Diana and Dodi (and Tony Blair)


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Diana seemed to be much more interested in people than in animals. I'm not sure that I believe this story about her and Dodi being involved in this film. :ermm:


That's true, but I do indeed remember reading about the possibility of a film about elephants to in the last few weeks before the tragedy, when Diana's relationship with Dodi was heating up.

It was allegedly a project that they were going to work on together. It seems like something that was right up Dodi's alley. He was known for being a very passionate lover of animals all his life. I think Diana's star power was going to be used to put the spotlight on the issue.
 
That's true, but I do indeed remember reading about the possibility of a film about elephants to in the last few weeks before the tragedy, when Diana's relationship with Dodi was heating up.

It was allegedly a project that they were going to work on together. It seems like something that was right up Dodi's alley. He was known for being a very passionate lover of animals all his life. I think Diana's star power was going to be used to put the spotlight on the issue.


If the plan did exist. I was very surprise why the movie hadn't been finished at the end. You know, if the producer let the public know it was one of Diana's last wishes to make this movie, and plus that the topic of the movie is really positive, considering the sentiment around the time--right after her death, this movie could haven been one of the best seated movies of the history. Just look at Elton John's Candle in the Wind, which is so far still the best sold single of the whole history.
 
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I hate "Candle in the Wind" more than words can say...it makes me cringe every time I hear it that schlocky, awful mess of a song!



But I agree...the curiosity factor for the Diana/Dodi would have driven sales sky high.
 
The charity Diana talked to Richard Kay on the phone 6 hours before her accident, turns out to be an charitable institude for victims of landmines, rather than a global hospics. If you go to read the who transcript of the hearing, you would know that. However, the british media collaborately failed to report this. Hmm, I found it hard not to ask why.
 
Concerning about Diana's saying to paparazzi "you would be surprised what I will do next" in her last summer, finally, it seems the myth is solved.

3 A. Thinking back now over the years, it was something like,
4 "I'm going to shock them" or words to that effect, "I'm
5 going to shock them", or "I'm going to tell them", and
6 "Shock them or tell them" or "I'm going to give them
7 what they" -- something along those lines, "I'm telling
8 them I'm going to America".

9 Q. So she in effect was saying she was going to tell the
10 press about going to live in America?
11 A. That's -- after that conversation, that's what I assumed
12 she was going to say, by what she said to me, and we
13 were thinking, you know, this is going to stir up
14 a hornets' nest with the paparazzi. So I recall when
15 she went out there and when she came back, she didn't
16 say it, as I know now, and I remember the Royal
17 Protection officer, I can't remember his name, getting
18 off the boat and saying, "she didn't do it" and we were
19 like --
20 Q. Phew?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. So in this second conversation, she said something to
23 the effect that she was going to tell the press about
24 going to America, she went out there but you
25 subsequently learned that she didn't in fact do what she

132

1 said?
2 A. Yes.
[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Hearing transcripts: 9 January 2008 - Afternoon session
 
She also gave an interview before her death in which she said that she'd never leave Britain because of her sons.I can see her keeping a part-time home in the US, for vacations.

Di's Last Interview - Philly.com

Perhaps none of it was meant as moving any kind of residence to the US. Reading the various quotes, perhaps it had a totally different meaning.

"I'm going to shock them" or words to that effect, "I'm going to shock them", or "I'm going to tell them", and "Shock them or tell them" or "I'm going to give them what they" -- something along those lines, "I'm telling them I'm going to America"

There were different "stories" floating around in this or one of the Diana threads about her conspiring with Dodi, a film producer in California, about making a movie about an elephant. If she was to work with him on this project, she would have been going to America for that purpose.

I'm more inclined to believe something like this rather than that there was something serious going on between Diana and Dodi. Perhaps Dodi was schmoozing and wining and dining Diana as producers somehow do to get a production to be a huge success. No matter what we think now, back at that time having Diana. Princess of Wales as a backer for anything would sell like hotcakes.

There is no way I think that Diana would ever have moved to a country away from her sons.
 
IIRC her friend Lucia de Flima or something like that (I think?) who spoke to Diana not long before her death stated that she and Diana had discussed Dodi and Diana was not serious about him.


LaRae
 
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Perhaps none of it was meant as moving any kind of residence to the US. Reading the various quotes, perhaps it had a totally different meaning.

