Whatever Happened To Trevor Rees-Jones, The Only Survivor Of Princess Diana's Fatal Crash?
Trevor Rees-Jones was the only one who survived the fateful crash that killed Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul on August 31, 1997. Per Vanity Fair, Fayed's father hired bodyguard Rees-Jones to watch over his son. Sitting in the front seat next to Paul, Rees-Jones took a direct hit when the cars collided. Later on, in a 2000 interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," he spoke about being amazed that he survived. "I can't believe it to be honest," he said. "Anytime I look at the vehicle, it amazes me how anyone got out of there alive, especially myself who was sitting in the front seat. So I was just amazed at how lucky I was."
In 2000, Dr. Luc Chikhani, the surgeon who reconstructed Rees-Jones' face following the accident, appeared on ITV's "Tonight" to discuss the extent of Rees-Jones' injuries (per the BBC). "I have never seen so many fractures on a man who was still alive," Dr. Chikhani shared, revealing that Rees-Jones had a "completely flat" face consisting of a smashed nose, a broken jaw, and eyes not where they were meant to be.
The bodyguard suffered traumatic injuries and memory loss
Trevor Rees-Jones suffered greatly after the crash. Per The Guardian, in 2000, he said he was experiencing "survivor's guilt," sharing, "I thought a while ago it would be a lot less hassle if I wasn't around, and things could have moved on." The same year he published a book titled "The Bodyguard's Story: Diana, the Crash, and the Sole Survivor." At the time, the bodyguard revealed that accusations from Dodi Fayed's father prompted him to write the book — not monetary gain. "He [Fayed's father] has now accused myself and Kez [Rees-Jones' fellow bodyguard] of saying that our lack of professionalism — as is his words, not mine — our lack of professionalism contributed or caused the accident that killed his son and the princess," Rees-Jones told Mike Wallace during a "60 Minutes" interview (via CBS News).
Interestingly, Dr. Luc Chikhani also mentioned how the media attention surrounding Trevor Rees-Jones wasn't about his well-being at all. "No one seemed to care about this man who was wounded," he told "Tonight." "My aim was to take care of him, but there were people from the Secret Service and police from England and France that came to ask when they could talk to him, but no one asked how he was recovering."
He was effectively cleared of blame and has kept a low profile
In 2008, a Britain coroner's inquest probed the circumstances of the crash. During the inquest, Trevor Rees-Jones was questioned but admitted that he still had difficulty remembering the accident and the details of the night 11 years after it occurred (via CNN). The probe concluded that the crash was the result of Henri Paul's erratic driving combined with the paparazzi who chased Princess Diana, essentially clearing Rees-Jones of any blame given to him by Dodi Fayed's father.
Since the crash, Rees-Jones has had several security-related jobs. According to the Daily Mail, Rees-Jones worked for the United Nations from 2000 to 2002, and for oil company Halliburton from 2011 to 2017 — including a period in Iraq during the Iraq War. In 2019, he became head of global security at biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. As for his personal life, Mail Online reports that Rees-Jones married teacher Ann Scott in 2002. He has kept a low profile for the past few years.