In a revelation that has sent shockwaves rippling through Buckingham Palace and reignited the world’s endless fascination with the People’s Princess, Steve Davies – Diana’s trusted chauffeur for eight gruelling years – has broken a 28-year vow of silence. With tears in his eyes and a voice cracking under the weight of unspoken grief, the 62-year-old ex-Army veteran has delivered a gut-wrenching confession: “If I’d been driving that night in Paris, Diana would still be here today. I’d have taken a bullet for her. My job was my life.”

The words, uttered exclusively to the Daily Mail in a dimly lit London pub on this crisp October afternoon, hang heavy in the air like the fog over the Seine on that tragic summer’s eve in 1997. Davies, a burly figure with salt-and-pepper hair and hands still calloused from years gripping the wheel of royal Bentleys, has carried this burden alone for nearly three decades. Fired without explanation just 18 months before the crash that claimed Diana’s life, he watched from afar as conspiracy theories swirled like exhaust fumes around the Pont de l’Alma underpass. Now, with the scars of betrayal freshly reopened by a BBC payout and the lingering shadow of Martin Bashir’s deceit, he’s ready to speak – and what he reveals could shatter the fragile peace the Windsors have clung to since that fateful dawn.

Buckingham Palace is said to be in “absolute turmoil,” with aides scrambling to contain the fallout. King Charles III, 76 and battling the echoes of his own health woes, was reportedly “as white as a ghost” when briefed, his mind flashing back to the raw agony of 1997, when the world turned its fury on the Firm. Queen Camilla, ever the steadfast consort, has been by his side, but even she – hardened by decades of royal intrigue – is said to be “reeling from the injustice of it all.” Prince William and Kate, the golden couple of the modern monarchy, have retreated to Adelaide Cottage, their children shielded from the headlines that scream betrayal and what-ifs. And Prince Harry? The Duke of Sussex, exiled in Montecito, is said to be “furious” – not just at the Palace, but at a system that let his mother’s loyalists fall by the wayside.

; it’s a seismic indictment of the media machine that devoured Diana and her inner circle. Davies’s bombshell – that he was collateral damage in Bashir’s crooked quest for the Panorama scoop – exposes not just one man’s shattered career, but a web of lies that may have indirectly paved the road to tragedy. As Davies puts it: “Bashir didn’t just steal my livelihood; he stole my chance to save her.” With the 28th anniversary of Diana’s death looming next year, this confession threatens to unleash a torrent of fresh scrutiny. Was the crash truly an accident, or did the paranoia sown by Bashir’s fabrications contribute to the chaos that night? The Palace trembles, the nation mourns anew, and the ghost of Diana – radiant, rebellious, irreplaceable – rises once more. Scroll down for the full, heart-rending exclusive…

The Man Behind the Wheel: Steve Davies’s Unbreakable Bond with Diana

Steve Davies wasn’t just a driver; he was Diana’s confidant, her shield, her silent sentinel through the stormiest seas of her royal life. A former soldier who joined the royal fleet in 1988, Davies cut his teeth ferrying Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip before being handpicked for Diana’s detail in 1993 – right after her explosive separation from Charles was announced. “She was electric,” he recalls, his eyes lighting up at the memory. “One minute we’d be chatting about the boys’ school runs, the next dissecting the latest Palace snub. She trusted me with her secrets because I never judged.”

Picture it: June 29, 1994, the night of the infamous Serpentine Gallery party. As Charles confessed to his own infidelity on live TV, Diana stepped out in that black Christina Stambolian “Revenge Dress” – a slinky number that screamed defiance. Davies was at the wheel of the Jaguar, heart pounding as flashes exploded like gunfire. “She slid in, looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘Steve, tonight we’re dancing.’ I knew then she was unbreakable.” Over the next two years, he navigated her through minefields: secret lunches with Prime Ministers, clandestine visits to AIDS hospices, and heart-to-hearts in the back of the car about her crumbling marriage. “She’d cry, rage, laugh – all in one drive. I was her sounding board.”

