While the role of the media in the death of Princess Diana and the events of the following week is widely recognized, the popular explanations of this role are often simplistic or uncritical. This paper draws upon contemporary media theory to argue that the death of Diana represents one of the most important recent examples of a media event in which event, broadcast and audience interpenetrate to render questions of truth and falsity, original and image undecidable. Diana's life, the public grief at her death, her funeral, and the crash photos are all considered here in relation to the media.