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arrived on the scene and the doctor that arrived in the ambulance took over Diana’s care. Even
before she was moved to the ambulance, she suffered a heart attack and was given cardiac massage
and a respiratory tube was inserted into her mouth to help her breath (pp. 373-374). It took an hour
of medical attention at the scene to stabilize her and to remove her from the wreckage after which
she was moved to the ambulance and taken to La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital for emergency surgery
(Morton, 2010, p. 275). According to Bradford (2007) the ambulance had to stop on the way as
Diana’s blood pressure dropped to a dangerous level and she was put on a ventilator. At the hospital,
her severe internal injuries were revealed and she also suffered a second heart attack. The doctors
did everything they could, but Diana’s injuries were too severe, and at 3 a.m. (British time) on
Sunday 31 August, she was pronounced dead. Her death was officially announced at 4.45 a.m.
(British time) (pp. 373-376).
According to Seward (2000) the first to know
of the accident was the Queen, who had been woken
up at 2 a.m. and told the news. Prince Charles was informed at almost the same time (pp. 12-13).
At the time, the news was that Diana had been involved in a car crash in which Dodi Fayed had died
and Diana was injured, but still alive: the extent of her injuries was not known (Junor, 2014, p. 88).
Seward (2000) writes that it was not long until nearly all of the people at Balmoral, where the Royal
Family was staying at the time, were awake and those that were needed were already at their
assigned posts. Sir Robin Janvrin, the Queen’s deputy private secretary, was the one who was in
contact with the Paris embassy as the events unfolded. The Queen and Prince Charles were joined
by Prince Philip and together they contemplated how to proceed. The most important thing,
however, was to discover how badly Diana had been injured in the accident. Their second concern
were the boys, Princes William and Harry, who were still asleep in their beds and whether or not
they should be woken up and informed of the situation (pp. 12-13). The Queen and Prince Charles
decided against it, deciding that the boys should not be told of the news until the situation was
absolutely clear (Bradford, 2007, pp. 375-376).
Prince Charles consulted Mark Bolland, his deputy private secretary, in London to acquire more
information about the crash and why Diana was in Paris in the first place, after which he decided to
travel to France to be with her (Seward, 2000, p. 13). According to Bradford (2007) it was unclear