[imagesource: Anwar Hussein/WireImage]

Lee Sansum strongly believes that Princess Diana would have survived that fateful accident in 1997 if only he had been on duty.

The former bodyguard was affectionately nicknamed ‘Rambo’ by Diana, who had shared several heart-to-hearts with him and even revealed her biggest fears and future plans to him.

In an exclusive interview, the former bodyguard revealed his regrets about the moment Diana was killed alongside Dodi Fayed in the car crash in Paris 25 years ago.

Sansum – who also protected Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sylvester Stallone, and footballer Pele – has chronicled his dynamic career in personal protection in a new book, The Bodyguard: Real Stories of Close Protection from Tom Cruise to Princess Diana.

Image: Peter Jolly Northpix

He reckons he could have prevented Diana’s death if he had won a bet, per NewsAU:

“It could have been me in that car,” said Sansum, now 60. “We drew straws to see who would be accompanying Trevor [Rees-Jones] that weekend. I pulled a match and it was a long one.

“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.”

At the time, Sansum was a part of Mohamed Al-Fayed’s protection team, the owner of Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods and Fulham FC.

Sansum spoke about how he was assigned to look after Dodi and Diana when they stayed at the former’s 30-bedroom villa in St Tropez, in the South of France, in July 1997:

“She had been happy on that holiday,” he said.

“But I had seen her in tears too, when she learned of the murder of her friend, the fashion designer Gianni Versace. She confided in me her own fears that she might one day be assassinated.

(Sansum is in glasses) | Image: Corbis

“She asked if I thought his murder outside his home was a professional killing. I thought it was. Then she said something that always stayed with me — ‘Do you think they’ll do that to me?’ She was shaking and it was clear from her tone that she really thought that they might, whoever ‘they’ might be.

“I spent some time reassuring her that no one was going to try to kill her and she was safe with us, but she definitely thought there was a risk that one day she might be assassinated.”

Sansum does not necessarily believe that Diana was murdered but mentioned how the presence of intelligence services following her just weeks before the crash is something to consider:

“I believe that security officers following Diana, possibly British or a combined British – French team, may have either inadvertently caused the crash or were in proximity to the car when it happened.

“If it was known that MI6 operatives were right by the Mercedes at the critical moment, a lot of people would have blamed them for it, and that would have been a huge scandal.”

He mentioned that the princess had a plan to move to the US with Dodi “to get some respite” and he had hoped to go with them.

In retrospect, Sansum believes Prince Harry’s move to California (with Meghan) was inspired by his mother’s unlived dream, saying that “his mother saw America as a place of sanctuary”.

Harry was just 12 when his mother died and Sansum thinks he is “drawing on his experiences” from that trauma.

[sources:newsau&dailymail]