PARIS: Twenty years ago on August 31, 1997, Britain’s Princess Diana died in a high-speed car crash in Paris.
For the next week, up to her spectacular funeral, Britain was plunged into an unprecedented outpouring of popular grief which shook the monarchy.
Here is how the week unfolded:
Divorced for the past year from heir to the throne Prince Charles, Diana, 36, and her new millionaire lover, Egyptian Dodi Al-Fayed, are stalked by a posse of press photographers over the summer as they holiday in the Mediterranean.
They arrive in the afternoon of August 30 in Paris and dine in the evening at the Hotel Ritz, in the luxurious Place Vendome. They try to leave discreetly shortly after midnight in a Mercedes.
Chased by paparazzi on motorcycles, the powerful sedan careers at high speed into a pillar in an underpass near the Alma Bridge opposite the Eiffel Tower on the north bank of the River Seine.
Diana is pulled out of the Mercedes, which has been reduced to twisted metal, by rescue workers.
Al-Fayed and their chauffeur, who the probe shows had a high level of alcohol in his blood, die instantly. Their bodyguard is seriously injured.
Seven photographers are arrested. From the next day, photographs of the crash will be offered to magazines for a million dollars each.
Diana is taken to Pitie-Salpetriere university hospital where at 4:00 am (0200 GMT) she dies of massive chest injuries after two hours of desperate surgery.
France’s ambassador to Britain telephones Queen Elizabeth II’s aides at Balmoral, in Scotland, where the Queen, her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, Charles as well as the couple’s two children, William, 15 and Harry, 12, are holidaying over the summer.
Britain awakes in mourning. Under a grey sky hundreds of tearful Londoners start to lay flowers in front of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, the princess’s residence.
A tearful young Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair pays homage to “the people’s princess.”
The world reacts with dismay. US president Bill Clinton says he is “profoundly saddened.”
In India Mother Teresa prays for Diana, just days before her own death, and US rock star Michael Jackson cancels a concert in Belgium in shock.
The press is the first to be accused. Diana’s brother Charles Spencer says newspapers have blood on their hands.
Embarrassed, the British tabloid press elevates Diana to the status of an icon.
“Born a Lady. Became our Princess. Died a Saint,” writes the Daily Mirror.
The popular fervor grows. At Saint James’s Palace, where Diana’s body is taken, it takes eleven hours to reach condolence books.
“The vision of the bouquets of flowers is amazing: a veritable sea, almost a hundred meters long,” AFP writes.
The organization of the funeral proves complex.
Since her divorce Diana is no longer known as “Her Royal Highness” and does not have the right to a state funeral, although she still had the title of princess.
But Britons call for a tribute worthy of their “queen of hearts.”
Anger mounts at the silence of the royal family, still holed up in Balmoral.
Newspapers, furious that the Union Jack flag is not flying at half-mast over Buckingham Palace, call on the Queen to address her subjects.
The Sun tabloid asks : “Where is our Queen ? Where is our flag ?” It says not flying the flag is a “stark insult to Diana’s memory .”
The Queen decides on September 5 to pay homage to her former daughter-in-law, whom she did not like, in a televised speech for only the second time in her reign. She then publicly bows before Diana’s coffin.
“If they (the royals) fail to heed her lesson, they will bury not just Diana on Saturday — but their future too,” The Guardian broadsheet warns, as nearly a quarter of Britons call for the abolition of the monarchy in a poll.
The next day, nearly a million people watch as the funeral procession passes in a deep silence punctuated by sobs and tolling bells.
Their heads bowed, the two princes follow the coffin, accompanied by Prince Charles, the Duke of Edinburgh and her brother Earl Spencer, under the eyes of 2.5 billion television viewers around the world.
At Westminster Abbey, 2,000 invitees, including US First Lady Hillary Clinton, Blair, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US film star Tom Cruise attend the ceremony.
Elton John adapts his song “Candle in the Wind,” rewriting the lyrics in homage to Diana.
In the afternoon, the princess is buried discreetly on a small island at Althorp, Diana’s ancestral home.
Diana’s death: Week of grief shakes the monarchy
Diana’s death: Week of grief shakes the monarchy
Review: ‘Relay’
RIYADH: “Relay” is a thriller that knows what its role is in an era of overly explained plots and predictable pacing, making it feel at once refreshing and strangely nostalgic.
I went into the 2025 film with genuine curiosity after listening to Academy Award-winning British actor Riz Ahmed talk about it on Podcrushed, a podcast by “You” star Penn Badgley. Within the first half hour I was already texting my friends to add it to their watchlists.
There is something confident and restrained about “Relay” that pulls you in, and much of that assurance comes from the film’s lead actors. Ahmed gives a measured, deeply controlled performance as Ash, a man who operates in the shadows with precision and discipline. He excels at disappearing, slipping between identities, and staying one step ahead, yet the story is careful not to mythologize him as untouchable.
Every pause, glance, and decision carries weight, making Ash feel intelligent and capable. It is one of those roles where presence does most of the work.
Lily James brings a vital counterbalance as Sarah, a woman caught at a moral and emotional crossroads, who is both vulnerable and resilient. The slow-burn connection between her and Ash is shaped by shared isolation and his growing desire to protect her.
The premise is deceptively simple. Ash acts as a middleman for people entangled in corporate crimes, using a relay system to communicate and extract them safely.
The film’s most inventive choice is its use of the Telecommunications Relay Service — used by people who are deaf and hard of hearing to communicate over the phone — as a central plot device, thoughtfully integrating a vital accessibility tool into the heart of the story.
As conversations between Ash and Sarah unfold through the relay system, the film builds a unique sense of intimacy and suspense, using its structure to shape tension in a way that feels cleverly crafted.
“Relay” plays like a retro crime thriller, echoing classic spy films in its mood and pacing while grounding itself in contemporary anxieties.
Beneath the mechanics and thrills of the plot, it is about loneliness, the longing to be seen, and the murky ethics of survival in systems designed to crush individuals.
If you are a life-long fan of thrillers, “Relay” might still manage to surprise you.
