The Crown has recreated Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed’s final moments before their fatal car crash in Paris in 1997 – right up until the point where their car entered the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
The harrowing scene comes at the end of episode three of the sixth and final season of Netflix’s royal drama which landed on the streaming service this morning, when Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Dodi (Khalid Abdalla) get into a car outside the Ritz Hotel in Paris to return to the Egyptian film producer’s apartment.
Speaking in a corridor ahead of their ill-fated final journey, Dodi asks Henri Paul – the deputy head of security at the Ritz – if the pair are safe to travel.
Speaking in French, Henri explains that two staffers have taken a decoy vehicle, so the coast is clear for Diana and Dodi.
‘No one will see us leave, trust me,’ he tells Dodi.
The Crown has recreated Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed’s final moments before their fatal car crash in Paris. Elizabeth Debicki as Diana and Khalid Abdalla as Dodi are seen in the daunting scene
But as the couple walk out to the Mercedes-Benz W140 they are flanked by paparazzi.
Ominous music then plays as the driver asks Diana if she’s okay, before Dodi tell Henri – driving the vehicle – ‘allez’.
The clip then cuts out before the crash.
Netflix has previously said the show will not show the crash itself, but will show events leading up to and the aftermath of Diana’s death.
The scene has Diana calling Balmoral to speak to her sons, only to be told be an aide ‘you missed them’.
Diana (played by Elizabeth Debicki) and Dodi (played by Khalid Abdalla) are shown getting into a car outside the Ritz Hotel in Paris
Speaking in a corridor ahead of their ill-fated final journey, Dodi asks Henri Paul – the deputy head of security at the Ritz – if the pair are safe to travel
After rushing into the Mercedes, Diana bows her head and says she is ‘okay’
Henri Paul (Yoann Blanc) is shown. The driver died alongside Diana and Dodi
The clip begins with Diana walking out of a car into the Ritz hotel with boyfriend Dodi Fayed by her side. She is swarmed by paparazzi.
She then steps inside the hotel, where she calls Balmoral to speak to William and Harry.
‘Balmoral Castle ,’ the operator says.
‘Oh, it’s Diana calling for the boys,’ the Princess replies.
Princes William and Harry will be facing fresh anguish today as a newly released clip from from the final season of The Crown shows them missing a phone call from Princess Diana on the day before she died. Elizabeth Debicki is pictured as Diana
The final season of the Windsor biopic is released tomorrow, and will show the lead up to, and fall out from the late Princess of Wales ‘ death. A new clip shows, Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki , calling to speak to her sons, only to be told be an aide ‘you missed them’.
‘You’ve just missed them,’ the aide adds. ‘The princes waited for your call but have gone back out again. Maybe try again at dinner time’.
Diana then looks extremely anguished, silently mouths ‘f**k’ and scrunches up her face in anger. However, she does get to speak to the boys later on.
Other newly released clips include Charles’ despair over telling William and Harry their mother has died and Diana telling Dodi she’s a ‘persona non-grata’ at Balmoral.
The show will also depict the last time Prince William and Prince Harry spoke to their mother – but it will not be a true reflection of the conversation.
In episode four, Diana is depicted as frustrated while in Paris with Dodi, and desperate to return to the UK to see her sons.
After missing one opportunity to speak with them on the phone, Diana finally manages to have a call with Prince William and Prince Harry, where they ask her if she’s going to marry the son of billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed.
The clip begins with Diana walking out of a car into the Ritz hotel with boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed by her side. She is swarmed by paparazzi
She then steps inside the hotel, where she calls Balmoral to speak to William and Harry
The show will also depict the last time Prince William and Prince Harry spoke to their mother – but it will not be a true reflection of the conversation. Rufus Kampa is pictured as Prince William
William and Harry are pictured with Diana in the months before her death
However, according to Prince Harry and Prince William’s accounts of the last phone call he ever had with his mother, this version of events does not quite ring true.
‘I am emphatically not going to marry Dodi. To be honest, I cant wait to come home,’ Diana says in the dramatised version of events.
William then asks his mother if she is ok. She nods and says: ‘I’m ok. Its just a bit mad here. I don’t really understand how I ended up here. Mummy just needs to make some changes to her life, that’s all. But that’s not your problem – that’s mine.’
In a tender moment, she tells her sons she loves them and they reply to say they love her too. She promises to return home the following evening to see them.
Later in the episode, Diana comes to her untimely death in the car accident.