I'm more inclined to believe something like this rather than that there was something serious going on between Diana and Dodi. Perhaps Dodi was schmoozing and wining and dining Diana as producers somehow do to get a production to be a huge success. No matter what we think now, back at that time having Diana. Princess of Wales as a backer for anything would sell like hotcakes.

There is no way I think that Diana would ever have moved to a country away from her sons.
No they were seeing each other romantically. Dodi wasn't a real producer, though he may have tried. he was billed a producer because his fathers money was put into films and it gave him something to call himself.. when he had clearly got no business talent.
I don't know if the relationship would have lasted long, problaby not, but it was a brief flirtation, not a "business proposition relationship".
 
When we really think about it, alongside the summer fling, there could have been ulterior motives that lurked in the back of the parties involved minds.

Diana: was looking for some good publicity to overshadow Camilla's 50th birthday. Perhaps she also saw the relationship as a means to being able to propagate and generate awareness for some of the causes that were near and dear to her heart at the time. I believe its called "schmoozing".

Dodi: well... Dodi was Dodi and did what Daddy told him to do. He was never averse to being with a pretty woman to flatter and have on his arm. Also proved to be quite fickle as when the vacation with Diana started, he was engaged to another person. Being a producer was something he played with and of course was backed by Daddy's money.

Mohamed Al Fayed: Wants so badly to be ingrained into British society and its never going to happen. He's been turned down twice for British citizenship and it would have been a huge feather in his cap to have Diana, Princess of Wales as a daughter in law. Of course, should that happen she'd just be Diana Al Fayed but that's besides the point as far as his machinations went. I do seriously believe that it was dear ol' Daddy that made the Diana/Dodi romance much more than it was.

The romance was actually a very short one and who knows what would have happened if that accident in Paris never occurred.
 
I doubt if Diana really saw Dodi as being any great help in her work, maybe she tried to convince herself but I get the impression that while good nautred and pleasant he wasn't at all any use at anything! I think that Diana was indeed looking for something that would take her mind off Chas and Camilla and was beginning to see that Khan wasn't ever goig to take their romance to another level.. And Di did want to knock the "Camillas birthday" story off the front page. So her teasing reporters, was probably to do with that.
And maybe she convinced herself that Dodi was a nice fellow, she liked him, and tat maybe if their romance worked out she would have a very rich husband, be connected to the "Harrods owning family", and be wealthy enough from her husbands side...to be noticed as a rival to the RF, instead of much of her wealth coming from them.
She would be photographed and socialise in the celeb world, and she'd have enough money to do a lot of charity work that woul get her noticed (NOT that I means she only did charity wrork to get noticed) but she would be able to say (as apparently was mooted) set up some kind of big foundation and I think she hoped that Dodi would be good natured enough to go along with that and do engagements with her - and she woud have a secure financial base that was not dependent on the English aristocracy or the RF. Of course it wouldn't be quite what she was used to, but she was hoping that it would make up for the coolness of the RF and many of the British upper crust.
I thnk she did genuinely like Dodi and perhaps managed to "forget" or not know about his girlfriend.. and he liked her enough to do what his father was ordering and have a relationship with her.
But the indications are that she was getting a bit fed up with Dodi by te end of her holiday, that his messy way of living and his fussing over things got on her nerves and perhaps she realised that the Fayeds were mainly courting her for her position and she didn't want to become one of them..
But we don't really know. Maybe Dodi was preparing to propose in a little while and she might have considered him seriously as a suitor.
but it was definteily a romantic relationship, not Diana wanting to make a film. I'd say that in any case her divorce settlement would have restiricted her form doing various things like that.
I've never heard of her being that interested in "elephants" or the like, and I would say that the only films she would have been allowed to do would be something like a serious documentary on a non controversial charity theme. I can't imagine she was really all that optimisitic that Dodi would be into that sort of thing or a partner in charity work
 
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I think that Dodi was okay for Diana as a summer companion, but I can't imagine the two of them married--even after 20 years. My initial reaction that summer was "Oh No!:ohmy:" I knew enough about British news to have heard about the trouble that Dodi's father had caused in the "cash for questions" debacle as well as his inability to get British citizenship. Diana certainly didn't lack her own financial resources if she wanted to produce documentaries and so didn't need the Fayeds for that.
 
