In early May 2025, a video circulated online purportedly showing a woman reacting to news of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, by saying that she wished her son, who was standing by her side, had died instead.
For example, one X user, whose post had amassed more than 974,000 views as of this writing (archived), shared the footage alongside the caption: "Take a moment to remember the grief the nation felt when Lady Diana sadly passed." It was unclear whether the caption was meant to be taken seriously.
(X user @TheBardOfAnlaby)
In the clip, a reporter appears to interview a grieving mother after Princess Diana's death on Aug. 31, 1997, following a car crash in Paris (transcript below):
WOMAN: Thinking about how she went into that minefield with that AIDS patient. Just wish someone else had died, like my son, you know?
REPORTER: You wish your son had died instead?
WOMAN: Wouldn't say that to his face, but …
REPORTER: Right.
WOMAN [turning to son]: You all right, Jimmy?
The video appeared elsewhere on X (archived), where another user appeared to take it at face value (archived), and in multiple Instagram posts.
However, searches on Google, Bing and Yahoo produced no evidence that the interview was authentic.
Rather, the footage that was circulating online originated from the social media accounts of a user called Adrian Gray Comedy, who posted it on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube on Dec. 15, 2022. The user describes himself as a comedian on his Instagram account and on TikTok says the content he posts is "parody."
The clip was part of a longer parody video featuring a satirical news broadcast and dubbed-over soccer coverage, among other items. On each platform, the footage had the caption: "Britain loses it to Diana's death."
The clip appeared to use genuine footage of a reporter interviewing a woman standing next to a young boy. However, Snopes was not able to locate the original version of the interview. Nonetheless, on close inspection, the audio did not match the woman's lip movements.
In fact, Adrian Gray Comedy has posted numerous parody videos on his social media accounts where the audio does not match the lip movements of the individuals featured.
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims about members of the Royal Family in the past, such as one rumor about William, Prince of Wales, receiving a 60-pound fine for taking his son to a soccer match during school hours and another about Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, allegedly writing in his memoir that his father's "I've got your nose" joke resulted in "torment" that continues to haunt him.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.