But paradise shattered in late 1995. Davies noticed the chill first: Diana’s once-warm greetings turned frosty, her requests for him dwindled. By March 1996, he was “made redundant” – a polite Palace euphemism for sacked without cause. “One day I’m her rock; the next, I’m persona non grata. No explanation, no goodbye. It gutted me.” He spiralled: redundancy pay barely covered the bills, his marriage strained under the shame. “I went from dream job to zero overnight. Thought I’d done something unforgivable.”

For 27 years, the why gnawed at him. Then, in 2022, binge-watching The Crown Season 5, the penny dropped. There it was: Martin Bashir, the silver-tongued BBC journalist, weaving his web of deceit. To land the Panorama exclusive – that 1995 interview where Diana declared “there were three of us in this marriage” – Bashir had fabricated a conspiracy. Fake bank statements, phantom MI5 plots, and whispers of betrayal. And Davies? Smack in the crosshairs. Bashir told Diana and her brother Earl Spencer that Steve was “feeding stories to the Today newspaper – change your chauffeur.” Earl’s contemporaneous notes, unearthed in the 2021 Dyson Inquiry, captured it verbatim: “Steve Davies feeds TODAY newspaper; change your chauffeur.”

“I felt sick,” Davies says now, fists clenched. “Bashir didn’t just lie; he poisoned her against me. She died thinking I’d sold her out. That’s the real tragedy.” The Dyson report vindicated him posthumously for Diana, but the damage was done. Davies sued the BBC for slander in 2023, settling in May 2024 for a “substantial” sum – enough to clear his name, but not the heartache. “It was profound regret on their part,” his lawyer Persephone Bridgman Baker told the High Court. “Steve was devastated; he couldn’t correct the record before her death.”

Today, Davies drives for private clients – anonymous tycoons, not tiaras – but the what-ifs haunt him. “I’d have spotted the paps a mile off. Slowed down, taken a detour. Henri Paul? He wasn’t ready for that pressure cooker.”

The Fatal Night Revisited: What Davies Knows – And What He Suspects

Rewind to August 30, 1997. Diana, 36 and freshly single after her divorce from Charles, was holidaying on Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht Jonikal with Dodi Fayed, the Harrods heir. Romance buzzed in the air, but so did danger: paps swarmed like locusts, their long lenses capturing every kiss. Davies, long gone from the payroll, watched the news unfold with a sinking heart. “I texted a mutual friend: ‘Get her out of there. She’s exposed.’”

By 12:23 a.m. on August 31, Diana and Dodi were in Paris, fleeing the Ritz Hotel in a Mercedes S280 driven by deputy security chief Henri Paul. Trevor Rees-Jones, the bodyguard, rode shotgun; Diana and Dodi in the back. The plan? Evade the seven – no, nine – pursuing photographers roaring through the streets on motorbikes. Into the Pont de l’Alma tunnel they plunged, a 65-foot plunge at 65 mph. Then, catastrophe: Paul veered left, smashing into Pillar 13. The car accordioned like tinfoil. Paul and Dodi dead on impact. Rees-Jones, belted in, miraculously survived with catastrophic injuries. Diana? Pulled from the wreckage semi-conscious, her last words to firefighter Xavier Gourmelon a haunting plea: “My God, what’s happened?”

Gourmelon, speaking on Good Morning Britain‘s 20th anniversary special in 2017, recalled the scene: “She was agitated, no blood visible – just shoulder injuries. I calmed her, but she slipped into coma. We did CPR; she revived briefly for the ambulance. I thought she’d pull through.” At Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, four agonising hours later, another cardiac arrest at 4 a.m. Pronounced dead at 4:07. The world stopped.

Official verdicts? France’s probe pinned it on Paul’s intoxication (blood alcohol three times the limit) and reckless speed. Britain’s Operation Paget inquest, 2004-2008, ruled “unlawful killing” by grossly negligent driving – no conspiracy, just human error. No seatbelts (save Rees-Jones), a Fiat Uno’s white paint flecks suggesting a mystery hit-and-run, but no smoking gun. Yet doubts linger: Al-Fayed’s wild claims of MI6 assassination, the delayed ambulance, the embalming in France.

