Diana and Dodi (and Tony Blair)

[Curryong]

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.

[Denville]

According to Frances she never said racist things.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Osipi

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..

[Elan]

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

Trevor Rees-Jones book truly shows the chaos of that last day in Paris, and also gives lovely vignettes of Diana's friendliness.

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.

[Denville]

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..

[Elan]

Originally Posted by Denville

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."

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Elan

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.

[Osipi]

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.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Osipi

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.

[Elan]

Originally Posted by Denville

..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.'

[Denville]

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...

[Elan]

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.

"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.

[Denville]

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...

[anbrida]

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...les-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+...7.-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.

[Denville]

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?

[Mirabel]

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.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Mirabel

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...

[Mermaid1962]

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.

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

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...

[Elan]

Originally Posted by Denville

… 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 ?