Diana and Dodi (and Tony Blair)


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I didn't think he completed the course at Sandhurst, cleary he didn't intend to be an actual soldier..
And I don't believe he would have had success had he proposed. Evidence seems to be that he DIDNT "smooth over little annoyances". In fact he caused problems by being erratic with his bodyguards, not telling them things and changing plans. From a quote or 2 from Diana she was getting annoyed that he got irritated by little problems and I think that she was losing interest in him, short as their affair had been. I think she enjoyed the holidays, and the luxury of life with him... She had taken a fancy to him at first, but within a short time, she was seeing his faults and was less likely to take him seriously as a suitor.
And if she;d found out about Kelly Fisher, I think ti would have finished off the relationship.

MAF claimed that Dodi had been about to propose and that the couple had visited the WIndsors' villa.. spent a lot of tieme there and planned ot make it their home. Evidence shows they didn't spent much time there at all and that Diana didn't like the place...
 
Tend to agree about there being obstacles to overcome at this stage. But when it came to the ability to woo females, Dodi's confidence was substantial in overcoming those obstacles. Although his new found celebrity confounded him in the short term, surely he would've improved going forward. Diana had seen it all, and must have been a little amused at Dodi trying to adjust to the paparazzi she knew so well, as they drove through Paris that day..one point noticeably bolstering his spirits and consoling him. :winkiss:

"Who's willing to take me on?" she once said, realizing the degree of notoriety suitors would be forced to reckon with.. Behold a fella coming along not the least bit shy about it, and welcoming it. He once speculated about his life on whether "he would ever date someone that put him on cover of People magazine ?"

But when it did he had little time to adjust. So he's understimated from that standpoint. M. Fayed wold have been instrumental to his son and Diana with his ability to suggest numerous possibilities on where they could live besides just the villa. The place in Surrey offered much more charm, although further from London.
 
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I don't think that Dodi was that confident or likey to be successful with Diana. He was dating her initially at least because his father had told him to.. and seems like he was still involved with Ms Fisher..and only got ird of her, if he did get rid of her, because MAF was insisting that he should woo Diana. He wasn't confident at all IMO. He was messy and disorganised, not letting his bodyguards do their job properly.. and he was visibly rattled by the paparazzi, and IMO its probable that his plan to not use a back up car and his calling in Henri Paul who was off duty and wasn't a trained heavy car driver, was a major part of the reason they crashed...
 
All the evidences I saw indicated that Diana wanted a marriage with Dodi, and it was Diana who proposed the idea of marriage on Aug 28 or Aug 29, which drove them to detour to Paris, where Dodi got to buy the ring "Tell Me Yes".

On Aug 29, Dodi'd already told friends they were going to marry, at that time he even hadn't prepared an engagement ring. The logic here is, if it was Dodi who proposed the idea of marriage, he would have been much more well prepared than he was -- at least he would have prepared a ring first. What gave him the confidence to be so assertive about this marriage when he didn't even have an engagement ring ready? I think such assertion is because it was Diana who proposed the marriage, not Dodi. That's why he didn't have an engagement ring prepared.

On the other hand, Diana did make a lot of preparations for the marriage. As early as Aug 13, she gave Dodi her beloved father's cufflinks to Dodi (Diana called her father the man she loved most in her life, who left Diana 5 million pounds in his will, far far larger than what her two sisters got). At around the same time, she went to consult a priest, Father Frank Gelli, whether he could perform the marriage service for them.

Father Frank Gelli spoke with an excited Diana shortly before the fateful crash in a Paris underpass on August 31, 1997. At the time he was curate of St Mary Abbots church in Kensington, west London, near her former home at Kensington Palace. Princess Diana started going to the church a few months before she died, slipping in at the back during services and trying to keep a low profile. Recalling one conversation, Fr Gelli told how she stopped to speak to him on the way to the gym. He said: “She wanted to know if it was possible for two people of different religions to marry. I told her it was.

“As we spoke her telephone rang. It was obviously Dodi. Her eyes lit up. As she was leaving she asked me if I would be able to perform the service when she got married. Her love was obvious.”