Dodi was a fling...and an attempt by Diana to make Hasnat Khan jealous.



LaRae
 
When we really think about it, alongside the summer fling, there could have been ulterior motives that lurked in the back of the parties involved minds.

Diana: was looking for some good publicity to overshadow Camilla's 50th birthday. Perhaps she also saw the relationship as a means to being able to propagate and generate awareness for some of the causes that were near and dear to her heart at the time. I believe its called "schmoozing".

Dodi: well... Dodi was Dodi and did what Daddy told him to do. He was never averse to being with a pretty woman to flatter and have on his arm. Also proved to be quite fickle as when the vacation with Diana started, he was engaged to another person. Being a producer was something he played with and of course was backed by Daddy's money.

Mohamed Al Fayed: Wants so badly to be ingrained into British society and its never going to happen. He's been turned down twice for British citizenship and it would have been a huge feather in his cap to have Diana, Princess of Wales as a daughter in law. Of course, should that happen she'd just be Diana Al Fayed but that's besides the point as far as his machinations went. I do seriously believe that it was dear ol' Daddy that made the Diana/Dodi romance much more than it was.

The romance was actually a very short one and who knows what would have happened if that accident in Paris never occurred.

Well i always thought that the Al Fayeds somewhat manipulated Diana, and that Diana manipulated the Al Fayeds. On the paper it was a win win situation i guess : publicity and a slap to the Britsih establishment on one side, overshadowing Camilla's birthday and probably making Khan jealous on the other.
 
I personally feel that the British Government, Western governments including some in the U.S.,other observers and the media, and the BRF (especially Philip, Charles, Queen Mother, Margaret, Anne and Andrew) probably did not like the potential of the mother of the future King dating and potentially marrying a Muslim.

Just my belief.

In July 1997, it would be a problem, and it probably was.
 
They were a long way off from talking marriage...if ever. She was still hung up on Hasnat.


LaRae
 
They were a long way off from talking marriage...if ever. She was still hung up on Hasnat.


LaRae

True. The Queen Mother and Margaret would have thrown a fit. To see the mother of their beloved great-grandson and grandnephew William, marry a Muslim may have angered them, despite the fact that she was not married into their family anymore.
 
When we think about it, there is nothing that would bar Diana from marrying anyone she chose to. She was no longer under any kind of jurisdiction of the UK government or the monarchy. They might not have liked the idea but there was nothing much they could have done to prevent it.

I also don't believe that Diana was anywhere near thinking of marrying Dodi. He was a "filler" for that summer and by the end of the vacation, she was looking forward to getting back home and back to her own life.
 
I agree that Dodi was a summer fling. She would have become bored by him very quickly, I think. However, it wasn't just the BRF who would have been perturbed by a match with Dodi or Hasnet Khan. It was said that Diana's mother Frances said a few things about Hasnet that deeply upset her daughter and caused a breach.
 
According to Frances she never said racist things.
 
When we think about it, there is nothing that would bar Diana from marrying anyone she chose to. She was no longer under any kind of jurisdiction of the UK government or the monarchy. They might not have liked the idea but there was nothing much they could have done to prevent it.

I also don't believe that Diana was anywhere near thinking of marrying Dodi. He was a "filler" for that summer and by the end of the vacation, she was looking forward to getting back home and back to her own life.

Yes I think that there was nothing they could do, as she was divorced, and would if she married Dodi be marrying into great wealth. I don't think her divorce settlement could have been removed, and she could snap her fingers at the RF's wealth anyway.
However I suspect that they might have been rather pleased, since the romance with the Fayeds, was controversial and it might have eroded Diana's popularity had she been seen marrying into that family, becoming a "rich idle woman" who was part of a dubious and nouveau riche family.
And since Dodi was half engaged it seems to another woman what would be the outcome in the end? Maybe a divorce a few years down the line and Diana looking as if she had moved into a messy vulgar lifestyle.
I dont know if she was seriously considering Dodi as a husband, Possibly, but I think that the more time she spent with him the more she found his haphazard ways annoying and if she began to suspect abot the other woman or feared that he would be back to his drug taking habits, I think she would have definitely ended the romance. but its possible that she was seriously thinking of a marriage, she would be very rich.. He was a nice guy if not very bright or active.. and his family seemed fond of her. She may have thought that he was raw material she could make into a partner, who would help with her charity work, but I feel sure that the longer she dated him, the more she'd have realised he wasn't likely to be much good at that sort of thing and that he was just a playboy, who was good natured and nice, not much use at anything, and while pleasant for a holiday romance, not really marriage material. I think she was fed up with the messy stuff with bodyguards, Dodis' changing arrangements all the time so that the bodyguards couldn't do mcuh to head off the press, and Dodi's making a fuss over lilte things..
 
