Princess Diana’s death in a vehicle accident in Paris 25 years ago shook the world. She was one of the most famous ladies in the world. The accident resulted in more than only Diana’s death. Henri Paul, the driver, and Dodi Al Fayed, Princess Diana’s boyfriend, are presumed dead on impact.
Injuries to bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones were so severe that he was the only person to survive. He continues to insist he has few recollections of the accident. Before their terrible deaths, Dodi and the Princess of Wales had only been dating for a few months and had only spent a few days together. There was considerable media and public interest in the couple, as well as conjecture about their plans, despite the novelty of their relationship.
Who Was Diana Dating: Dodi Al Fayed
Dodi Al Fayed was the eldest child of Mohamed Al Fayed, a British billionaire who was also a colourful and divisive character. It was from the Ritz hotel in Paris that Diana and Dodi set out on their tragic drive. At the time, Mohamed was thought to be worth $1.87 billion and was the owner of the famous London luxury department store Harrods, the Fulham football club, and the Ritz hotel.
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The first wife of Mohamed was Samira Khashoggi, Dodi’s mother. Dodi was born Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena’em Fayed in Alexandria, Egypt in 1955; he later attended prestigious schools like the exclusive Le Rosey in Switzerland, and Sandhurst military academy in the UK, where Princes William and Harry both attended. Her father had been the personal physician to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz, and her brother was Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
Dodi Before Diana
According to his obituary in The Independent, Dodi Khashoggi spent his childhood between the Parisian apartment he shared with his mother, the Riviera property he shared with his father, and his father’s residence in Alexandria, Egypt. A “handsome young man who became a recognised figure on the capital’s nightlife scene, with a passion for fast vehicles and gorgeous women,” he relocated to London at the tender age of 15.
In addition to Julia Roberts, Brooke Shields, Winona Ryder, and Nancy Sinatra, rumours have circulated about who Dodi dated before he met Diana. He wed model Suzanne Gregard in 1986, but they quickly separated.
After serving as a junior officer in the United Arab Emirates air force in London, he moved on to a career in filmmaking and became an executive producer on such films as Chariots of Fire (1981), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and The Scarlet Letter (1995), starring Demi Moore and Gary Oldman.
Despite his accomplishments, many of his former colleagues have speculated that his father ran the show during the early years of the production company the family-owned, while Dodi enjoyed a large salary supplement paid out each month.
Dodi was known as a rich want to be the star who enjoyed playing the field. It was reported in a 2009 inquiry by The Guardian that Dodi had asked a pal, “When am I going to meet a woman so renowned she would get my face on the cover of People magazine?” In 1997, he very definitely did.
Even with this reputation, though, many people also remarked on how shy and sensitive he was. When asked about him, Dominick Dunne, a writer for Vanity Fair, reportedly stated, “Whatever else he was, he was a good guy. There was a softness to him that was endearing.
Dodi With Diana
When Diana was still married to Prince Charles, she and Dodi met for the first time. There was a polo match in Windsor in 1986, and The Independent claims that Charles and Dodi were on opposing teams. No one seemed to notice that they had met if indeed they had.
On the yacht Jonikal in the south of France in the summer of 1997, Mohamed Al Fayed hosted the Princess of Wales and her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Diana spent some time at Dodi’s place and learned more about him.
Diana’s ex-boyfriend, the heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, testified before an inquest into the Princess’s death in 2008, saying that Diana broke off their two-year romance when she initially went on vacation with Mohamed Al Fayed and his family. He claims she initially denied breaking up with him for another man, but then he heard a radio story about her new relationship with Dodi a few weeks later.
After taking some time away from the Jonikal with her children in August, Diana came back for good. This time, she brought along a paparazzi photo of herself and Dodi sharing a passionate kiss, which made news across the world. Before their tragic end in Paris, they vacationed in the south of France and Sardinia.
A Well-Known Relationship
The brief affair between Diana and Dodi was widely reported on and surrounded by controversy. At home, Dodi’s notoriety as a rich playboy with a taste for Hollywood A-listers generated quite a commotion.
Kelly Fisher, a previous girlfriend of Dodi’s, emerged at a press conference in tears beside high-powered attorney Gloria Allred to say she was suing Dodi for allegedly jilting her at the altar. She reportedly wanted $500,000 in “premarital support” from Dodi for giving up her modelling career, and she had an expensive engagement ring to prove it.
After this, the Al Fayed family released a statement saying, “We are satisfied to leave it to the good judgement of the British and American people to judge this development for what it is.” In light of “respect for the sorrow and enormous loss the Fayed family have suffered,” Fisher reportedly decided to dismiss the lawsuit following the deaths of Dodi and Diana.
There were rumours that not everyone in the royal family was thrilled with the princess’s romance with Dodi. The Guardian claimed in 2010 that former Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted in his memoir that he had warned Lady Di that he thought her connection with Dodi was “an issue.”
The BBC reported in 2007 that Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s former butler and confidant, testified at an inquest into their deaths and said he did not get the impression from Diana that Dodi was “the one,” and instead suggested that he was a “rebound” after her relationship with Hasnat Khan had ended.
The Consequences Of Diana & Dodi
Following his and his wife’s deaths on August 31, 1997, a small Islamic burial was held at a mosque in the heart of London for Dodi. Law enforcement protected his casket as mourners lined the streets.
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Press accounts stated that after his body was moved from a London cemetery to his father’s farm in Surrey, a mausoleum will be built in his honour.
After Dodi and Diana’s deaths, the Al Fayed family’s department store, Harrods, erected tiny shrines for both of them and, in 2005, a contentious bronze monument of the pair dancing. Following the sale of Harrods to Qatari owners in 2010, it was announced in 2018 that the monument would be taken down and given back to Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed.
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