While on holiday cruising the Mediterranean on Mohamed Fayed’s yacht, the Jonikal, she called Fr Gelli and said: “I have good news.”

She asked him to meet her at Kensington Palace when she returned, but days later in Paris she died along with Dodi, 41, in the crash.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/837400/princess-diana-death-princess-of-wales-dodi-fayed

Some people doesn't believe the "Tell me Yes" ring was an engagement ring, because it was too cheap, merely a little more than 10,000 dollars. But that was not all the gifts. There were two charities which very dear to Diana's heart coming with it. She told Richard Kay on phone six hours before her death, Al Fayed had agreed to finance a charity for landmine victims, and she and Dodi would set up hospices around the world.

Why would Al Fayed have promised to finance a charity for landmine victims, if Diana was going to dump his son soon?

I think in Al Fayed's mind for a long time, he believed it was a coming baby which lead to such a quick decision of marriage. Well, in 99% of all cases, a quick marriage is due to a coming baby. But I think Diana's case is within that 1% group. I think it was because at that stage of her life, she urgently needed someone who can protect her and make her feel safe. And recent events had also indicated that Al Fayed's had adopted such a belief. In an interview on the 20th anniversary of his son and Diana's death, he said,

"Princess Diana trusted my son and he became a shoulder to lean on at a troubled time in her life. Dodi wanted to be a safe haven for her and her boys. Our hearts go out to her sons. They lost a devoted mother and a wonderful human being. The anniversary is a particularly difficult time for my family and I. The reality is we suffer grief every day of our lives."

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Dodi+'just+wanted+to+keep+Princess+safe'.-a0501879617

Mr. Fayed's words echo Diana's words to her friend Rosa Monckton two weeks before her death about the luxury gifts Dodi gave her, "That's not what I want, Rosa,it makes me uneasy. I don't want to be bought...I just want someone to be there for me, to make me feel safe and secure." [1]

There are a lots of other evidences suggesting such unsafe feeling rooted in her mind at that stage, but let's not spread it out here.


Reference:
[1] “Friends Say Diana Adored Fayed, Forgiving Toward Charles, Others”, Chicago Tribute, 8 Sep 1997.
 
Since Dodi was involved wth another woman and possibly even engaged to her, I find it hard to believe that he would have made Diana feel safe. So why would she be proposing marriage to him?
 
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I don't believe it either.

Reports at the time suggested that Diana was already tired of him and was eager to get back to London.
Dodi was a fling, no more than that. I think Diana took up with him to horrify Charles and the RF. She had to know his reputation.
 
:previous:
I don't believe it either.

Reports at the time suggested that Diana was already tired of him and was eager to get back to London.
Dodi was a fling, no more than that. I think Diana took up with him to horrify Charles and the RF. She had to know his reputation.

I don't think she knew much about him.. he wasn't well known.. But I think she did take a mild liking to him, he was exerting himself to please, he was a good natured fellow, and she didn't problaby know about the model or the drugs in the past. I think she liked him well enough for a romance and possibly considered if he would be a candidate for a husband but before long, she was irritated by the way he messed around, had probably heard a few stories about his past and was just waiting for the summer to be over before ending it...
 
IIRC correctly, she had met him only a couple of times previously: At a polo match sponsored by Al Fayed, and possibly at an evening event. As these were polite, "royal" events, she probably had a pleasant enough impression of him. Those last few days with him seemed to be rather chaotic.
 
IIRC correctly, she had met him only a couple of times previously: At a polo match sponsored by Al Fayed, and possibly at an evening event. As these were polite, "royal" events, she probably had a pleasant enough impression of him. Those last few days with him seemed to be rather chaotic.

Precisiely… I think that rather than "smoothing over life's little annoyances" Dodi created annoyances.. by changing his mind all the time.. and he complained about things... rather than soothing people...
 
… I think that rather than "smoothing over life's little annoyances" Dodi created annoyances.. by changing his mind all the time.. and he complained about things... rather than soothing people...

If she experienced some cabin fever on the Jonquil, we know it was the second rendezvous that summer. Significant along with the stifling heat. She'd known and shared engagements with Al Fayed, who more than likely symbolized to his son's romances that Dodi would be immensely affluent one day.

The gifts themselves were said to make her uneasy, but the fact the his family was financially on par with the RF must have resonated positively. What isn't known is what the followup to the summer would've looked like with the father's guidance and a multitude of European options, but the Jonquil could have served in the manner of an introduction. Outright rejection in the works, after several romantic dinners under the stars ?
 
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I don't really know what you are saying Elan? That MAF would have reminded Diana how rich his family were? I don't think ti would have been a good move. I think that Diana was well aware they were rich but she was not happy with the fact that Dodi showered her with gifts. IN addition, he himself was not rich, he had shown no talent in dealing with work or business.. he might have been the kind who inherits a fortune and spends it all away..
I think that she was getting ab it tired of the affair, and was waiting till the end of the summer to gently brek it off when back in London
 
Diana and her friend Annabel Goldsmith had a telephone conversation about a week before she died. Annabel told the inquest on Diana that she had said that she was being spoiled by Dodi. Annabel teased her, saying 'You're not going to do anything silly like run off and get engaged or married, are you?' She said Diana laughed and said 'I need marriage like a rash on my face'.

IMO Dodi served as a nice summer romance that served to make Hasnet Khan jealous. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
IMO Dodi served as a nice summer romance that served to make Hasnet Khan jealous. Nothing more, nothing less.

I share that opinion, but we tend to dismiss the idea that they were pretty affectionate with eachother as observed by the staff. A good foundation, good reason to be optimistic, at least.

I think that Diana was well aware they were rich but she was not happy with the fact that Dodi showered her with gifts. IN addition, he himself was not rich, he had shown no talent in dealing with work or business.. he might have been the kind who inherits a fortune and spends it all away..

All the women that came into his life..whether Julia Roberts, Rene Zellwegger, Britt Ecklund, Julia Tholstrup, Suzanne Gregard, were surely aware of and impressed by the father. Diana was on a first name basis with, which gave Dodi a leg up on breaking the ice with her. He didn't need anyone to fall head over heels with him. A fun loving, relaxed fellow who treated ladies well, content to let things take their own course.
 
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I share that opinion, but we tend to dismiss the idea that they were pretty affectionate with eachother as observed by the staff. A good foundation, good reason to be optimistic, at least.



All the women that came into his life..whether Julia Roberts, Rene Zellwegger, Britt Ecklund, Julia Tholstrup, Suzanne Gregard, were surely aware of and impressed by the father. Diana was on a first name basis with, which gave Dodi a leg up on breaking the ice with her. He didn't need anyone to fall head over heels with him. A fun loving, relaxed fellow who treated ladies well, content to let things take their own course.
Are you comparing Diana to various actresses? And No I don't suppose he needed anyone to fall in love with him, when he was living with and possibly engaged to Kelly Fisher...
All the evidence seems to show that Diana's brief flirtitation with Dodi was running to its end. I don't think she wanted to marry him.. He was aimless, not rich in his own right and pretty unsuccessful. If he had had any real personality to offer, other than being a good natured idldr, she might have considered him as a husband, but I think even if she tried to see his best side and to think of him as a possible suitor, she was getting bored with him in a very short time.
She told most people whom she spoke to things like "if he gives me a ring Im putting it on my right hand" and " I don't need another marriage..." and I think that she had had a brief affection for him, but the more she got to know him she could see how aimless he was, how messy and disorganised his life was, that he was at his father's beck and call because he didn't have the get up and go to make money for himself.. and if she found out about the model girlfriend who had just been ditched to make way for her and the former use of drugs... I think she would have ended it...
 
:previous: Diana did know about the model..Kelly something, who Dodi had dumped to make way for her. During his and Diana's time on the Jonikal that fateful summer of 1997 Dodi had to leave her briefly to fly to Los Angeles to be present for a deposition by the jilted girlfriend's attorney Gloria Allred. She was suing Dodi for dumping her after insisting that she end her career to be at his beck and call.:sad:


I 100% agree with you that Diana would in all likelihood have grown bored with Dodi, and if she had married him it would have been an even more disastrous marriage than her first.

