Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed’s Relationship Timeline
After introducing the turbulent marriage of Diana and Charles final season, The Crown delves Diana’s romance with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) in season 5. Diana met Fayed, whose billionaire father Mohamed owned the division retailer Harrods, solely weeks earlier than they died collectively in a Paris automobile crash, however the brief time they spent collectively was a supply of media fascination. Dodi was born in Egypt and attended faculties in Switzerland and the U.Okay. His mom, Samira Khashoggi, was the sister of Saudi arms seller Adnan Khashoggi. Within the ‘80s and ‘90s he government produced motion pictures like Chariots of Fireplace and The Scarlet Letter and was photographed socializing with Brooke Shields and Julia Roberts.
For context, right here’s how their transient however well-publicized relationship performed out.
1986
Dodi performed towards Prince Charles in a polo match in Windsor, The Unbiased later reported, the place he and Diana probably first met.
December 9, 1992
Prime Minister John Main informed the Home of Commons that Prince and Princess of Wales could be separating, studying an announcement from the Royal Household. “It’s introduced from Buckingham Palace that, with remorse, the Prince and Princess of Wales have determined to separate. Their Royal Highnesses don’t have any plans to divorce and their constitutional positions are unaffected. This choice has been reached amicably, and they’re going to each proceed to take part absolutely within the upbringing of their kids,” it learn. “The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, although saddened, perceive and sympathize with the difficulties which have led to this choice.”
It was introduced that Diana would dwell at Kensington Palace whereas Charles would reside at his residence Highgrove in Gloucestershire and at Clarence Home in London and that custody of their kids could be shared.
August 28, 1996
Charles and Diana formally divorced, with an settlement that allowed her to proceed to dwell at Kensington Palace and retain the title Princess of Wales, whereas giving up the designation Her Royal Highness. She acquired a settlement reported to be value not less than $22.5 million.
“I believe like several marriage, specifically whenever you’ve had divorced dad and mom like myself, you’d wish to strive even tougher to make it work and also you don’t wish to fall again right into a sample that you have seen occur in your individual household,” she stated, in a 1995 interview with the BBC.
July 1997
Mohamed Al-Fayed invited Diana, William, and Harry for a trip in St. Tropez, the place he had a 4-acre property. “With cash no object, [he] had bought the Jonikal, a luxurious £15-million yacht, as quickly as Diana had accepted his invitation to affix his household in St. Tropez. It was Mohamed’s approach of safeguarding his royal visitors and guaranteeing they’d most privateness; his ulterior motive was to play Cupid between the princess and his eldest son, Dodi,” wrote Katie Nicholl in her 2010 e-book William and Harry: Behind the Palace Partitions.
Fayed additionally invited Dodi, who had bought a Malibu residence in June and was in a relationship (and presumably an engagement) with the mannequin Kelly Fisher, Self-importance Honest reported. Many imagine that this journey was the place Diana and Dodi turned shut.
August 1997
Self-importance Honest reported that Diana took one other journey on the Jonikal whereas her sons spent the month in Scotland, on the royal residence Balmoral. A paparazzi {photograph} of Dodi and Diana kissing ran within the Sunday Mirror.
August 30-31, 1997
Whereas visiting Paris, Diana and Dodi had dinner on the Ritz, which was owned by his father. After leaving the Ritz, the pair, alongside along with his driver Henri Paul, are killed in a automobile crash within the Pont de l’Alma within the early hours of the thirty first.
Adrienne Gaffney is an affiliate editor at ELLE who beforehand labored at WSJ Journal and Self-importance Honest.