With the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death nearing, yet another network is lining up a special about the beloved fallen figure.
From NBC News, The Life and Death of Princess Diana: A Dateline Investigation will feature interviews with her former bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, her close confidant James Colthurst and the first U.S. interview with Martine Monteil, the Paris police chief when Diana was involved in a serious car accident in the French city and later died from injuries sustained in the crash.
In his interview, Wharfe says he believes “Diana, in my view, would have been alive today” if she had not given up her security detail following her divorce from Prince Charles.
“Whatever you want to do, you will always be Diana, the princess of Wales,” he says. “The one thing that you shouldn’t give up is your security. I urge you strongly not to do that. There’s only one person that could — in my view — that could have insisted that she retain her security, and that would have been the queen herself. If the queen had insisted that she retain that security then we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
The two-hour special, airing Friday, will also include interviews with forensic scientist Patrick Touron, former French diplomat Sami Nair, Diana’s friend Simone Simmons, lead U.K. investigator Lord John Stevens, photographer Pierre Suu and reporter Richard Kay.
David Corvo serves as senior executive producer, with Liz Cole on board as the executive producer.
The Dateline special is the latest in a long line of documentaries and news specials centered on Princess Diana and tied to the upcoming 20th anniversary of her death. On May 22, Gayle King will host a primetime news special for CBS. ABC has two specials: One looking specifically at the last 100 days of her life that will premiere Sunday, and a four-hour, two-night telecast from People magazine parent company Time Inc. set to air in August.
Most notably, HBO announced early Tuesday that it has nabbed the U.S. rights to a documentary about Diana that will feature interviews with both of her sons, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry.
Dateline’s special premieres Friday at 9 p.m. Watch a teaser below:
