[3] Rees-Jones was born on 3 March 1968 in Rinteln, West Germany, the middle-born of three boys of Colin Rees, a surgeon in the British Army, and Gill, a nurse.
[4] In 1987, Rees-Jones enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, served one tour of duty in Northern Ireland and was awarded the General Service Medal.
[6] The princess's companion, Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul, were found dead inside the car; Rees-Jones was the sole survivor of the crash.
Hospital care costs were paid by Dodi's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Rees-Jones' employer at the time of the crash, and the rest by the British National Health Service (NHS).
[citation needed] He wrote a book, published in 2000 and titled The Bodyguard's Story: Diana, the Crash, and the Sole Survivor (ISBN 0-446-61004-6), about his experiences, with the help of ghostwriter Moira Johnston.