The 31st of August of 1997 will always be remembered as the night when Princess Diana died after a car crash in Paris. By then, she was no longer part of the royal family but remained one of the most popular women in the world. This, caused her death since she was being followed by paparazzi when her car crashed into a tunnel in the French capital. Basically, she died doing what she has been doing for the last 16 years, running away from photographers to keep her life private.
But she was not the only one who lost their lives in such an accident. With her, was Dodi Al-Fayed her last boyfriend, and whom, it was rumored, she was about to engage to be married.
But who was this mysterious man Diana was spending the end of summer vacation with in Paris and why Diana was being pointed out for having a relationship with him? This is the story of the last known love of Diana Spencer.
Who was Dodi Al-Fayed?
The Egyptian businessman was best known as the son and heir of Harrod’s, the luxurious London department store; but besides that, he was involved in movies. He was the producer of films like Chariots of Fire (1981) and was also the owner of the Fulham soccer club and, of course, the heir to the Ritz hotel in Paris, the property in which he and Diana were staying during their vacations.
Before dating Diana, Al-Fayed had short romantic relations with celebrities like Brooke Shields and Julia Roberts. He was even engaged before to Gloria Allred, an American model with whom he broke up before dating Diana.
How did Diana and Dodi meet?
Diana and Dodi met after her divorce from Prince Charles were finalized. The couple had met a few times before in social events that both attended separately, but it was not until 1997 when Diana was invited by Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi’s father, to spend some time in his villa in St. Tropez.
According to the records, Diana and Dodi started dating in July 1997, just one month before their death. They spent some time on the French coast on his yacht and later traveled to Paris before going back to London, something Diana wanted since she wanted to be there for when her sons, prince William and Prince Harry, returned to school.
It is said that before leaving for Paris, Dodi had already ordered a diamond engagement ring to pick up once in Paris; and that it was going to be that very same night when they died when he was going to propose to Diana.
It was a not-so-popular relationship
After Diana’s divorce, she dated a couple of men and most of their relationships were kept very private, but the one with Dodi was quite the opposite. Not only did she let the paparazzi photograph her with him on his yacht, but also they were more public than on other relations Diana had.
From the beginning, the couple caught the media’s attention mainly because of Al-Fayed’s background. He was an important businessman and most of all, he was Egyptian and professed Islamism.
Because of his background, royal traditionalists started to raise their brows, since it was almost impossible for them to think that the mother of the future King of England (Prince William) could get married or even turn to Islamism.
But that was not the only thing. It was also rumored that the couple was expecting a baby and that Diana was about to do the announcement of the engagement and her pregnancy days after the infamous crash.
“A child of Arab-Muslim descent who was a half-brother to the heir to the throne would be an embarrassment to the royal family and the status quo,” wrote Tom Sancton and Scott MacLeod in their book “Death of a Princess”.
The truth is that all we know about Diana and Dodi’s relationship is based on rumors since the couple didn’t get the chance to come out publicly and live their love for longer. We won’t know if Dodi was indeed going to propose to Diana and what her answer could have been. We would also never know if the Princess of Wales was expecting a child, mainly because all of the records of that night are still kept private and will remain as such for many more years.