But she indeed knew about his jilted girlfriend and probably his reputation as a recreational drug user as well. How could she not have? The fact that he was being sued by an ex-girlfriend was all over the tabloids in the US and Europe that summer, and stories about his reputation abounded.

She just couldn't have cared less .
 
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One thing Diana did find in Dodi though was something I think she craved during her marriage to Charles and that is undivided attention from the guy she was with. Perhaps it was a lesson to Diana that being put on a pedestal and adored 24/7 isn't what its cracked up to be. It quickly wore thin.

I don't think the relationship would have lasted once the couple had left Paris and returned to their lives. It was a brief summer flirtation that got Diana out of the UK for a while when the focus was on Charles throwing a big birthday bash for Camilla at Highgrove.
 
They both were affectionate with each other but their relationship was a rebound relationship. Plus they briefly dated and I don't think marriage was on their mind, especially Diana. As we heard they were engaged etc
 
:previous: Diana did know about the model..Kelly something, who Dodi had dumped to make way for her. During his and Diana's time on the Jonikal that fateful summer of 1997 Dodi had to leave her briefly to fly to Los Angeles to be present for a deposition by the jilted girlfriend's attorney Gloria Allred. She was suing Dodi for dumping her after insisting that she end her career to be at his beck and call.:sad:


I 1.

She just couldn't have cared less .

I Imagine that Dodi told her that Kelly was an ex whom he had remained friends with and that she was trying to sue him for money.. (and Im not too sure about how serious the Kelly affair was...Its possible that she was with Dodi because he was rich and was hoping to marry him, rather than that they were actually engaged...
But I think that if he HAD been serious about Kelly and Di found out, she would have dumped him. As for the drug use, I don't think it was known except by people who knew him well. Diana didn't know him well.. (He was not in the least "famous") and he was probably on his best behaviour with her, and possible was genuinely fond of her...
(Di was very anti drugs)…

I think she enjoyed the affair and would have liked perhaps to consider him as a husband.. but within a few weeks she could see his faults, the disorganistion, the messy life, the irritated bodyguards.. and the way that he had to depend on his father for money and direction and she grew bored and disillusioned quickly...
So perhaps she just wanted to let the affair ride out ot the end of the summer and go home to see the boys at the beginning of September and then she would have let Dodi disappear out of her life..
 
Not to make a case for marriage, but curious about one particular dinner date with Dodi, in between the Jonikals that summer. Paul Burrell said the call came into Kensington for it. "Can I take you to dinner?"
"Of course'...where are we going?"

They apparently flew across the channel in his helicopter and the whole thing is a mystery.

Unless the story is not correct..anyone heard of this evening ?
 
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Not to make a case for marriage, but curious about one particular dinner date with Dodi, in between the Jonikals that summer. Paul Burrell said the call came into Kensington for it. "Can I take you to dinner?"
"Of course'...where are we going?"

They apparently flew across the channel in his helicopter and the whole thing is a mystery.

Unless the story is not correct..anyone heard of this evening ?

they probably went to Paris..... but I honestly cant remember if I have heard this story. I can't see what the problem is, anyway. Dodi was showing off thtat he or his dad had enough money to fly her abroad for a dinner date...
 
They both were affectionate with each other but their relationship was a rebound relationship. Plus they briefly dated and I don't think marriage was on their mind, especially Diana. As we heard they were engaged etc

I think that marriage was on Dodis' mind.. because it was on MAF's. I don't believe they were engaged or even taht Dodi had proposed, but Im sure MAF was trying to push his son to get Diana to the altar...
 
I think that marriage was on Dodis' mind.. because it was on MAF's. I don't believe they were engaged or even taht Dodi had proposed, but Im sure MAF was trying to push his son to get Diana to the altar...

This is everything in a nutshell. For years and years, MAF tried unsuccessfully to break into the upper echelons of British society even to the point of buying a castle in Scotland. I believe he'd applied for British citizenship twice and was refused. No amount of money or prestige or land holdings could get MAF in the door to where he wanted to be.

