Queen Elizabeth was "very sad" when Princess Diana died but also "concerned about the monarchy".

Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth

That's according to Tony Blair, who was the British Prime Minister when the Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris in August 1997, and he has recalled speaking to the 91-year-old royal in the immediate aftermath of Diana's death.

Speaking on an upcoming BBC documentary about the tragedy, 'Diana, 7 Days', Blair said the queen was "obviously very sad" about the incident when he first spoke to her about the death.

But he also said she was aware "there was going to be a risk that the country's sense of loss turned to a sense of anger and grievance, and then turned against the monarchy.

"She was concerned about the monarchy herself because the queen has a very strong instinct about public opinion and how it plays."

The queen was slammed by some who questioned her staying with her grandsons, Princes William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 at the time, in the immediate aftermath of their mother's death, but Diana's sister insists she did "absolutely the right thing".

Lady Sarah McCorquodale told the documentary: "If you were grandmother of a 12 year old and 15 year old whose mother had just been killed ... she did absolutely the right thing."

Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul all died in the tragic Paris accident 20 years ago, while the royal's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, the only one wearing his seatbelt in the car, survived, and Sarah is unsure why the princess wasn't wearing any protection.

She said: "She was religious in putting on her seatbelt. Why didn't she put it on that night? I'll never know."

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