News that a shocking paparazzi photograph of a dying Princess Diana is to be screened for the first time in a documentary about her fatal crash at Cannes this week has provoked outrage.
The documentary Unlawful Killing is backed by actor Keith Allen and Mohammed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi also died with the Princess of Wales, reports the Daily Mail.
The 90-minute film will include a graphic black and white close-up of the late princess taken moments after the Mercedes carrying the couple crashed in a Paris underpass.
The distressing image, Diana’s blonde hair and features clearly visible, has never been publicly seen in the UK.
It will be shown around the world but not in the UK, prompting Allen to say: "Pity, because at a time when the sugar rush of the royal wedding has been sending republicans into a diabetic coma, it could act as a welcome antidote."
But close friends of the late Princess of Wales are fuming about the news.
“If this is true this is absolutely disgusting. The fact people are trying to make money – which is all that they are doing now – out of her death is quite frankly ... words fail me,” said Rosa Monckton, who went on holiday with Diana a few weeks before she died.
{{/usCountry}}“If this is true this is absolutely disgusting. The fact people are trying to make money – which is all that they are doing now – out of her death is quite frankly ... words fail me,” said Rosa Monckton, who went on holiday with Diana a few weeks before she died.
{{/usCountry}}A spokesman for St James’s Palace declined to comment.
Allen’s film is due to be screened amid a blaze of publicity at the 64th Cannes Film Festival on Friday and Fayed is reported to be traveling to the south of France to help with the launch.