Princes in fury at Di death pic

[carmelina]

PRINCES William and Harry were furious last night after Channel 4 refused to back down over plans to screen snaps of their mother’s death.

An aide wrote to station chiefs calling for several shots of the 1997 Paris crash to be removed from a documentary shown tonight.

The photos include one of Princess Diana receiving oxygen from a doctor as she lay dying.

The Princes’ private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton told Channel 4 the pictures would cause them “acute distress”. And they believed their use was a “gross disrespect” to their mother’s memory.

He wrote: “If it were your or my mother dying in that tunnel, would we want the scene broadcast to the nation?”

He added the images were “redolent with the atmosphere and tragedy” of that fateful night — intruding on the “privacy and dignity” of the Princess’s last minutes.

The Princes felt they had no choice but to go public with their feelings as Channel 4 had failed to respond to behind-the-scenes approaches.

But channel bosses insisted it will still show the controversial images in Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel.

Di’s friend Rosa Monckton branded the decision “disgusting”.

And Tory leader David Cameron said: “Channel 4 should take a long hard look at their responsibility. Are they making a serious programme or is it just prurient? If they conclude it’s prurient — and I rather suspect it is — they should pull it.”


The party’s culture, media and sport spokesman Hugo Swire said: “This is an unprecedented intervention from the Royal Family and illustrates just how distressing the Princes find Channel 4’s use of these images.

“Clarence House has now seen the footage and believes it to be intruding upon the privacy and dignity of Diana’s last moments. Channel 4 would be crossing the line if they chose to press ahead regardless.”

However Channel 4 boss Julian Bellamy insisted the photo showing oxygen being given would be obscured.

He went on: “We have weighed the Princes’ concerns against the legitimate public interest in the subject of this documentary and in the still photography it includes.

“Those images that are included have been selected with due consideration for the feelings of the relatives of those involved.”

Channel 4 executive Hamish Mykura, who commissioned the controversial programme, revealed his own father had died in a car crash in Edinburgh in 1988.

He said: “I am in no doubt about the pain that can cause. But I do feel that if the subject had been reported in the Press like this, there are circumstances in which it would be correct for it to be broadcast, as long as it was handled in a measured and responsible way.”

He added: “I am very sorry to hear that the Princes are upset by the film. I certainly wouldn’t want to upset them and regret if they are.

“But there is nothing in the film that is disrespectful to the Princess.

“The film tells the story of those in the tunnel after the crash and their first-hand accounts in a way that has not been done before.

“We have made this film in a very responsible and respectful way.”

Kevin Lygo, the station’s director of television and content, claimed pulling the programme would “set a dangerous precedent” for the reporting of “high profile tragedies”.

Last year Wills and Harry condemned the use of the photograph of Diana receiving medical attention when it was published in the Italian magazine Chi.

The British inquest into the deaths of the Princess and boyfriend Dodi Fayed has yet to start in full following a series of setbacks.



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[maycm]

Is it the same photo? A link was posted here a while back. Couldn't really see anything much - all fuzzy and indistinct. Could have been anyone.

[SpursFan1902]

Wow is this a first? Usually when the Palace makes it's feelings known about something, everyone involved complies.

[Skylace]

[eefanincan]

FFS, leave those boys alone and don't show the photo..... Channel 4 just wants ratings, plain and simple.

[luke]

thought some might be interested in this ...

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/9344/Diana:+Philip+hates+me

[SpursFan1902]

It wouldn't be the first time a royal family offed someone it didn't want around. I am not sure what I think happened, but I am just saying that it wouldn't be unheard of.

[faceless]

Diana moments from death
By DUNCAN LARCOMBE and MARTIN PHILLIPS
October 03, 2007
www.thesun.co.uk


PRINCESS Diana is glimpsed behind her bodyguard an instant before her fatal car crash — in a sensational photo shown at the start of her inquest yesterday. Her blonde hair is clearly visible in the shot, never before seen publicly. Her lover Dodi Fayed sits behind driver Henri Paul — who died with the couple in 1997’s Paris car crash. Minder Trevor Rees lived.

Frantic crash rescue teams are also seen fighting to save Diana and Dodi in more graphic photos, released last night. In one, taken minutes after the smash, a cop and firemen in fluorescent jackets try desperately to reach trapped driver Paul and bodyguard Rees. And a second policeman dives into the back of the wrecked Mercedes. In another, a doctor directing the rescue points to the rear passenger seats where doomed Di and Dodi lay dying.

The pictures will play a central role in the inquest into the Diana tragedy, which opened in dramatic fashion yesterday. The hearing was also told a butler saw Dodi stroking Di’s tummy as he bent before her on one knee. And according to the servant, she whispered “Yes” while gazing at her left hand.

The revelation threw yet another cloak of mystery over the events leading to the Princess’s death in Paris’s grim Alma tunnel. HAD she accepted a marriage proposal by Dodi — a notion ridiculed by her family? AND was she pregnant by the son of tycoon Mohamed Fayed — a possibility also dismissed as nonsense by her nearest and dearest? They were two of a host of vital questions the inquest jury — with the eyes of the world upon them — will try to answer over the next six months.

Many more emerged as the coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker outlined a story more far-fetched than an 007 movie.

------------------

This doesn't ring true for me - how was this picture taken? From the back of a motorbike? If so, I can't imagine that the photographer got this clear a shot with one snap - he must have taken a whole series, with a top class flash, from a short distance, which could explain why the driver lost control.

[maycm]

This photo could have been taken by someone standing in front of the car as it was leaving. Interesting stuff nonetheless, though the inquest itself will solve nothing, and will result in less.

[Bob]

biker could have had a photographer on the back and just blasted a string of shots as they went past...either way, flash bright enough to get clear through the tinted window job would be pretty blinding...

[Mandy]

FYI. I am sure Diana was pregnant. The judge's talk of "no evidence" maybe factually true if he added "as far as I can find out since someone gave the illegal order to Embalm her" -- See http://worldpressnetwork.net/index.php/Princess_Diana_and_Dodi_Fayed

This is a lesson in how the establishment lies & lies .. and then uses hand picked judges & "investigations" to "whitewash" the result and prevent the truth being established in a court of law .. which means anyone speaking the truth becomes a conspiracy nut.

FYI from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3444329.stm :
"I think a new phrase of "doing a Hutton" will become the norm when talking about amazing escapes. "

[11antoniacourt]

[Aja]

At the End of the Day .....I Am the Old school .... That adored Princess Di........I remember her wedding to that twat charles.....it was street partys all the way ......and she was a heart and I and many others loved her ..she was a breath of fresh air...... in a sorry Thatcher world .......

[SpursFan1902]

[luke]

i saw di and charles just after they got married, they started their honeymoon at the mountbatten place in romsey and everyone lined the streets ... i also saw fergie and andy get married, we kipped outside the church by big ben. i used to think i was a bad omen for the royals, seeing as i saw them both and they both ended in divorce ... i've got some cool pictures of all the royals turning up in their horse drawn carriages for fergie and andys wedding