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"Telling my story in a book is the last thing I ever dreamed I'd be doing", writes Trevor Rees-Jones in the introduction to his autobiography, The Bodyguard's Story. Rees-Jones's life changed irrevocably on the night of Saturday, August 31, 1997, when the car he was travelling in crashed in a certain Alma tunnel in Paris. The car contained no ordinary passengers--Rees-Jones was the bodyguard of Dodi Fayed, companion of Diana, Princess of Wales. Dodi, Diana and driver Henri Paul were all killed, leaving Rees-Jones as the sole survivor, fighting for his life having suffered appalling injuries. His face was crushed beyond recognition and had to be extensively reconstructed under expert surgical care. Rees-Jones left hospital after a month, intending to continue with his life as far as possible and his work for his employer, Dodi's father, Mohamed Al Fayed. Yet his situation became increasingly fraught in the wake of the death of the Princess of Wales, one of the late 20th-century's most potent icons. As the grief-stricken Fayed tried desperately to find someone to blame for the death of his son, it was only a matter of time before Rees-Jones became embroiled in the web of recriminations and accusations. The Bodyguard's Story tells the story of the summer leading up to the fatal accident; as Rees-Jones, speaking openly for the first time, describes a world of extreme wealth, paparazzi-dodging and the increasingly volatile situation between the press, Dodi, Diana and their minders as the summer dragged on. Realising his life could never return to what it had been, Rees-Jones aims to set the record straight with his first-hand account. "They'd died on my shift, and I'll live with that for the rest of my life. But I look in the mirror every day and know that I did the best I could." --Kate Weaver
