Princess Diana.Photo: Anwar Hussein/WireImage

Princess Diana, Princess of Wales

One ofPrincess Diana’s close confidants is revisiting their final phone call on the night of her shocking 1997 death in Paris.

Richard Kay, a longtime royal reporter and friend of the princess, looks back on the telephone conversation that would turn out to be the Princess of Wales' last for the upcomingDianadocumentary, airing Thursday night in the U.K.

“I spoke to her that night,” he recalls — though only later, once the 36-year-old had died in a car crash resulting from a high-speed paparazzi chase, would Kay realize how significant that call was. “[The] police said that the last call she made was to me.”

The mother ofPrince WilliamandPrince Harry, then 15 and 12, was “in quite a good place,” shares Kay, according toThe Mirror. But above all, “she wanted to come back and see her boys.”

Diana was also eager to turn a new page in her life. “She was desperate to try and make a fresh start and do something different,” says Kay, “to explore a different kind of royalty.”

What Diana would tragically never come to realize, in fact, was that even in death she wouldreshape the monarchy, setting off ripples through her legacy, her love for her children and her compassion.

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Kay is just one the of many friends and family members who are coming forward to remember “The People’s Princess” in the weeks ahead of July 1, which would have been her 60th birthday.

“It will be an emotional day,“said her brother Charles, Earl of Spencer, “but it will be a tribute to a much missed and much loved sister, mother, etc.”

Princess Diana, Prince Harry and Prince William.Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty

prince harry, princess diana, prince william

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Indeed, tributes to Diana have been flowing recently, from a subtle nod William’s wife,Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridgemade through herjewelryon June 11 to themiddle nameof Harry and wifeMeghan Markle’s first daughter, who was born on June 4.

source: people.com