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Trevor Rees-Jones book truly shows the chaos of that last day in Paris, and also gives lovely vignettes of Diana's friendliness. :flowers:

With regard to Dodi, one vignette stood out on his choosing to visit the Island of Molara the night of July 26. Although at times Trevor is left scratching his head unable to see how the relationship started, without knowing of M. Fayed's friendship with her father and remaining in touch with Diana. On this night, he is unequivocal in praising Dodi's 'brilliance' for the way the evening unfolds. A gracious thing to recall imo.

Having reece'd the location that afternoon, the spot was a quiet cove of rough terrian with a few goats in the vicinity, but well suited for a romantic setting. Delorm and chef put to the task of arranging a bonfire, tableware, blankets, chilled bucket of white wine, chicken burgers, ribs, smoked sausage, sizzling under a canopy of stars.

As it winds down they are left alone watching the embers.....one bodyguard out in the distance.
 
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Well dod had Plenty of time and money to romance a woman,but I'm not sure if it did more than give Diana a little bit of fun and ego boosting..
 
Well dod had Plenty of time and money to romance a woman,but I'm not sure if it did more than give Diana a little bit of fun and ego boosting..

Many have alluded to this. No one is asking if in fact he had a rare gift for romance and relationships. Time and money were on hand, but flames on (short list) such as Julia Roberts, Suzanne Gregard, Kelly Fisher, Cathy Crosby, Brooke Shields...suggest a confidence with women overall, a comfort level apart from wealth.

Possibly he had a universal gift or 'charm' that impressed people in different walks of life, for ex..

His presence was remembered at Sandhurst in a positive account by an officer who was his superior. This being someone who knew of his privledged background, and found him not to be a slacker or substandard "...he had a reasonable build, without the body fat that you might expect. And he carried that over to his training in a way that earned him the respect of his peers."

 
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Many have alluded to this. No one is asking if in fact he had a rare gift for romance and relationships. Time and money were on hand, but flames on (short list) such as Julia Roberts, Suzanne Gregard, Kelly Fisher, Cathy Crosby, Brooke Shields...suggest a confidence with women overall, a comfort level apart from wealth.

Possibly he had a universal gift or 'charm' that impressed people in different walks of life, for ex..

His presence was remembered at Sandhurst in a positive account by an officer who was his superior. This being someone who knew of his privledged background, and found him not to be a slacker or substandard "...he had a reasonable build, without the body fat that you might expect. And he carried that over to his training in a way that earned him the respect of his peers."

as I recall he asked to Leave Sandhurst and didn't stay very long.. and his attempts at other careers ended in failure. He left unpaid bills behind him and Trever RJ seemed to think that Diana could do much much better than Dodi, though he was a nice enough good natured fellow, but it seems very immature and not able to cope with any responsibility. His messing around with security arrangements caused his bodyguards headaches and if he was thoughtful to his giriflrends he didn't rally have much else to occupy him and had plenty of staff to do things like buy the presents, prepare the romantic dinners etc.
 
I really get the feeling through all of this, that the attitude was "what Dodi wants, Dodi gets" without regard to anything beyond his own wants and needs. Along with that, there is the definitely the undertones of "pleasing Daddy as Daddy pays the bills". Dodi didn't have to be responsible. Dodi didn't have to consider others with the prime example of his then fiance, Kelly Fisher, who at first was on a yacht close to the one Diana and the Al-Fayeds were on. Dodi then felt no obligation to his fiance when he decided he wanted to "pursue" Diana. Whether it was on his own accord or because Daddy wanted him to is anybody's guess.

