Diana and Dodi (and Tony Blair)

[anbrida]

In Tony Blair self-biography "a journey", he disclosed that when she visited him at Chequers in July 1997, he and Diana had a conversation about her relationship with Dodi. He told Diana he felt Dodi Fayed was a problem.

but I also felt -- and I don't know, maybe I would be less punctilious about it nowadays -- that Dodi Fayed was a problem. And This was not for the obvious reasons, which would have made some frown on him; his nationality, religion or background didn't matter a hoot ot me. I had never met him, so at one level it was unfair to feel nervous about him, and for all I know he was a good son and a nice guy; so if you ask me, well, spit it out, what was wrong, I couldn't frankly say

I just broached the subject of her and Dodi straight out. She didn't like it and I could feel the wilful side of her bridling. However, she didn't refuse to talk about it, so we did, and also what she might do. Although the conversation had been uncomfortable at points, by the end it was warm and friendly.

Tony Blair didn't tell what exactly his concern was, but in an interveiw he gave to abc, he disclosed more of his thought

Tony Blair on Princess Diana, the Queen and Alcohol | Video - ABC News

--"I was worried for her, frankly," he said. "I mean I was worried because it was obviously going to be extremely difficult. And I wanted her to know what the implications and consequences of all of it was going to be."

--what is the issue.

--The issue was obviously it was a unusual relationship to be, the question is how you were going to work it out and how it was gona to work out. Think about Princess Diana's become not only an object of fascination of people, she's obviously become such a public property.

Tony Blair didn't disclosed the date of the meeting in his book. He just said it's in July 1997. But from Alastair Campbell diary "The Blair Years", I read that it was on July 6,1997.

July 6, Diana brings William to meet Tony Blair's family at Chequers.
July 11, Beginning of Diana’s holiday with her two sons at the Fayed villa in St Tropez.
July 14 morning, Diana, fed up with press attention, gives an impromptu
news conference at sea, during which she promises, ‘You will get a big surprise with the next thing I do’
July 14 afternoon, Dodi Fayed arrives on board the Jonikal, after being summoned by his father.
July 18 Camilla birthday party
July 19 Diana phones Hasnat Khan’s Chelsea flat. His uncle picks up the phone and she asks him to tell Hasnat to ring her when she gets back.
July 20 Diana and the princes fly back to London
July 26 Diana flies to Paris for hastily arranged ‘date’ with Dodi Fayed
July 29 Diana and Hasnat meet in Battersea Park
July 30 Diana and Hasnat meet at Kensington Palace. According to Khan, Diana tells him the relationship is over. Photographer Jason Fraser is tipped off by Diana herself about she and Dodi’s impending cruise on the Jonikal.
July 31 Diana joins Dodi again for another cruise aboard the Jonikal
Aug 2 Italian photographer Mario Brenna, alerted by Jason
Fraser, awaits the right moment to take photographs of
Diana and Dodi.
Aug 4 Brenna takes the infamous ‘KISS’ pictures.
Aug 8 Diana flies to Bosnia to continue her landmines campaign
Aug 10 The Sunday Mirror publishes the ‘KISS’ picture, and every-one is talking of a romance between Diana and Dodi.
Aug 11 Diana returns from Bosnia. The ‘KISS’ pictures don’t trouble her.
Around Aug 20 Diana gives an interview for the French magazine LeMonde, which was her last interview. One of her saying in it is "Being constantly in the public eye gives me a special responsibility, particularly that of using the impact of photographs to transmit a message, to sensitize the world to an important cause, to defend certain values.''

We knew Diana didn't talk much about her relationship with Dodi to anybody, even not to her most inner circle. Then the fact that she talked about it to Tony Blair, at such an early date, even before she started the vacation, can tell us a lot about the true nature of this relationship. It was definitely an "unusual" relationship, just as Tony Blair put it. So what was it, I am quite confident that this time we will be finally able to see "the truth".

 

[Mermaid1962]

Simple. Dodi's father was notorious. He bribed members of Parliament, for one thing. Dodi was known to be a cocaine user. I think that had Diana and Dodi continued on with their relationship, thing would have become very difficult for Diana. Mohammad al-Fayed was not and is not a respected man. No matter how nice a man Dodi was, he was his father's heir. If Diana and Dodi had married or even continued a long-term relationship, I think that they would have been constantly interferred with by al-Fayed Sr; and al-Fayed Sr. might have hoped to have influence over William and Harry. I think that's what Mr. Blair meant. I don't think that there's any deep, dark secret about Dodi that has yet to be uncovered; nor do I believe that there's any reason to believe that the accident in Paris was anything but an accident.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

This. I agree completely.

