20 years on, how the newspapers announced the death of Diana, Princess of Wales

The headline of the Sunday Mirror on this day 20 years ago. Photo: Royal Central

It has been twenty years since the news that shocked the world was announced: Diana, Princess of Wales had been killed in a Paris car crash in the early morning of 31 August 1997 alongside her partner, Dodi Al Fayed.

It was breaking news all across the world and the headline story in the majority of papers. Historic Newspapers has published an edition of their newspaper history series about Diana called Princess Diana Book – 20th Anniversary Edition. In it, the cover of the Sunday Mirror is shown from 31 August, as well as the subsequent pages about the crash in France.

The book shows five pages from the Midday Edition with the headline “Diana Dead.” It then speaks about how the paparazzi were to blame, mentioning the seven motorbike chasers that were arrested that night. The Princess’s car, driven by Henri Paul, was believed to have been travelling up to 120mph to escape the paparazzi that had been chasing them since they left the Ritz Hotel. An inquest would later say it was not the fault of the paparazzi but of Paul who lost control of the car while driving drunk.