Princess Diana's Bodyguard Says She Was Planning The Same Big Move As Prince Harry Before Her Death
Her son did what she always wanted to do.
FiledImage/Shutterstock/Wikimedia Commons A new book written by the late Princess Diana’s bodyguard details her final days, and a secret revelation about what she planned for the future.
The book, “Protecting Diana: A Bodyguard’s Story,” was written by Lee Sansum and was released on August 30.
Sansum was a former bodyguard hired to work on one of the princess’ final excursions in the summer of 1997 to Saint Tropez, France, that she attended alongside her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and two children, William, who was 15 at the time, and Harry who was 12.
Princess Diana's former bodyguard claims she was planning to move to the US.
“My time with the princess, it was only a short period in my life, but it had a bigger impact on my life forever,” Sansum said in an interview with Us Weekly. “I think because of the 25th anniversary of her death coming up soon, people are just interested in the princess all over the world.”
RELATED: Princess Diana May Have Predicted Her Own Death In A Haunting Note
According to Sansum, the princess was “an amazing lady” and “down-to-earth” who always treated her staff kindly.
“We had some great conversations, and she was a normal person,” he said.
In one of those conversations, Diana revealed to Sansum that she had plans to move to the U.S. “She told me she liked the people in the States,” Sansum told Inside Edition. “She liked the way she was treated there, she liked the way the press treated her.”
He added that Diana intended to stay in the United States once she moved and not return to the U.K.
She was overwhelmed and upset by the treatment of the British media.
“I could tell she was fuming,” Sansum wrote in his book about Diana being photographed by the paparazzi during their trip. “Suddenly she announced to us, ‘Right, I’m going out there now to tell them that I’m off to America for good.'”
Of course, we know that the princess sadly never made the move to the States.
She was killed in a car accident, along with Fayed and their driver, on August 31, 1997, while they were fleeing from the paparazzi.
Diana’s plans to move to the U.S. are parallel to those of her son, Prince Harry, who moved to the States in 2020 with his wife, Meghan Markle.
Like his mother, Harry desired to break free from the British media, claiming that it was “destroying” his mental health and he faced insufferable pressure as a royal.
"We all know what the British press can be like, and it was destroying my mental health," Harry said in an interview with James Corden in 2021. "I was like, this is toxic. So I did what any husband and what any father would do."
Harry and Meghan have announced in an Instagram post that they would not be returning to the U.K to resume their royal duties.
“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.” they captioned the post. “It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.”
Sansum made note of Prince Harry’s decision and tied it back to his late mother.
“He knows that his mother regarded the States as a sanctuary of a safe place,” he told Inside Edition.
Following their vacation, Diana, William and Harry penned a note to Sansum, thanking him for his treatment of them.
“We realize that our presence, along with that of the media, made your job enormously difficult, and for that we apologize!” the note said. “However, we all had a magical ten days — which would not have been possible without your invaluable contribution and for that, we all send our warmest possible thanks!”
Sansum added that he believes that the princess would still be alive had he been present in the car before the collision. “Had I been on that trip to Paris, I can say without a shadow of a doubt they would have had their seatbelts on.”
The sole survivor of the crash was the bodyguard on duty at the time, Trevor Rees-Jones.
He was the only one in the vehicle who was wearing a seatbelt.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.