Although it is true that Prince William and Prince Harry shared a phone call with their mother on the last day she was alive, their recollections of the call do not reflect the Netflix series’ depiction.
Speaking in a 2017 documentary Diana: Our Mother, the Princes discussed for the first time the details of their ‘desperately rushed’ final call with the late royal.
Elizabeth Debicki as Diana with her sons .Netflix releases first look images from Part 1 of the final series of The Crown
The show will also show Dodi and Diana’s holiday to Saint Tropez
Earl Spencer, Prince William, Prince Harry and Prince Charles follow the coffin to the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales on September 6, 1997
Recalling the chat, they expressed their regret that they were desperate to go back outside and play with their cousins, who were also at Balmoral.
Harry said: ‘I can’t really, necessarily, remember what I said. But all I do remember is probably, you know, regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was.
‘And if I’d known that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother – the things I would have said to her.’
The fact that Harry, who was 12 at the time of his mother’s death, cannot remember the details of his final conversation with Diana suggests it was not a chat where deep feelings were expressed – rather, an ordinary discussion because neither Diana nor the princes knew it would be their final conversation.
William also said of the call: ‘Harry and I were in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know, ‘see you later’.’
Another clip shows then Prince Charles (Dominic West) speaking to Camilla (Olivia Williams) in the hours after Diana died.
A newly released image from the series finale portrays Princess Diana cosying up to her lover Dodi Fayed, with her devotedly holding her hands around Dodi’s face
The sixth and final series of Netflix ‘s The Crown recreates moving images of Diana’s final summer holiday on board Mohamed Al-Fayed ‘s yacht in the South of France , days before her death in 1997. Pictured above is Elizabeth Debicki recreating the moment
Dominic West as Charles and Elizabeth Debicki as Diana in series five of Netflix’s The Crown
‘When are you going to tell the boys?’ Camilla asks.
‘I wanted to let them sleep, delay it as long as possible, while they’re sleeping they still have a mother,’ Charles replies.
‘Of course,’ say Camilla, as news coverage of Diana’s death plays in the background.
‘This is going to be enormous,’ Charles adds.
‘People have no idea. This is going to be the biggest thing that any of us have ever seen’.
The emotional first four episodes cover the tragic car crash in Paris that killed Princess Diana in August 1997 – alongside her lover Dodi and their chauffeur Henri Paul – and the Royal Family ’s reaction to it, as well as the summer holiday Diana and Dodi enjoyed in St Tropez prior to the tragedy.
The Paris scenes were shot in the French capital, while a yacht was hired for the St Tropez scenes, although these were actually filmed in Mallorca.
New photos also give viewers a glimpse into Diana’s romance with Dodi – played by Khalid Abdalla
Dominic West as Charles and Elizabeth Debicki as Diana in series five of Netflix’s The Crown
The Crown will show Elizabeth Debicki’s Princess Diana posing for paparazzi cameras while on a yacht on her final holiday just weeks before her death, newly released photos show. Diana is pictured left, Debicki right
New photos also give viewers a glimpse into Diana’s romance with Dodi – played by Khalid Abdalla
Debicki dons a Ralph Lauren shirt to recreate scenes from the show
New photos also offer a first glimpse of Olivia Williams as Camilla
The now Queen Camilla looks troubled in the new photos
Rufus Kampa – playing a teenage Prince William – walks through the Sandringham Estate in Barbour jacket
For sensitivity reasons the exact moment of Diana’s death is not re-created, but there are controversial scenes in which Charles tenderly converses with an imaginary Diana in the cabin of the royal plane as he accompanies her body from Paris to London , and later when she also appears to the Queen.
Critics who have seen these scenes called them ‘farcical’ for portraying Diana as a ghost, but series creator Peter Morgan has insisted that wasn’t the intention.
‘I never imagined it as Diana’s ghost in the traditional sense,’ he told Variety magazine. ‘It was her continuing to live vividly in the minds of those she has left behind.’
The Crown was devised by Morgan after the success of his 2006 film about the Royal Family’s reaction to Diana’s death, The Queen.
And the series – which has earned 21 Emmys and dozens of BAFTA nominations, not to mention some criticism for its historical inaccuracies – covers the same ground, but using fresh information gleaned in the 17 years since the Oscar-winning movie was made.
In fact, the scripts had to be updated all the time as the Royal Family were plunged into headlines throughout the filming period, not only with the Queen’s death but also following the release of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.