Di's Bodyguard Haunted By Guilt

The sole survivor of the crash that killed Princess Diana says he's still haunted by the knowledge that she died on his shift.

Trevor Rees-Jones has written a new book, The Bodyguard's Story, which will be serialized in Toronto's National Post and London's The Daily Telegraph next week.

In his book Rees-Jones said he would have traded his life for that of Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed or their driver, Henri Paul.

He said he "goes mad thinking about 'if onlys.'''

But while he feels a sense of guilt as a survivor, he says he is not to blame for the accident.

Rees-Jones says Fayed insisted on the arrangements that led to them being driven at high speed through a Paris tunnel by a drunken driver on Aug. 30, 1997.

Initially people thought that Rees-Jones' life was spared because he wore his seatbelt. But he denied wearing a seatbelt and the inquiry proved that he wasn't strapped in. As a professional bodyguard, Rees-Jones felt it wouldn't have been appropriate for him to wear a seatbelt while driving through a city.

Tests showed that Paul's blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit, and he had taken prescription drugs including the antidepressant Prozac.

Rees-Jones takes issue with former employer, Mohammed Al Fayed, who believes that his son and the princess were the victims of a conspiracy.

Rees-Jones said that Fayed's character "wasn't strong. He was like a kid, to be honest. He had his toys, he had his cars and basically bumbled his way through life."