Dodi sounds like an essentially decent and kind person. I feel a sadness reading about him. But he had what we popularly call "issues".

I still have questions about the accident in Paris, frankly a couple of things don't add up. But ultimately I think it was a very tragic and very preventable accident.

 

[Dman]

Dodi was a "player from the himalayas" and I don't think he and Diana was in a serious relationship. Dodi's father setup a lot of what was going on that terrible summer.

 

[KittyAtlanta]

IMO, Diana was using Dodi to create scintillation in the newspapers. I don't think she would have wed him at all.

 

[Queen Camilla]

Never know. Some people marry only days after meeting.

'Her big surprise': Getting married.

 

[Nice Nofret]

IMHO Diana was much to high on her Spencer and POW-Horse to have wed Dodi; I believe she wanted a rich but also 'purpousfull' husband with high standing in the world, who would be devoted to her.

Dodi was a playboy, who idled his time away, from a rich, but not accepted family - I can't think she was serious about that relationship. I can much easier believe, that she had Dodi just to make Hassnat Khan jealouse...

She wanted to be loved and respected - not laughingstock and despised by her peers.

 

[Dman]

Diana wasn't going to jump into another marriage. Also, Dodi was engaged to another young lady and who was waiting for him in another yacht while he was with Diana on the Jonikal. Those folks were messing around with Diana and then everything became worse and tragic.

 

[Marty91charmed]

Rumours had it shewanted to make Hasnat Khan jelaous and therefore she started a relationship with Dodi... But we'll never know...

 

[JulieS]

Rumours had it shewanted to make Hasnat Khan jelaous and therefore she started a relationship with Dodi... But we'll never know...

I heard about this rumour too... Diana took this secret to the grave...

 

[Marty91charmed]

I heard about this rumour too... Diana took this secret to the grave...

this speculation was also featured in Diana movie

 

[Iluvbertie]

Let's not forget Dodi's mother's family - the Kashoggi family who were major arms dealers. Diana was forging a name for herself opposing land mines and here she was developing a relationship with a relative of one of the biggest sellers of arms, including land mines, in the world.

 

[Mermaid1962]

Yes, Iluvbertie. No matter which way a person looks at it, the Fayeds and their family connections were bad news.

 

[anbrida]

Guys, you need to be sensitive to the time. Diana and Tony Blair talked about her relationship at July 6, long before the world know their relationship, which was Aug 10 when the kiss picture publiced, even before she went onto the boat. Then how did Tony Blair know about this relationship at such an early stage.

Did he know about it from the media? No, there was not such news at all at such an early stage.

Was Diana and Dodi seeing eath other at such an early stage? No, if they did so, Dodi would have let his father know, and Al fayed would definitely used this as a proof to support the marriage statement in Diana's law suit.

So how did Tony Blair know about that at such an early stage, it must be Diana tell him she was considering about Dodi. Why would Diana have consulted with the Prime Minister such personal stuff, instead of with her friends? If her movatation was to make her boyfriend, would she consulted with the Prime Minister?

 

[Mermaid1962]

It was Mr. Blair's responsibility and duty to discuss the relationship with her. In the interview, it seemed like he was the one who initiated the discussion.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Diana wasn't going to jump into another marriage. Also, Dodi was engaged to another young lady and who was waiting for him in another yacht while he was with Diana on the Jonikal. Those folks were messing around with Diana and then everything became worse and tragic.

The young lady was model Kelly Fisher. Dodi, instigated by his father Mohammed, had brutally dumped Fisher. At the time of the tragedy Kelly was suing Dodi in court, since he reportedly urged her to abandon her modeling career to marry him, then when he had a chance with Diana all bets were off.

The lawsuit was dropped when Dodi died. Kelly was truly devastated.

ETA: From everything I've read I believe Dodi was dazzled and besotted by Diana and would have moved heaven and earth to marry her. Diana liked him, but I think she would have eventually grown bored with Dodi. A marriage between them would have been a bigger disaster than her first one.

Another poster put it best...Diana wanted a husband who could not only provide her with the lavish material wealth she was accustomed to, she wanted gravitas and respect. At the end of her life she was hobnobbing with people like Benjamin Netanyahu, Mother Theresa and Henry Kissinger. Dodi would have been an embarrassment in those circles.

You can take the girl out of the aristocracy, but you can't take the aristocrat out of the girl. In the final analysis she was an earl's daughter and the mother of a future king.

 

[anbrida]

It is also should be noticed that since her death, Tony Blair simply put Diana onto the golden pedestal, not only in 1997 when he gave her the title "people's princess", but also in his 2010 self-biography "a journey".