With this in mind, those that worked for Dodi (and also his father), were mere underlings that were there to fulfill whatever wish Dodi came up with regardless if it was dangerous, ill advised or just plain stupid. Ken Wharfe stated in his book that if Diana still had him as an RPO at the time, she would never have been allowed to ride in that car without a seat beat. Wharfe didn't answer to Diana though and had to follow what the rules laid down by Scotland Yard were.

All in all, I think Dodi was a very superficial kind of guy but, at the time, just the right kind of a "yes" man to flatter Diana. As far as a love match, I don't think Dodi had any more of a clue what love means than Diana did.
 
I really get the feeling through all of this, that the attitude was "what Dodi wants, Dodi gets" without regard to anything beyond his own wants and needs. Along with that, there is the definitely the undertones of "pleasing Daddy as Daddy pays the bills". Dodi didn't have to be responsible. Dodi didn't have to consider others with the prime example of his then fiance, Kelly Fisher, who at first was on a yacht close to the one Diana and the Al-Fayeds were on. Dodi then felt no obligation to his fiance when he decided he wanted to "pursue" Diana. Whether it was on his own accord or because Daddy wanted him to is anybody's guess.

With this in mind, those that worked for Dodi (and also his father), were mere underlings that were there to fulfill whatever wish Dodi came up with regardless if it was dangerous, ill advised or just plain stupid. Ken Wharfe stated in his book that if Diana still had him as an RPO at the time, she would never have been allowed to ride in that car without a seat beat. Wharfe didn't answer to Diana though and had to follow what the rules laid down by Scotland Yard were.

All in all, I think Dodi was a very superficial kind of guy but, at the time, just the right kind of a "yes" man to flatter Diana. As far as a love match, I don't think Dodi had any more of a clue what love means than Diana did.
How do you know how much anyone knows "what love means?" it means differnet things to different people.
Was Dodi selfish? yes, I think he was.. but I think he had a genuine "clicking" iwht Diana and she ahd with him.. but I suspect it was short lived. I think that MAF pushed Dodi to court her and Dodi did so, while still romancing Kelly Fisher.. Possibly, as he got together with Diana, though he was happy enough to think of breaking off the relationship with Kelly F, and convincing himself that he was in love with Diana.
He was said to be good natured and likable by his girlfrends.. but he was very much driven by what MAF wanted for him because MAF paid his bills and Dodi himself was too immature to make any kind of a working life for himself. So I think that it wasn't that difficult to be a charming boyfriend, ot various women for a time.. when he had no other real occupation and plenty of money and servants to help with beng attentive to his ladyfriends.

However it also meant that if MAF wanted him to do something Dodi would try and do it, to please his father..
so I believe that Diana while genuinely fond of him for a short time, was getting fed up with him fairly soon. His charm pleased her for a bit, but she could see that he was not good at organsing his life, that he depended totally on his father for an income, and that he made a fuss over little things, which was starting to annoy her within a few weeks.
 
..so I believe that Diana while genuinely fond of him for a short time, was getting fed up with him fairly soon. His charm pleased her for a bit, but she could see that he was not good at organsing his life, that he depended totally on his father for an income, and that he made a fuss over little things, which was starting to annoy her within a few weeks.

For a man as skilled as he was smoothing over life's little annoyances, another scenario starts to present itself ; Diana, having more time to feel acquainted, finds herself emotionally committed...won over, with engagement and subsequent marriage announced the following Spring. In other words, turning him down might have been difficult for her, especially after a second and more intimate cruise, improving his chances as time went on. That was his strong point.

Vanity Fair 97 ;

'We do know that at age 19 Dodi enrolled at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, where he took the six-month course from January through June 1974. (The half-year stint was a less stringent version of Sandhurst’s traditional program.)

Dodi submitted to Sandhurst’s regimen of fitness training, marching, team games, exercises in signals and communications, and training in weaponry and other military equipment. "He had a reasonable build. He wasn’t fat and pampered and soft and flabby" says Major Tim Coles, who lived in the room next door. "He walked gracefully and converted it into an upright military posture.
"

"I don’t remember him making a particular fuss. He was quiet, intelligent, pleasant, a good sense of humor, was friendly, and appreciated help when anyone gave it."

Dodi ended his military career after receiving his commission at graduation—the equivalent of a second lieutenant. He told Major Coles that he planned to join the Dubai air force; instead, he served briefly as an attaché at the United Arab Emirates embassy in London.'

 
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