Photos
of
Princess
Diana
dying
in
a
Paris
tunnel
would
cause
Prince
William
and
Prince
Harry
"acute
distress" if
shown
on
TV,
Clarence
House
has
said
today.
Channel
4
is
due
to
broadcast
a
documentary
on
the
death
of
Diana,
'The
Witnesses
in
the
Tunnel',
tomorrow,
in
which
controversial
images
of
the
August
31st
1997
crash
are
to
be
shown.
One
of
the
photos
shows
the
crashed
car
which
Diana
had
been
travelling
in
while
she
was
still
in
the
wreckage
and
another
depicts
a
medic
administering
emergency
treatment
to
the
Princess
of
Wales
in
an
ambulance.
The
private
secretary
to
the
princes
has
written
to
the
broadcaster
asking
them
to
remove
the
images
from
the
documentary.
And
in
a
highly
unusual
step
by
the
royal
household,
after
it
received
no
response
from
Channel
4,
the
full
letter
from
Jamie
Lowther-Pinkerton
has
been
published
on
the
Clarence
House
website.
"In
publishing
the
letter,
the
princes
reluctantly
feel
that
they
have
been
left
no
choice
but
to
make
it
clear
publicly
that
they
believe
the
broadcast
of
these
photographs
to
be
wholly
inappropriate,
deeply
distressing
to
them
and
to
the
relatives
of
the
others
who
died
that
night,
and
a
gross
disrespect
to
their
mother's
memory," a
Clarence
House
statement
read.
In
the
letter
itself,
Mr
Lowther-Pinkerton
thanks
Channel
4
for
allowing
the
royal
household
to
see
the
documentary
in
advance.
He
explains
that
he
"verbally
briefed"
the
princes
on
the
content
of
the
programme
and
that
they
asked
him
to
"communicate
to
you
in
the
strongest
terms
possible
that
their
position
remains
unchanged"
from
the
comments
they
made
when
the
Italian
magazine
Chi
published
a
photograph
of
the
scene
in
July
2006.
On
that
occasion
the
princes
said
that
publishing
such
material
"causes
great
hurt
to
us,
our
father,
our
mother's
family
and
all
those
who
so
loved
and
respected
her".
Mr
Lowther-Pinkerton
goes
on
to
question
whether
showing
the
images
is
a
matter
of
public
interest
and
calls
on
the
broadcaster
to
respond
with
their
position
on
the
matter
by
09:00
BST
yesterday.
"These
photographs,
regardless
of
the
fact
that
they
do
not
actually
show
the
princess' features,
are
redolent
with
the
atmosphere
and
tragedy
of
the
closing
moments
of
her
life,"
he
writes.
"As
such,
they
will
cause
the
princes
acute
distress
if
they
are
shown
to
a
public
audience,
not
just
for
themselves,
but
also
on
their
mother's
behalf,
in
the
sense
of
intruding
upon
the
privacy
and
dignity
of
her
last
minutes."
In
a
statement,
Channel
4
defended
its
position
and
reaffirmed
its
intention
to
broadcast
the
images
in
the
documentary
tomorrow.
"Channel
4
acknowledges
the
concerns
expressed
by
the
princes
William
and
Harry
about
the
documentary;
we
would
like
to
make
clear
that
it
was
not
our
intention
in
commissioning
this
programme
to
cause
them
distress
and
we
do
not
believe
the
film
is
in
any
way
disrespectful
to
the
memory
of
Princess
Diana,"
head
of
Channel
4
Julian
Bellamy
said.
"We
have
weighed
the
princes'
concerns
against
the
legitimate
public
interest
we
believe
there
is
in
the
subject
of
this
documentary
and
in
the
still
photography
it
includes.No
images
of
the
victims
of
the
crash
are
shown
in
this
film
because
we
made
a
clear
decision
from
the
outset
to
uphold
the
consensus
quite
properly
reached
by
the
British
media
not
to
use
any
images
that
depict
the
occupants
of
the
car
after
the
crash.
Those
images
that
are
included
have
been
selected
with
due
consideration
for
the
feelings
of
the
relatives
of
those
involved."