How did he describe Diana in his book, here are some examples

"She captured the essence of an era and held it in the palm of her hand. She defined it."

"Of course she was much too smart to give her support to any political party, but in temperament and time, in the mood she engendered and which we represented, there was a perfect fit. Whatever New Labour had in part, she had in whole."

"She was extraordinarily captivating. The aura that already surrounded her was magnified by the redical combination of royalty and normality that she expressed. "

"She had a strong emotional intelligence, certainly, but she was also very capable of analytical understanding."

"She had a complete sense of what we were trying to achieve and why. I always used to say to Alastair (his spin doctor): if she was ever in politics, even Clinton would have to watch out. "

The only not so unpleasant thing he talked about Diana is "manipulation".

"We were both in our ways manipulative people, perceiving quickly the emotions of others and able instinctly to play with them"

Of course, Diana had many faults, but it is hard to resist wondering why Blair only singled out "manipulation".

Would Tony have used such words to describe Diana, if she was such a silly woman who would sacrifice her own reputation in order to make her boy friend jealousy, by kissing another man publicly. She might do that if she was still a teenager, but definite not as a 36 old woman who should have learned that this wouldn't work from her first marriage.

Another interesting book to read, which gives me more suspicion, is Alastair Campbell's extracted diary “The Blair Years”. Campbell is Tony Blair's spin doctor, who some media has alleged was the real guy come up with the term “the people's princess”

In his diary, Campbell gave a detailed description of Tony Blair's activity and saying on the night of Diana's death. Here are two conversations they had that night.

He (Blair) felt that it (the accident) happened as she was fairly close to the height of her appeal. Dodi was probably a step too far for a lot of people. Had she got married, had another child maybe, she'd have started to fall in popularity. But this will confirm her as a real icon.

We (Blair and Campbell) talked about the last time they met Chequers and the letters she sent afterwards. She was a real asset, a big part of 'New Britain'. But somehow he (Blair) knew it was going to end like this, well before her time.

His writing is quite ambiguous. What was her appeal? Why marrying Dodi would confirm her as a real icon. And what did Diana and Tony Blair talked at Chequers would have made Blair think “she was a real asset, a big part of 'New Britain'. But the most surprising thing to know is, she had sent some letters to Blair afterwards. I am very curious what the letters were about.

The more I read, the more I believe Tony Blair and Campbell definitely know something. Although most people think they created the “people's princess” title with the purpose to gain their own popularity by exploiting her death, the more I read the more I see they have some true affection for her, (especially Alastair Cambell).

In “A Journey”, Blair writes the state of his mind when he created “the people's princess” title.

The phrase “people's princess” now seems like something from another age. And corny. And over the top. And all the rest of it. But at the time it felt natural and I thought, particularly, that she would have approved. It was how she saw herself, and it was how she should be remembered.

Please remember that before her death, Diana got very terrible press. She was considered as a woman who went on endless vacation with a muslim guy, openly flirting with him, disregarding her own reputation and her children's reputation. How can it be “felt natural” to give her this title, and why Tony Blair would think that was the way she saw herself. More precisely, in Tony Blair's mind, what was the true reason he thought she would display such a weird performance in front of world.

 

[anbrida]

Obviously, in that summer the Diana in the public's eyes is very different to the Diana in Tony Blair's eyes. It seems to me, Tony Blair was the only person in the world to whom Diana had talk about her motive to be Dodi. And what Tony Blair know but we don't know has created such big difference in our views?

 

[Dman]

No one really knew what was going on leading up to Diana's death. The whole trip to Paris made no sense and her friendship/relationship with Dodi was a mess and mystery.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Well one thing I agree with..."The People's Princess" was utterly silly and cornball. It irritated me then and now, because it was so meaningless.

 

[Dman]

Well one thing I agree with..."The People's Princess" was utterly silly and cornball. It irritated me then and now, because it was so meaningless.

I didn't find it "meaningless." I think she was the peoples princess. She embraced the people and the people embraced her right back. When she passed the people mourned and it was a set of events that a great deal of people will never forget. Blair got it right, she was the people princess. Not just for Britain but for the world.

 

[MARG]

Guys, you need to be sensitive to the time. Diana and Tony Blair talked about her relationship at July 6, long before the world know their relationship, which was Aug 10 when the kiss picture publiced, even before she went onto the boat. Then how did Tony Blair know about this relationship at such an early stage.

Did he know about it from the media? No, there was not such news at all at such an early stage.

Was Diana and Dodi seeing eath other at such an early stage? No, if they did so, Dodi would have let his father know, and Al fayed would definitely used this as a proof to support the marriage statement in Diana's law suit.