Diana could. That would have been the ultimate feather in his cap for his son to marry the former Princess of Wales and MAF would be step granddad to the future King of the UK. I seriously believe this was his ultimate goal and he pushed Diana and Dodi together as much as possible and Dodi was to spare no expense in his pursuit of the ultimate goal which would be marriage to Diana. MAF would get what he wanted and Dodi would be set for life. I sincerely think that Diana was a pawn in that game.

If I remember correctly, after Diana and Dodi's death, it was MAF, himself, that would parrot to all and sundry how close they were and how they were planning a marriage. This was shown by the ghastly "memorial" that he set up to the two of them at Harrod's. His son's death was debilitating but it also dashed all his hopes of being accepted into British society.
 
I also heard rumours that Diana wanted to convert to Islam.
 
This
I seriously believe this was his ultimate goal and he pushed Diana and Dodi together as much as possible and Dodi was to spare no expense in his pursuit of the ultimate goal which would be marriage to Diana. MAF would get what he wanted and Dodi would be set for life. I sincerely think that Diana was a pawn in that game.

If I remember correctly, after Diana and Dodi's death, it was MAF, himself, that would parrot to all and sundry how close they were and how they were planning a marriage. This was shown by the ghastly "memorial" that he set up to the two of them at Harrod's. His son's death was debilitating but it also dashed all his hopes of being accepted into British society.
yes of course it was all down to MAF. He knew Dodi wasn't ever goig to be a wonderful efficient business heir and it seemed unlikely that he would succeed in any other career, but he could possibly marry Diana. She was lonely, close to him in age, perhaps looking for a husband who was rich enough to provide her with a lifestyle that she was used to.. and if they lived abroad, rich enough for her to go home often to see her boys...
so he pushed Dodi into courting her.. but Dodi already had at least a steady girlfriend whom he was seeing.. I think he was genuinely taken with Diana but who knows what his intentions were as regards his current girlfriend? If he had succeeded in marrying Diana, would he have been a faithful husband? or would he feel that in marrying her, he had pleased his father..

I just don't think that Di was willing to play. She found MAF amusing, and I think she was a little attracted to Dodi, who was a rather lost lonely kind of bloke..and I think there was a bit of a "click" between them and it was nice for her to have a man who seemed to want to be seen with her and to spend time with her. But I think she grew irritated soon with his aimless lifestyle, his lack of organsiation, and she knew he had to defer to MAF... so I tink that soon killed off any prospects of the relationship becoming serous...
 
The conversion to Islam wasn't something associated with Diana's romance with Dodi Al-Fayed but actually stems back to her relationship with Haznat Khan who was also a Muslim.

What I find interesting is that in their own time, in their own ways, both Charles and Diana both came to wanting to understand Islam. Charles has an Islamic garden at Highgrove. ?
 
The conversion to Islam wasn't something associated with Diana's romance with Dodi Al-Fayed but actually stems back to her relationship with Haznat Khan who was also a Muslim.

What I find interesting is that in their own time, in their own ways, both Charles and Diana both came to wanting to understand Islam. Charles has an Islamic garden at Highgrove. ?
True she studied Islam to learn about Hasnat Khan and his culture.. I dotn think that it was a big ting for Dodi...
 
I Imagine that Dodi told her that Kelly was an ex whom he had remained friends with and that she was trying to sue him for money.. (and Im not too sure about how serious the Kelly affair was...Its possible that she was with Dodi because he was rich and was hoping to marry him, rather than that they were actually engaged...
But I think that if he HAD been serious about Kelly and Di found out, she would have dumped him. As for the drug use, I don't think it was known except by people who knew him well. Diana didn't know him well.. (He was not in the least "famous") and he was probably on his best behaviour with her, and possible was genuinely fond of her...
(Di was very anti drugs)…

I think she enjoyed the affair and would have liked perhaps to consider him as a husband.. but within a few weeks she could see his faults, the disorganistion, the messy life, the irritated bodyguards.. and the way that he had to depend on his father for money and direction and she grew bored and disillusioned quickly...
So perhaps she just wanted to let the affair ride out ot the end of the summer and go home to see the boys at the beginning of September and then she would have let Dodi disappear out of her life..

