Meghan Markle faced widespread criticism after she uploaded a short video of herself stretching inside a car moving through central Paris, close to the tunnel where Princess Diana lost her life in 1997.
The clip, which appeared on the Duchess of Sussex’s Instagram Stories showed her vehicle travelling past landmarks such as Pont Alexandre III and Pont des Invalides. At one point, she turned the camera towards herself, stretching her legs out as the car moved through the city.
Observers later noted that the route appeared to pass near the Pont de l’Alma, the bridge next to the tunnel where Diana, Princess of Wales, sustained fatal injuries in a car crash on August 31, 1997.
Markle, 44, was in France to attend Paris Fashion Week, marking her first appearance at the event. However, the social media post prompted a wave of angry responses, with many users questioning why she would record near a site associated with the late Princess’s death.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “If driving toward Princess Diana’s death scene is a message to Prince William then Meghan Markle is the devil.” Another remarked, “Instead of avoiding those places that the late Princess went to she went and recreated them, how evil.”
Several others echoed similar sentiments. “Why would she film the place his mother died? Moreover, why would she post it on social media for the world to see? Why?” one person asked. Another comment read, “This is beyond disturbing. She had nothing whatsoever to do with Princess Diana so why is she doing it?”
Royal analyst Richard Fitzwilliams described the post as “utterly bewildering” and “insensitive beyond belief”. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said, “I don’t understand what on earth she was thinking — well, she can’t have been thinking. No adviser would ever advise doing something so strange.”
He continued, “I’m sure she didn’t mean to cause offence, she can’t have been thinking, but it’s insensitive beyond belief. It’s a complete absence of thought.” Fitzwilliams added that Diana’s death had “scarred so much of Harry’s life” and said he could not imagine the Duke of Sussex finding the post “very appropriate”.
As of now, Markle’s representatives have not commented on the criticism.
Princess Diana was 36 when she died in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Her driver, Henri Paul, had both alcohol and prescription drugs in his system and was reportedly driving at high speed to evade photographers on motorbikes. The vehicle — a Mercedes-Benz — crashed into a pillar inside the tunnel.
Diana was taken to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. Her companion, Dodi Al-Fayed, and the driver were also killed in the crash. At the time, Princes William and Harry were 15 and 12 years old, respectively.
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