Exclusive – Diana would still be here if I’d been on duty, ex-bodyguard claims
HE is Princess Diana’s bodyguard. He was also the one she had heart-to–hearts with, sharing her worst fears and future plans.
And 25 years on from her death, Lee Sansum says he is adamant she would be alive today if he had been with her on the night she died alongside Dodi Fayed in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
In an exclusive interview, Lee has told how security guards drew straws to accompany bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones in the car, and he lost.
He also reveals the fun bets he had with a young Prince and how he treasures a letter from Diana thanking him for making her final sunshine holiday in St Tropez “magical” — and her fears she may be assassinated.
Lee, now 60, said: “It could have been me in that car.
“We drew straws to see who would be accompanying Trevor that weekend. I pulled a match, and it was long.
“When I learned they were not wearing seatbelts in the crash I understood why they didn’t survive. That shouldn’t have happened.
“It was standard practice for the family to wear seatbelts. It was an order sent down from the boss, Dodi’s dad Mohamed Fayed. Dodi, in particular, hated wearing seatbelts and I always insisted on it.”