Thread by @DianaDaybyDay

After Diana's death was pronouced at about 4am local time on 31 August 1997 at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, a press conference was arranged at the hospital to announce her death to the world. The Press conference was led by Dr Bruno Riou with Professor Alain Pavie. 1/

Dr Riou told the press conference Diana had been the victim of a high speed car accident. The ambulance service had attempted to recsusitate her but by the time she arrived at Pitié-Salpêtrière she was experiencing serious haemorrhaging and her heart stopped. A thoracotomy 2/

showed that she had torn left pulminory vein and bleeding from it and the thorax had led to her hear stopping. Internal and external cardiac massage for two hours had failed to restore any circulatory activity and death was found to have occurred at 4am.

A visibly shocked... 3/

A visibly shocked British Ambassador to France, Sir Michael Jay, said that the death of the Princess of Wales filled everyone with much shock and much grief.

Later, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin gave a television address in which he gave the French people's deepest...4/

deepest condolences to their friends in the United Kingdom and stated the French people loved Lady Diana.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his reaction when on the way to church in his constituency in County Durham. The Prime Minister began by saying he felt the same 5/

same way everyone in this county felt that morning - absolutely devastated. Mr Blair went onto describe Diana as 'The People's Princess' - a phrase that has become inextricably linked to the public mourning on that day. Tony Blair's press secretary @campbellclaret is attributed6/

as the author of the phrase 'The People's Princess'
The Prime Minister concluded his remarks by stating he had spoken to the Queen and the Prince of Wales before going to Church that morning.

Arrangements were underway to repatriate Diana's body to the United Kingdom and...7/

members of Diana's Kensington Palace Staff including Colin Tebbutt and Paul Burrell were sent over to Paris. Prince Charles along with Diana's sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes would be coming on the Queen's flight to bring her body back to RAF Northolt.8/

It was apparent at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, it was a hot day with unprecedented media activity in many area of the large complex. Colin Tebbutt and Paul Burell saw Diana's body in a side room as the hospital mortuary was deemed to far away for security purposes. 9/

It became clear that Diana's body was not in a presentable condition for her ex-husband and sisters to view. Additionally, President Jacques Chirac, his wife and the Archbishop of Paris also planned to attend the hospital to view Diana's body and pay their respects. 10/

Added to this, it was apparent Diana's body was also starting to decompose. The decision was taken to embalm the body with only perfunctory permission from the Paris prosecutor's office. This was later exploited by Mohamed Fayed in making one of his absurd conspiracy claims. 11/

Of all the untrue claims Mohamed Fayed made, this one about the embalming of Diana's body is one of the most puerile and in particular bad taste. Thankfully it too was easily debunked by the evidence.

Once back in the UK, Diana's body came into the care of the Coroner for..12/

West London, Dr John Burton, and was taken to Hammersmith and Fulham Mortuary for a full autopsy examination. The autopsy concluded she died as a result of the catastrophic injuries she suffered in the crash. No test for pregnancy was undertake but it was obvious from physical13/

physical examination of her uterus that she was not pregnant.

After the autopsy, Diana's body was taken to the Chapel Royal at St James' Palace to lie at rest until it was taken to Kensington Palace on Friday 5 September for her funeral the following day.

Other events... 14/

Other events on 31 August 1997 included the first autopsy of Henri Paul by Dr Dominique Lecomte. @DrRichardShep later reviewed her work for Operation Paget and said it was good quality however she just left gaps in her paperwork which were also exploited by Mohamed Fayed. 15/

Dr Lecomte found that Henri Paul was three times over the French drink drive limit, a fact confirmed by a second autopsy on 4 September and by the witness evidence of the bar staff at the Ritz. 16/

Another potentially significant event on 31 August was the allegation that the deaths of Diana and Dodi Fayed were treated as suspicious by the French and British Authorities and this was later covered up however this allegation is also unreasonable and completely baseless. 17/

For most people in the UK, 31 August 1997 was shock at hearing the news in the morning followed by a day of watching television. There are many clips on YouTube of TV coverage that people have digitised from their old VHS tapes. I recommend this clip 18/

This has been something of a 'brain dump' of what I know of events of 31 August, which I don't usually go into too much detail about as they are covered else where. I will post occaisonal tweets each day over the next week.

Good night. 19/19

#Diana24