Princess Diana’s whirlwind relationship with Dodi Fayed — and their tragic deaths — are again resurfacing thanks to the sixth and final season of “The Crown” on Netflix.
Fayed, an Egyptian filmmaker, was the Princess of Wales’ last romantic partner before they both died in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
Their time together was full of lavish yacht trips and jet setting around the world.
Diana had just ended a two-year relationship with surgeon Hasnat Khan when she linked up with Fayed in July 1997.
The pair are believed to have met through Fayed’s dad, Mohannad Al-Fayed.
The Egyptian billionaire owned the Ritz Paris — where his son and Diana would spend some of their final hours — as well as Harrods department store and the Fulham Football Club in Britain.
Al-Fayed died at age 94 on Aug. 30, 2023, nearly 26 years to the day that Diana and Dodi passed.
Nowadays, royal experts are criticizing “The Crown’s” portrayal of Al-Fayed, claiming it’s “disrespectful” to paint him as a villain who set his son up with the princess in an effort to help gain his British citizenship.
Here’s a look back at Diana and Fayed’s relationship.
1986: Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed meet at a polo match
Diana first met Fayed in 1986 when her then-husband King Charles’ polo team played against his at Windsor Great Park.
That was the same year both Diana and Charles entered into extramarital affairs while Fayed would marry model Suzanne Gregard — only for the union to end in divorce eight months later.
Diana and Charles officially divorced in August 1996.
But it wasn’t until years later that things would get romantic between the People’s Princess and Fayed. In fact, Diana dated British-Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan from 1995 to 1997.
July 1997: Diana and Fayed start dating
Fayed’s father, billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, invited Diana and her sons Prince William, then 15, and Harry, then 12, to vacation at his villa in St. Tropez, France.
Al-Fayed also welcomed the royals aboard his $32 million yacht, which was named the Jonikal.
Model Kelly Fisher claimed that she was engaged to Dodi at the time. Dodi admitted to knowing Fisher, but an Al-Fayed family spokesman denied that Dodi ever promised to wed her.
There have been conflicting reports as to when Diana and Dodi began dating.
Following their deaths, Khan allegedly told police that Diana broke things off with him after she got home from St. Tropez.
July 1997: Diana and Fayed vacation by themselves on the Jonikal
Diana and Dodi returned to the Jonikal just a week after vacationing with her kids to enjoy some alone time.
This time, the pair spent six days sailing around the Italian island of Sardinia where paparazzi caught them kissing and enjoying life on the water.
Diana’s ex, Khan, later said of Dodi, “She wanted to be with someone who was happy to be seen with her in public and she could do that with Dodi.”
He added: “I think that Diana finally realized that [Dodi] could give her all the things I could not. He had money and could provide the necessary security for her.”
August 31, 1997: Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed are killed in Paris car crash
Diana, 36, and Fayed, 42, flew to Paris in August 1997 where they stayed at the Ritz Paris’ Imperial Suite.
That same day, Dodi went to the Repossi store in the City of Love to pick up a ring the couple had already decided on in Monaco.
Photographers followed the couple throughout their visit. At 7 p.m., they returned to Fayad’s apartment on rue Arsène Houssaye, where their luggage was dropped off. They stayed there until around 9:30 p.m., before deciding to go to the restaurant Chef Benoît for dinner.
Due to the attention they were receiving, however, they left and decided to eat in their hotel room. At 12:20 a.m., the two — alongside driver Henri Paul — left the Ritz Paris with the intention of returning to the rue Arsène Houssaye apartment.
“Once the paparazzi realized that the couple had left by the rear exit they were quickly in pursuit,” London’s Metropolitan Police noted in its 871-page report in 2006. “Indeed a small number of the paparazzi had been covering the rear exit in any event.”
Paul crashed the Mercedes vehicle into a pillar while driving above the speed limit in the Pont d’Alma underpass. While he and Fayed were killed at the scene, Diana and a bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, were taken to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.
The princess was pronounced dead at 4 a.m. local time.
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