Meeting Diana for the First Time

Wharfe, who protected Diana from 1987 to 1993, remembers their first meeting vividly. She made an immediate impression.

“As I walked into the room,” Wharfe recalled, “Diana said, ‘I don’t envy you, Ken, looking after my kids. They can be a bloody nuisance.’”

Young William spun around and replied, “No, we’re not a bloody nuisance!” Moments later, Harry fell off a table.

Diana quickly gathered them and ushered them out. “You see what I mean, Ken?” she said, shaking her head.

That moment, Wharfe said, changed everything. He wasn’t speaking to a royal — he was speaking to a mother.

Diana’s Spirit

He described her as fun, relatable, and sometimes deeply sad. “She had a wicked sense of humor,” he said. “I felt incredibly privileged to be part of her life.”

The Mistakes That Changed History

1. The Wrong Driver

On that August night in 1997, Diana left the Ritz Hotel with Dodi Fayed, Henri Paul (the hotel’s head of security), and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones. Paul drove — and was reportedly intoxicated.

Wharfe says that decision changed everything.

“The one thing that would have saved Diana’s life that night,” he claimed, “was if they’d kicked out the chauffeur and let Rees-Jones drive.”

But Rees-Jones didn’t have the authority. “Had he made that call,” Wharfe added, “we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

2. A Risky Plan to Outrun the Paparazzi

Diana and Dodi hoped to avoid photographers by sneaking out through the Ritz’s back exit. A decoy car was placed out front, while they quietly left in a black Mercedes.

Henri Paul, called in from home, drove. He was over four times the legal alcohol limit. The car crashed at high speed, killing all but Rees-Jones.

Wharfe believes this effort to outsmart the press — without involving local police — was a critical error.

“They saw the media as the enemy,” he said. “Had they coordinated with police, this might have been avoided entirely.”

3. No Security Detail

Perhaps the most preventable mistake was Diana’s decision to drop her royal protection.

After her 1992 separation from Prince Charles, she eventually dismissed her Scotland Yard team.

Just weeks before, Wharfe had warned her:
“If there’s one piece of advice I can give you,” he told her, “don’t lose the Scotland Yard security. We gave you freedom and normality — that could have continued.”

But she let them go. Wharfe believes Queen Elizabeth could have intervened.

“You can’t force security on someone,” he said. “But if it had been offered, I believe she would have accepted it.”

A Lasting Impact

Diana’s passing sent shockwaves around the globe. Her funeral became a moment of national mourning. The images of the crash — and the questions — have never faded.

To this day, Ken Wharfe stands by his belief: three decisions sealed her fate.

Do you agree with him?