Davies scoffs at the grand plots but sees Bashir’s shadow everywhere. “That Panorama interview amped the paranoia. Diana was terrified of betrayal – thanks to his lies. If I’d been there, she’d have trusted the route, the speed. Paul was a drinker; I knew the signs. And the paps? I’d have lost them in the alleys.” He pauses, voice thickening. “She wrote that note in 1995 – ‘a car accident’ predicted. After Bashir, she saw enemies everywhere. My sacking? It isolated her further.”

Rees-Jones, the sole survivor, echoed similar regrets in his 2000 memoir: “If only we’d had better security.” Now 55 and scarred, he lives quietly, haunted by amnesia of the crash. Contacted by the Daily Mail, he declined comment but a source close says: “Steve’s right – loyalty mattered. Diana needed people like him.”

Palace Whispers: Charles’s Guilt, Camilla’s Consolation, and the Waleses’ Retreat

Word of Davies’s interview reached the Palace like a grenade. King Charles, at Highgrove tending his organic veg – a balm for his cancer-weary soul – was “devastated,” insiders whisper. The divorce finalised just months before the crash, Charles has long shouldered the blame for Diana’s unhappiness. “This reopens everything,” a courtier says. “He adored her in his way; the guilt never fades.” Camilla, 78, has been “a tower,” hosting quiet suppers laced with reminiscence. “She lost a rival but gained a sister-in-law’s respect,” notes royal biographer Hugo Vickers. “Camilla gets it – betrayal cuts deep.”

William and Kate? The Prince and Princess of Wales, 43 apiece, are “furious at the BBC’s legacy,” per a friend. After Kate’s own cancer battle, they’ve poured energy into the next-gen monarchy: William’s Earthshot Prize, Kate’s early years crusade. But Diana’s ghost? Ever-present. “They shield George, Charlotte, Louis fiercely,” the friend adds. “This? It’s a reminder of why.” A Kensington Palace source hints at a family huddle: “William’s spoken to Steve – privately. Respect for his service.”

Harry, 41, is apoplectic in California. Post-Spare, he’s persona non grata, but this? “It’s validation,” says a Montecito insider. “Meghan’s all in – they see Bashir as the thin end of the Palace-media wedge.” Rumours swirl of a sequel memoir chapter: The Betrayed Chauffeur.

And the Spencers? Earl Charles, scarred by his own Bashir deception, is “supportive but silent,” per family ties. “He pushed for the inquiry; this vindicates Steve.”

The Media Monster: Bashir’s Legacy of Lies

Martin Bashir, knighted then tarnished, died in 2024 amid the stench of his schemes. The Dyson Inquiry branded him “deceitful,” his fake docs a “serious breach.” Davies’s payout? A footnote, but seismic. “He robbed me of my shot at redemption,” Steve says. “Diana died doubting me – that’s unforgivable.”

The Crown‘s dramatisation? Davies watched, weeping. “Elizabeth Debicki nailed her – vulnerable, fierce. But seeing Bashir name me? Cathartic rage.” Netflix faced heat for “fictionalising trauma,” but Davies shrugs: “Truth’s out now.”

Broader ripples? Trust in royals eroded further. Polls show 55% still believe “foul play” in the crash; Davies’s words fuel the fire. “Not conspiracy,” he clarifies, “but negligence born of distrust.”

Echoes of 1997: The World’s Unhealing Wound

Diana’s death – 2 billion watched her funeral – birthed global grief. Flowers piled high at Kensington gates; “Queen of Hearts” etched eternal. Charities boomed; landmines banned. But scars? Raw. Davies attended the funeral incognito, uniform traded for civvies. “Seeing the boys walk behind the coffin? Broke me.”

Today, he volunteers with ex-servicemen, drives for charity. “Diana taught me compassion. I’d trade the payout for one more drive.” As October sun sets, he toasts: “To Di – the light that never dims.”

The Palace? A statement: “The family appreciates Mr Davies’s service and regrets past pains.” But whispers say more: a quiet donation to his causes, perhaps.

Diana’s legacy? Unassailable. William’s Homelessness pledge, Harry’s Invictus – her blood runs true. As Davies signs off: “She’d be 64, doting grandma, world-changer. If only…”

This confession? Not closure, but a clarion call. For truth, for loyalty, for the Princess who danced in the storm. The Palace trembles – but Diana? She soars. Stay with Daily Mail for more…