New Questions Over Princess Diana’s Nearly 2-Hour Ambulance Delay After Fatal Paris Crash

Nearly three decades after Princess Diana’s death, a group of crime experts is raising fresh questions about one of the most debated details from that tragic night — why did it take nearly two hours to get her to the hospital?

Diana, 36, was fatally injured in the early-morning crash inside Paris’ Pont de l’Alma tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997.

Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul were also killed. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived.

Now, a new episode of Fox’s Celebrity Crime Scene has put the spotlight back on the emergency response, with three experts questioning whether critical time was lost.

According to the program, the crash happened at approximately 12:23 a.m., but Diana did not arrive at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital until around 2:06 a.m.

That meant the trip from the crash scene to the hospital — less than four miles away — took roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes from the time of the collision.

Investigative crime journalist Jackson Buhaj said the timeline left him feeling that “something we are missing” remained unexplained.

He questioned why an ambulance carrying one of the most famous women in the world moved so slowly when Diana was suffering from catastrophic injuries and dangerously low blood pressure.

“There’s a level one trauma center 3.7 miles away, and it takes you an hour and 45 minutes to get her there,” Buhaj said on the show.

Retired Secret Service agent Rich Staropoli was equally troubled by the response.

He argued there appeared to be “no sense of urgency” despite the severity of Diana’s condition and noted the ambulance had a police escort.

The experts also discussed reports that the ambulance stopped during the trip when Diana’s condition deteriorated.

That decision was consistent with the French emergency medical system at the time, which placed a heavy emphasis on stabilizing critically injured patients at the scene and during transport rather than rushing them immediately to a hospital.

But Staropoli said he strongly disagreed with that approach in Diana’s case.

Another major issue raised by the episode involved what happened after Diana’s death.

Forensic scientist Kerry Daynes questioned the decision to embalm Diana less than 24 hours later.

Daynes explained that embalming removes blood and other bodily fluids, potentially eliminating the ability to perform certain later toxicology or medical tests.

The experts also revisited decades-old rumors that Diana may have been pregnant at the time of her death.

Those claims have circulated for years, but official investigations have not established that Diana was pregnant or that her death was the result of a murder plot.

A lengthy British inquiry known as Operation Paget investigated conspiracy allegations surrounding Diana’s death and ultimately found no evidence supporting claims that she had been assassinated.

The show’s experts nevertheless questioned whether more forensic evidence should have been preserved.

They were also critical of how quickly the crash site was cleared.

Buhaj claimed authorities moved rapidly to clean the tunnel, while Staropoli criticized reports that sanitation workers washed down portions of the scene and that the wrecked Mercedes was removed.

Daynes said preserving a potentially suspicious scene is crucial for forensic investigators.

“Preservation is everything,” she said.

The circumstances surrounding Diana’s death have fueled speculation for nearly 30 years.

French investigators concluded that driver Henri Paul was intoxicated and driving at high speed while attempting to escape photographers.

A British jury later concluded Diana and Fayed were unlawfully killed as a result of the grossly negligent driving of Paul and the pursuing paparazzi.

Investigators also determined that Diana was not wearing a seat belt.

The Celebrity Crime Scene experts said that detail may have been one of the most important factors of all, suggesting Diana might have had a far greater chance of surviving the violent crash had she been properly restrained.

Still, the unusually long emergency response remains one of the details that continues to fascinate those who have questioned what happened in Paris that night.

And nearly 30 years later, the experts say the timeline still leaves them asking the same question:

Why did it take so long?