But Kelly and her attorney gave a press conference in early August 1997 in which they announced the lawsuit against Dodi. Kelly not only produced her diamond engagement ring from the guy but a video of the two lovebirds househunting in Malibu..in it Kelly can be heard billing and cooing to "baby" about how happy they were going to be in their seaside love nest.:whistling:

It was all over the media...how could Diana not have believed this was a serious relationship?

I was a huge Diana fan and I still appreciate her for her considerable gifts and good qualities but the hard fact is that she was never one to let the feelings of another woman get in the way when she wanted something...see her flirtation with the very married Will Carling and more serious involvement with loathesome also married Oliver Hoare as good (bad) examples.:sad:
 
But Kelly and her attorney gave a press conference in early August 1997 in which they announced the lawsuit against Dodi. Kelly not only produced her diamond engagement ring from the guy but a video of the two lovebirds househunting in Malibu..in it Kelly can be heard billing and cooing to "baby" about how happy they were going to be in their seaside love nest.:whistling:

It was all over the media...how could Diana not have believed this was a serious relationship?

I was a huge Diana fan and I still appreciate her for her considerable gifts and good qualities but the hard fact is that she was never one to let the feelings of another woman get in the way when she wanted something...see her flirtation with the very married Will Carling and more serious involvement with loathesome also married Oliver Hoare as good (bad) examples.:sad:

THey could have been looing at houses...
that didn't mean that they were engaged... I have always been dubious abt Kelly's engagement.. I think she hoped to marry Dodi, but according to what I've seen she was supposed to marry ihim on 9th August.. but by then he was off courting Diana. But it seems to me that it was possibly Dodi going along with Kelly, rather than a serious wedding plan...\
If it had been me thinking that I was going to marry a man on 9th August - and he had hopped off at his father's behest... I'd be on the phone to him hourly asking what the heck was going on and when he was goig to come back and see the clergyman or whatever..


I'd imagine Dodi told Diana that he had been involved with Kelly but he wasn't serious about marrying her.. and she, Diana, wasnt' that serious about marrying HIM.. so she let their affair go on and knew it would end soon...
 
Let my fingers do a bit of walking looking for information on Kelly's engagement to Dodi and from what I've found, I sincerely believe that prior to meeting Diana, Dodi was engaged to Ms. Fisher. Ms. Fisher also relayed the conditions of her engagement to Dodi under oath during the inquest into Diana's death in Paris.

This article is an interesting read and its shows another woman's take on the character makeup of Dodi Al-Fayed and how his father ruled with an iron hand.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1572509/Dodis-ex-fiancee-tells-inquest-of-betrayal.html
 
:previous: Thank you Osipi. Of course she was engaged to Dodi and both he and Diana knew it. It's just that when Big Daddy Mohammed realized that there was a much bigger prize to be had...namely the most famous woman on Earth who also happened to be a beautiful Royal princess. .the obscure American model didn't stand a chance in hell.:sad:

I do agree 100% with Denville that Dodi must never have been as serious / excited about the upcoming nuptials as Kelly was, but that doesn't change the fact that he was engaged to her when he began his pursuit of Diana. And yes I do believe he was able to convince Diana that his heart was never in it and that he never had any intention of going through with it.

But I also believe that if Diana hadn't happened Dodi would in all likelihood have married Fisher.


BTW Denville Kelly WAS on the phone with Dodi in late July and early August repeatedly demanding an explanation. He simply stopped taking her calls cold turkey...and according to Kelly, MAF himself phoned her and told her in the most vulgar and abusive manner to butt out and GET LOST.

That's when she hired Allred and went to the media.

In a tearful, rather sad interview that she gave in the aftermath of the Paris car crash she sad she really didn't blame Dodi for dumping her for Diana..."I would have dumped me too for her!" (poor Kelly's exact words)
 
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