Princess Diana’s Fatal Car Crash: Where Is The Bodyguard Who Survived Now? – Nicki Swift

Princess Diana’s tragic death at 36 after a paparazzi car chase that ended in a high-speed crash in Paris shook the world in 1997, with only one person miraculously making it out alive: Trevor Rees-Jones, her acting bodyguard at the time. The accident killed not just Diana but her boyfriend, Egyptian scion Dodi Fayed, and 41-year-old Ritz employee Henri Paul, who was their driver. Almost 30 years after the tragedy, Rees-Jones, who was employed by Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, and had been tasked to look after Dodi and by extension, Diana, has gone on to live a normal life, away from the public’s watchful gaze that has followed him since that fateful night.

In 2022, he was spotted for the first time in years in his home county of Shropshire, England, where Rees-Jones currently resides with his wife, Ann Scott, and their two children. He was photographed behind the wheel with visible scars on his face from the injuries he sustained during the accident. Since leaving the Fayeds in 1998, Rees-Jones — who now goes by Trevor Rees after separating from his first wife, Sue Jones — has continued to work in security; his LinkedIn profile states that he held jobs with the United Nations and several other private companies before eventually joining the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in Cambridge. He has served as the company’s head of global security since 2019.

As a source told The Sun, “Trevor is living a peaceful life,” although, “The enormity of what happened that night is still with him and the scars are visible.” They also stated, “His life is quiet and uneventful now. He certainly doesn’t court publicity or speak much about it,” adding, “He’s tried to move on and get on with his life.”

It’s hard to imagine the sheer shock and terror Trevor Rees-Jones must have felt knowing that he was the only person who survived the crash that ultimately killed Princess Diana and two others. The former bodyguard has spoken out at length about the tragedy and the devastating impact it had on his life, telling The Mirror several months after the accident (via Deseret News), “I felt terrible.” He then added, “It was just so shocking. I just assumed that everyone else was OK, too. It never crossed my mind that I was the only one.” Despite the whole thing being an accident, Rees-Jones confessed that he dealt with a lot of survivor’s guilt afterward. As he told the paper, “In my case the people who died were special people. It doesn’t seem right that I should be the only one who lived.”

And yet he did — though he didn’t walk away unscathed. Rees-Jones ended up spending a month in the hospital and was in a coma for 10 days with severe injuries on his head and chest that left him needing major surgery (hence the facial scars). It was a miracle to him and anyone else that he survived. “I can’t believe it to be honest,” he told CNN previously. “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.” Nevertheless, he didn’t want the tragedy to define who he was. “I am more than a car accident,” the former bodyguard said in an interview with The Guardian, adding, “There is more to me than just a car accident.”