The Sun - Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
TREVOR Rees-Jones hit the headlines in 1997 following the fatal crash that killed Princess Diana.
The former bodyguard of the Princess of Wales was the sole survivor of the crash but suffered life-changing injuries.
1
Trevor Rees-Jones was born on March 3, 1968, in Rinteln, Germany.
He was the middle son of three boys born to British Army surgeon Colin Rees and his wife Gill who was a nurse.
The family moved to Oswestry, a town close to the Welsh border when he was ten years old, where he attended the Fitzalan School and met his future wife Sue Jones.
Trevor enrolled in the Combined Cadet Force at school and after his A-levels joined the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, serving one tour in Northern Ireland.
In 1995, he went to work as a private security guard for Harrods owner Mohammed al-Fayed, father to Dodi Fayed, and later Princess Diana.
While working for Mohamed al-Fayed, he started doing security for his playboy son Dodi, and later his girlfriend Princess Diana.
He accompanied them on a holiday in the summer of 1997, when the tragic car crash took place.
The bodyguard later shut down claims by his former boss that Dodi and Diana had chosen an engagement ring together in Monte Carlo a week before they died in Paris.
On August 30, Dodi and Diana stopped in Paris on their way to London after spending nine days on Dodi’s yacht in the Med.
They intended to stay at the Ritz hotel owned by Dodi’s father, but found themselves ambushed by paparazzi.
Ritz head of security Henri Paul hatched a plan to leave by the back door to dodge photographers and drive to Dodi’s apartment near the Champs Elysées.
The black Mercedes S280 limo driven by Mr Paul crashed into a pillar at 65mph in the early hours of August 31, 1997, at the Pont de l’Alma underpass.
The driver and Dodi were killed instantly, and Diana died soon after in hospital.
Trevor spent ten days in a coma after the crash, suffering severe brain and chest injuries.
Every bone in his face was broken.
Surgeons used 150 pieces of titanium to rebuild his smashed face, using family photos as a guide.
He still bears the scars from the 1997 accident.
Trevor also suffered profound memory loss, and struggles to remember many details from the crash.
An investigation found none of the four people in the car were wearing seat belts.
Tests showed the driver was three times the drink-drive limit.
An inquest jury found Diana was unlawfully killed by Mr Paul’s dangerous driving and the actions of the pursuing paparazzi.
Trevor is now reportedly working as the global head of security for vaccine giant AstraZeneca.
A source told The Sun: “His life is quiet and uneventful now. He certainly doesn’t court publicity or speak much about it. He’s tried to move on and get on with his life.”
The Mail tells how Trevor has rebuilt his life since the infamous crash.
His LinkedIn profile describes him as being based in Shrewsbury and having experience in international operations.
Following the crash, Trevor returned to England and quit his job with al-Fayed.
He was interviewed four times by French authorities but said he could not recall the incident.
He later claimed his boss had put “intense” pressure on him to remember details from the night his son was killed.
Trevor moved back to Shropshire where he was nursed back to health by mum Gill and step-dad Ernie. He worked for a time in a friend’s sports shop.
In 2000, he published a book called The Bodyguard’s Story: Diana, The Crash, And The Sole Survivor, which earned him a rumoured £1million.
But most of that is said to have been consumed up by legal fees after he was embroiled in a series of lawsuits with al-Fayed in England and France.
He had split from his first wife Sue months before the crash. In 2003 he married second wife Ann Scott, a teacher.
Trevor recovered well enough to turn out for a local rugby team in North Wales and set up a business as a security consultant.
In 2008, he worked in war-torn Iraq before he was called to give evidence at the inquest, his face still deeply scarred more than a decade on.
He told the coroner he had vague memories of a motorbike alongside the vehicle, and a woman’s voice calling out “Dodi” but he was not sure if they were real memories.
He also denied claims by al-Fayed that he was part of a cover up after Diana and Dodi were killed by MI6 on the orders of Prince Philip.
Trevor said: “I am not part of a conspiracy to suppress the truth at all. All I have ever done is give the truth as I see it.”
In 2016, Diana’s former police protection officer Ken Wharfe blamed Trevor for letting the princess get into the Mercedes.
Trevor said in the inquest into Diana’s death that the last thing he remembered of the night was climbing into the car at the Ritz.
He said in an interview three years after the crash: “I’m the only person who can tell people for real, and I can’t remember.”
Speaking at the inquest, he explained Henri Paul’s plan to dodge the paparazzi by driving the Princess and Dodi in one of the hotel’s limos out the back.
He said “I wasn’t happy as it meant Dodi would be splitting the security officers, but I went along with it.
“Initially, I had been told that Dodi and Diana would travel without security and I said this would not happen, that I would travel in the vehicle with them.”