.

Sansum was Diana’s bodyguard, but was not with her on the night she died night she died alongside Dodi Fayed in a Paris car crash. Diana referred to Sansum as “Rambo” and often opened up to him about her future plans.

But on August 31, 1997, he drew the short straw when it came to riding with her. On that night, security guards did in fact draw straws to ride with Diana and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones.

“It could have been me in that car. We drew straws to see who would be accompanying Trevor that weekend,” Sansum said, via The Sun. “I pulled a match and it was a long one.”

Sansum, now 60, has also served as security for the likes of Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sylvester Stallone and the late Pele. He met Diana via his work with Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Hôtel Ritz Paris.

Would the outcome have changed?

Sansum explained why he thinks that things would have turned out differently if he were in the car with Diana on the night she died.

“When I learned they were not wearing seatbelts in the crash I understood why they didn’t survive. That shouldn’t have happened,” he said.

“It was standard practice for the family to wear seatbelts. It was an order sent down from the boss, Dodi’s dad Mohamed Fayed. Dodi, in particular, hated wearing seatbelts and I always insisted on it.”

Not long before the fatal accident, Diana had sent a letter to Sansum after he had provided security for her and her sons while on vacation.

“I received a lovely letter from Diana that was signed by her and both of the young princes,” he said. “She told me she wanted to thank me for taking such good care of them all in St Tropez. I was blown away by that. She assured me that she and her boys had a ‘magical’ time there and that this wouldn’t have been possible without my help.

“I couldn’t believe that a woman as famous and in-demand as Diana had taken the time to write to me in that way. It showed the empathy she was rightly famous for.

“Diana was almost always able to put herself in someone else’s shoes, it is one of the reasons why she was so highly regarded. She signed off with her warmest possible thanks. I still have that letter and will always treasure it.”

He just wishes, he said, that he could have been with her when she needed him most.