Everything you need to know about Dodi Fayed, the man who perished with Princess Diana
By Madhurima Haque|
W?e all know about the horrific car crash that took Princess Diana's life, but we often forget that there was another high-profile victim involved.
With The Crown delving deeper into Diana's last years, attention has been turning towards the impending portrayal of her death, particularly one special person who has made his appearance on the show already จC Dodi Fayed.
Played by actor Khalid Abdalla in the controversial series, Dodi Fayed was introduced in the fifth season, and will again be seen on-screen in part one of the Netflix drama's sixth and final season.
Here's everything you need to know about the Dodi Fayed in real life, Princess Diana's final partner.
Watch the video above.?
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Who was Dodi Fayed??
Dodi Fayed was Diana's ?partner at the time of the tragic August 1997 accident that took both their lives, as well as the life of their driver.
The couple had only been dating for two months before their untimely death, ?with the pair on their way back to London after holidaying in Paris for nine days aboard Fayed's family's yacht at the time of the crash.
How Dodi met Diana
Dodi Fayed was the son of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, who owned London's Harrods Department store, Fulham Football Club, and was the owner of H?tel Ritz Paris at the time of his death aged 94 in August 2023.
The senior Fayed also took over the lease of Villa Windsor in Paris, which was the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, following Wallis Simpson's death. He also worked closely with their former valet.
The younger Fayed was a film producer in his own right, ?having produced Hollywood films Chariots of Fire, Breaking Glass, F/X, F/X2, Hook, and The Scarlet Letter.
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Dodi Fayed, like Diana, was divorced, having had a short-lived marriage with model Suzanne Gregard in 1986, lasting only eight months.
He was also romantically linked to a number of Hollywood actresses, including Julia Roberts, Brooke Shields and Winona Ryder.
Diana was reportedly also nursing a broken heart at the time, having recently broken up with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan shortly before being acquainted with Fayed. ?
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The pair first crossed paths in 1987, when Diana's husband, the then-Prince Charles, was playing polo against the team Fayed was on.
Though it is not known if they spoke to each other on that occasion, they certainly did a decade later, when Fayed's father จC who knew Diana from the early 90s จC invited her, as well as young Princes William and Harry, on his yacht in the south of France.
It was on the seas of St Tropez where Fayed and Diana bonded, and they began their short-lived romance.
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The night of the crash
Diana and Dodi Fayed spent the last few hours of their lives dining at Fayed's father's H?tel Ritz Paris.
It was reported that this same night, Fayed had given Diana a diamond engagement ring he had bought in Monaco, though Diana's former secretary Paul Burell dispelled this, saying it was simply a "friendship band".
They left the hotel in the early hours of the August 31, 1997, along with bodyguard ?Trevor Rees-Jones and driver Henri Paul, who was reportedly deputy head of security at the Ritz.
As the car carrying the four entered the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris, Paul lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the 13th pillar of the tunnel.
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While Fayed, aged 42, and Paul died at the scene of the crash, Diana, 36, succumbed to her injuries in hospital hours later. Their bodyguard, Rees-Jones, was the only survivor.
Investigations later revealed that the crash was caused by Paul being under the influence of prescription drugs and alcohol, with the paparazzi that were chasing the couple also contributing to the tragedy.?
Aftermath
The death of the People's Princess launched the world into mourning?. Diana was given a public royal funeral on the September 6, viewed by 2.5 billion people worldwide.
The world watched as her young sons, William, then 15, and Harry, 12, trudged behind her coffin as it was brought to Westminster Abbey.
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Diana's final resting place is in Pleasure Garden at Althorp, her family's estate in the English country. Her coffin was buried on an island in the middle of a lake called The Oval in the gardens, where her brother Earl Spencer still leaves flowers for her.
Meanwhile, Fayed's burial was a much smaller affair, with a simple Islamic ceremony at Central London Mosque on September 1. His body was first interred at Brookwood cemetery, but was later moved to his family's estate a month later, where he now rests.
Fayed's father later installed two memorials of the couple in his Harrods department store in London in April of 1998.
One contains pictures of the two of them, as well as the wine glass that Diana used during her last dinner at the hotel, with her lipstick stains still visible, as well as the ring that Fayed had given to her on their last night.
Until his death, Mohamed Al Fayed insisted his son and Diana were killed by MI6 and the British royal family, saying that the British royal family couldn't tolerate the idea of the former Princess of Wales marrying a Muslim.
He alleged many conspiracy theories, including that Diana was pregnant at the time of her death, ?which was disproved in a 2007 inquest for her and Fayed's death.
In 1998, he told The Mirror, "I believe in my heart 99.9 per cent that it was not an accident."
"That car didn't accidentally crash. There was a conspiracy. I will not rest until I have established exactly what happened," he said.
The inquest rejected Mohamed Al Fayed's allegations.