Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed.Photo: Getty(2)
Her divorce was finally behind her, and for the first time in ages,Princess Dianaseemed to be hitting her stride.
It was the summer of 1997: At age 36, she was a world-renowned style icon and she had found deep personal fulfillment in a variety ofcauses close to her heart. And after years of personal anguish inher doomed marriage to Prince Charles, she seemed to have madesomesort of peace with the fact that her ex-husband and the woman who helped break up their marriage,Camilla Parker-Bowles, had settled intodomestic bliss. (Unabashedly so: The bliss included a lavish $45,000 birthday party present from Charles to Camilla that July.)
“Diana was starting a new life. She had said, I’m spreading my wings.' She was being quite positive about her divorce,” royal biographer Judy Wade (Diana: the Intimate Portrait) previously told PEOPLE.
A royal photographer, who asked to speak anonymously, agreed: “Everything as far as her relationship with Charles, her great relations with the kids, that side of her life was in order.”
A Rebound Romance
What was decidedlynot"in order" was Diana’s love life. Her relationship with distinguished Pakistani surgeon and cardiologist Hasnat Khan, a man many believe Diana had been in love with, had hit a rough patch in July 1997. “She had wanted to marry him,” said Wade. “She had this vision that together they could bridge east and west, crossing creeds and continents. They could save lives and make it a better world.”
But Khan had rebuffed Diana. “They had a bust-up in July, and the romance was rocky,” said Wade. “He didn’t want to be a walker to a famous woman. When that broke up she felt her life was amiss, she was depressed.”
Tim Rooke/REX/Shutterstock
Enter Mohamed Al Fayed, the controversial Egyptian business tycoon and then-owner of department store Harrods, who extended Diana an invitation to visit his villa in St. Tropez along with her sons,Prince WilliamandPrince Harry, who were 15 and 12 years old at the time.
She accepted, and the subsequent quiet arrival of Al Fayed’s sonDodi, a 42-year-old playboy and minor film producer, set up a chain of events that no one could foresee.
“Dodi Became Diana’s Distraction”
Diana and Dodi began a discreet romance, with presents arriving at Kensington Palace such as “a huge box of tropical fruit, a roomful of pink roses, a Cartier panther watch,” says Wade. “Dodi became Diana’s distraction.”
But in August, when Harry and William went up toBalmoral, the Queen’s Scottish estate, to spend time with their father, Diana found herself alone. “I’m sure she was missing the boys. She was at a loss in London,” said Wade. “August is the time when anyone who is anyone leaves London.” Besides, “Diana had alienated most of the friends she used to go on holiday with at that time of the year,” added Wade. “She used to drop friends for no apparent reason.”
“I Love His Exotic Accent!”
Perhaps likeJackie Kennedyin the mid-’60s, Diana thought she had found her own Aristotle Onassis. Or perhaps she was just being pragmatic. “Dodi had private jets and yachts at his disposal. St. Tropez in the summer is the haunt of the British paparazzi,” said Wade. “Perhaps Diana wanted to be photographed frolicking with Dodi to make Hasnat pay for their recent rows.”
Whatever the reason, there was little doubt in the minds of anyone who knew Diana well that the princess was having nothing more than a summer fling. “She would tell her hairstylist, ‘I love his exotic accent! I love the way he says, ‘Di-yana, you’re so naughty!'” recalled Wade. “But she told a confidante, ‘I need marriage like a hole in the head.’ A close friend doubted that Dodi had replaced Hasnat [in Diana’s affections] and was sure Diana and Hasnat would get back together in September.”
Diana apparently heard the reports of Dodi having financial debts and having a weakness for cocaine, as well as the accusation from his ex-girlfriend that he’d two-timed her and Diana. “The stories were not very complimentary,” said Wade. “I think Dodi was a step too far for Diana,” agreed the veteran royals photographer. “I think Diana enjoyed the excitement, but I don’t think she could have coped with that [long term].”
Furthermore, whether the financial impropriety and drug rumors were true or not, everyone agreed that Diana wouldn’t have done anything that would have jeopardizedher life with her two young boysin any way. “After knowing Dodi only six weeks, that wasn’t enough time for her to decide. The boys were her priority, and she would have consulted them,” said Wade. “She would have asked herself, ‘Is Dodi a suitable stepfather for my children?’ And she would have thought he wasn’t.”
A Violent Disagreement
“Diana and Dodi had a violent disagreement,” says Wade. “Diana begged Dodi to slow down. By the time she arrived at the villa, it was obvious she was upset. She was crying and had been genuinely frightened for her own safety and that of the paparazzi. It was a chilling portent of what would happen later on that night.”
Tim Graham/Getty
Perhaps for that reason, Diana didn’t spend a lot of time looking at the house that Al Fayed Sr. had said the couple could live in if they married. According to bodyguard Philippe Dourneau, “Diana didn’t [even] venture upstairs,” said Wade. “She seemed to want to get away. They didn’t hold hands. They seemed like acquaintances.”
source: people.com
