Twenty-nine years after the Paris car crash that killed Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul, one person who was inside the Mercedes that night is still alive. Trevor Rees-Jones, the former bodyguard who was sitting in the front passenger seat, survived catastrophic injuries in the Aug. 31, 1997 crash. His survival made him a crucial figure in the investigations that followed, but severe head trauma left him with limited memories of the final moments before impact.
In the decades since, Rees-Jones has largely chosen a life away from the spotlight. He rebuilt his career in security, remarried and raised a family in England. More recent public information indicates that he has worked for pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and is based in Shrewsbury, England.
© Getty ImagesHere’s what to know about Trevor Rees-Jones, his extraordinary survival and his life 29 years after Princess Diana’s death.
Who Is Trevor Rees-Jones?
Born Trevor Rees in 1968, Rees-Jones grew up around Oswestry near the England-Wales border. Before entering private security, he studied sport and biological science and served with the British Army’s 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, including service in Northern Ireland.
He eventually became part of the security operation surrounding the Fayed family, whose patriarch, Mohamed Al-Fayed, then owned Harrods and the Ritz hotel in Paris.
© PA Images via Getty ImagesRees-Jones was primarily assigned to protect Dodi Fayed, not Princess Diana. However, Diana came under the Fayed security team’s protection when she was traveling with Dodi. “I was assigned to protect Dodi,” Rees-Jones later explained, adding that when Diana was with him, she came under the team’s “security umbrella.”
That distinction would become important after the crash, when questions emerged about the security arrangements surrounding Diana and Dodi during their final hours.
What Happened the Night Princess Diana Died?
On the night of Aug. 30, 1997, Diana and Dodi had dinner at the Ritz Paris before deciding to travel to Dodi’s apartment.
Their security arrangements changed during the evening. Rees-Jones later said the lack of advance information made protecting Dodi difficult. “Dodi was a pain in the neck,” he told 60 Minutes in 2000, explaining that Dodi frequently did not tell his security team where he planned to go.
Shortly after midnight, Diana and Dodi left the Ritz in a Mercedes driven by Henri Paul. Rees-Jones sat beside Paul in the front passenger seat, while Diana and Dodi were in the back.
© Getty ImagesPhotographers followed the vehicle as it traveled through Paris. At approximately 12:23 a.m., the Mercedes crashed into a pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
Dodi and Paul died at the scene. Diana was transported to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she died several hours later. Rees-Jones survived.
© Getty ImagesTrevor Rees-Jones Suffered Devastating Injuries
Rees-Jones’ injuries were extraordinary. His face sustained extensive fractures, along with serious head and chest trauma. Surgeons carried out lengthy reconstructive surgery, reportedly using photographs of him taken before the crash as a guide.
© PA Images via Getty ImagesThe damage also affected his memory. Psychiatrist Dr. Maurice Lipsedge, who was consulted during the later Operation Paget investigation, said Rees-Jones remembered getting into the Mercedes and leaving the Ritz but essentially nothing reliable afterward. “Trevor Rees-Jones remembers getting into the Mercedes,” Lipsedge said, but “he remembers nothing after that.”
Rees-Jones initially reported fragmentary memories after the crash, describing them as “windows of memory.” However, experts later warned that it was impossible to determine whether such flashes represented genuine memories or reconstructions formed from information he learned afterward.
Was Trevor Rees-Jones Wearing a Seat Belt?
One persistent story about Rees-Jones’ survival was that he lived because he was the only occupant wearing a seat belt. Official findings did not support that conclusion.
© PA Images via Getty ImagesOperation Paget, the Metropolitan Police investigation into conspiracy allegations surrounding Diana’s death, concluded that none of the four occupants was wearing a seat belt at the moment of impact, including Rees-Jones. Investigators also rejected the theory that he was in the process of fastening it.
His survival instead appears to have resulted from a combination of circumstances, including his position in the vehicle and the deployment of the front passenger airbag.
Why Trevor Rees-Jones Became Part of the Diana Conspiracy Theories
Being the only survivor placed Rees-Jones at the center of intense speculation. Mohamed Al-Fayed publicly disputed the official explanations for his son and Diana’s deaths and promoted allegations of a conspiracy. Rees-Jones’ inability to remember the crash became part of those claims.
© AFP via Getty ImagesOperation Paget later examined allegations involving Rees-Jones and found no evidence that he secretly remembered the crash or that British security services had been involved in producing his memoir.
Rees-Jones himself rejected conspiracy explanations. “I just consider it as an avoidable accident,” he told The Irish Times in 2000. He attributed the crash to Henri Paul driving after drinking and to excessive speed, describing it as “a simple drink-driving accident caused by speed.”
© AFP via Getty ImagesTrevor Rees-Jones Said He Felt a Moral Responsibility
Surviving did not mean Rees-Jones walked away emotionally untouched. In interviews surrounding the 2000 publication of his memoir, The Bodyguard’s Story: Diana, the Crash, and the Sole Survivor, he spoke openly about the burden he carried.
He told PEOPLE that he felt “some sort of moral responsibility” because protecting Dodi and his guest had been his job. “They died on my shift,” he said. “I’ve got this hanging over me for the rest of my life.”
© PA Images via Getty ImagesYet he also resisted allowing the crash to define everything that followed. In a 2000 interview with The Guardian, he put it simply: “I am more than a car accident.”
At the time, he had made a remarkable physical recovery and had even returned to playing rugby. “I’ve got nothing to complain about whatsoever,” he told the publication. “I’m very lucky.”
Why Did Trevor Rees-Jones Leave the Fayed Family?
After months of recovery, Rees-Jones initially returned to work for the Fayed organization. The relationship did not last. He left in 1998, later describing tension surrounding Mohamed Al-Fayed’s expectations that he should remember more about the crash. Rees-Jones also declined to support Al-Fayed’s conspiracy claims publicly.
Two years later, he told his story in The Bodyguard’s Story, written with Moira Johnston. The memoir allowed Rees-Jones to address accusations against him while explaining the person considered the most important surviving witness could not provide a definitive eyewitness account of the crash itself.
What Did Trevor Rees-Jones Do After Princess Diana’s Death?
Rees-Jones eventually returned to the profession he knew best. Reports over the years have linked him to security work for the United Nations and Halliburton before he moved into a senior corporate security career. More recent reporting and a public LinkedIn profile identify Trevor Rees in Shrewsbury as having experience with AstraZeneca.
The LinkedIn profile describes him as an experienced corporate security executive specializing in areas including security strategy, crisis management, executive protection and investigations.
© PA Images via Getty ImagesRecent reporting has identified him as having served as AstraZeneca’s global head of security, after joining the company as director of global security in 2017.
Is Trevor Rees-Jones Married and Does He Have Children?
Rees-Jones married his first wife, Sue Jones, in 1995. Born Trevor Rees, he combined his surname with hers and became widely known as Trevor Rees-Jones. That marriage ended, and he later returned to using Trevor Rees professionally.
In February 2003, he married school teacher Ann Scott in a private civil ceremony in Welshpool, Wales. “The wedding was a small, private occasion for family and friends,” a statement from his solicitors said at the time. Reports indicate that Rees and Scott went on to have children and established a quiet family life in England.
Where Is Trevor Rees-Jones Now in 2026?
At 58, Trevor Rees appears to have achieved a largely private life. He has rarely given major interviews about Diana in recent years. Instead, his public footprint has centered more on his career than on the night that made his name internationally recognizable.
That makes his life 29 years later strikingly different from the months immediately following the crash.
© Getty ImagesMore than a quarter-century later, his quiet career and family life suggest that he largely succeeded.
