For almost 30 years, royal driver Steve Davies wondered why he was suddenly rejected by his boss, Princess DiAn / Athen fired from his dream job.

It was only when he was watching an episode of the Netflix TV series The Crown that he finally understood why he had been excluded all those years ago.

Now Steve, formerly one of the late Princess of Wales’ most trusted staff, has exposed the deception that cost him his job and led Diana to visit his grave in the mistaken belief that he had betrayed.

And he believes that if he had still been driving her, she would never have been involved in the car accident that took her life in 1997.

“All I know is that if life had taken a different path, if I had taken her that evening to Paris, she would still be here today. I would have kept her safe,” he says.

Former soldier Steve, 61, started working for Diana and her husband, then Prince Charlesin 1989. He was her personal driver after her marriage broke up. He got along so well with her and her sons, Prince William And Prince Harry. He once even joined them on a high-profile outing to Alton Towers theme park, riding a roller coaster alongside William.

Then, in late 1995, a royal aide told him he would no longer drive the princess.

“It happened overnight,” he said. “They told me she didn’t want me to go near her car. They wouldn’t even let me wash it or vacuum it. I was still on his payroll. But all I could do was sit in the garage 10 hours a day doing nothing. Then I would just go home. I was heartbroken and humiliated.

Steve was finally fired in March 1996. He says Diana – who once invited him to join her while she attended an impromptu concert by Sir Elton John and George Michael while dining at Elton’s – was ” freezing” with him. on his last day.

“Someone let me into his living room at Kensington Palace. She said, “Goodbye Steve, thanks for everything,” shook my hand and walked out. She left me alone, without saying a word in return.

Mystified as to why she treated him the way she did, Steve finally found out after watching an episode of The Crown in 2022. It covered the tactics used by now-disgraced BBC journalist Martin Bashir to persuade Diana to do the infamous Panorama interview with him, in which she confided in the failure of her marriage.

Bashir told a number of lies to Diana and her brother, Earl Spencer, 60. Her lies were about a plot against her involving her staff, the security services, royal courtiers and the media. It was an attempt to make her feel insecure. He wanted to gain her trust and convince her to do an exclusive interview with him. He hired a graphic designer to falsify bank statements which “proved” that someone had paid those close to him, such as his former private secretary Patrick Jephson, to spy on him.

And he told her that Steve was selling information about her to the media, claiming he was “feeding Today newspaper… change drivers.” Steve says Bashir also told Diana that someone had wiretapped and was following his car.

Allegations that Bashir used deceptive measures to persuade an increasingly paranoid Diana to grant him an interview had surfaced as early as 1996, but it was not until 2020 and the 25th anniversary of the explosive interview, once nicknamed the “scoop of the century”. “, that the scandal broke and Bashir’s actions were revealed. Steve still had no idea he was caught up in all this until he looked The Crown two years later. He heard his name said and it clicked.

A Supreme Court judge has been appointed to lead an investigation into the allegations. They found Bashir guilty of deception and breaching the BBC’s editorial conduct.

Steve, meanwhile, sued the BBC for defamation and earlier this year settled with the channel for a “substantial sum”. The BBC’s lawyer admitted that the false allegations made about Steve had most likely caused Diana to “doubt (Steve’s) loyalty and professionalism.” This may well have contributed to his dismissal six months later.”

Steve, who now works for a wealthy private family, says his work for the princess was his life.

“I would have taken a bullet for Diana. I was forced to leave a job that I wanted to be my life’s work. Royal service is about trust and loyalty, discretion and a sense of duty. Your reputation, your reputation, that’s everything. Martin Bashir stole mine by making these allegations to Diana.

“I’m not the type of man who wastes time and energy being bitter. But she died believing that I had betrayed her and that is something I can never forgive or forget.