Curiouser and curiouser!

Please remember that before her death, Diana got very terrible press. She was considered as a woman who went on endless vacation with a muslim guy, openly flirting with him, disregarding her own reputation and her children's reputation. How can it be “felt natural” to give her this title, and why Tony Blair would think that was the way she saw herself. More precisely, in Tony Blair's mind, what was the true reason he thought she would display such a weird performance in front of world.

anbrida, you are the first person in a very long time to give us a bit of a reality check about Diana lifestyle and the press reaction to that lifestyle immediatly prior to her death. It was widely reported that Dodi was a "known" cocaine user and they didn't hold back about his playboy reputation and that Diana was seen to be buying into it at the expense of her charity work and worse, exposing her royal children to such a lifestyle. Flitting off to a "anti landmines" charity promotion then back to partying on a yacht with Dodi seemed to prove their point.

It was in this media reality that Blair (and his spin doctors) saw a window of opportunity, coined the phrase "People's Princess" and played it for all it was worth. The day before she died she was "exploiting her royal children", the day after, she was a Saint called The People's Princess. Pardon my cynicism

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

It was Mr. Blair's responsibility and duty to discuss the relationship with her. [....]

On itself Tony Blair bore no any responsibility for Diana Spencer. Exactly like today David Cameron is not at all responsible for Sarah Ferguson, Mark Phillips, Antony Armstrong-Jones or other former members of the royal family.

 

[Jacknch]

Well one thing I agree with..."The People's Princess" was utterly silly and cornball. It irritated me then and now, because it was so meaningless.

It was certainly well meant, but it never made any sense to me because there wasn't much behind it. What does it mean? Is the Queen "the peoples' Queen"? Who out of William and Harry is "the peoples' prince" or are they both? Is it the same as Pope francis being the people's pope?

The irritating thing for me was that Diana was allowing her life to be lived fully in the public eye, whereas I thought she was fed up with it. That last summer we saw her everywhere from Bosnian mine-fields to glamorous cruises in the Med to intimate dinners in Paris - all of it knowingly in the full glare of the media and it made no sense to me to live a double or triple life like that.

The horrors of mine-fields had to be highlighted and I'm glad she did it and I really do think that had she lived, her role in highlighting these terrible things was more valuable than we will ever know. But to turn around days later and live the jet-set life with a new boyfriend in tow and making odd statements like wait to see what I do next, sort of diminished the importance of her serious work.

As for Dodi, gawd only knows what she saw in him - I never understood it, but her taste in men was never great, bless her. But nonetheless, he may well have been right for her in the long run and we will never know - I wouldn't have objected to him as a new husband on any grounds other than his father being the way he is and interfering all the time.

I always hoped that had Diana lived, she would have ended up with a rich anthropologist or artist or someone a bit grounded who couldn't care less about the media.

 

[Queen Camilla]

IMO, double meaning to the phrase 'people's princess'.:

In the Panorama interview Diana said she wanted to be the Queen of Hearts. The Queen stripped her of her HRH, so Blair decided to make her the 'people's princess'.

Prince Edward, later King Edward VIII, was describes as the 'people's prince'. At the time of her death Diana's popularity was dropping as fast as Edward VIII. He also died in Paris.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

IMO, double meaning to the phrase 'people's princess'.:

In the Panorama interview Diana said she wanted to be the Queen of Hearts. The Queen stripped her of her HRH, so Blair decided to make her the 'people's princess'.

[....]

Well, the Queen did not at all strip anything from Diana. The late Diana was a HRH and a Princess by virtue of her marriage. With the end of the said marriage, Diana automatically lost these styles.

Like any divorced lady once married to a titled gentleman, she could keep the style as a honorific behind her first name, as long as she remained in this divorced state:

Diana, Princess of Wales (Lady Diana Spencer)
Sarah, Duchess of York (Sarah Ferguson)

Widowers however keep the HRH and the style "Princess":

HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark)
HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott)
HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (Princess Alice, Lady Cambridge)

 

[anbrida]

There are some activities of Diana during that summer which might give us some insights of the reason of her relationship with Dodi.

The first thing is during that summer Diana had talked with a bunch of people of her plan to make film to promote some causes which were closed to her heart.

July 1997, during a lunch with Tina Brown, Diana told Brown she'd been discussing the idea of making television films to further promote her work on behalf of the victims of landmines, leprosy, and HIV/Aids
July 1997, Diana had a lunch with a group of friends from professional field, discussing how to develop her fledgling work as a TV filmmaker.
The secrets of Diana's harem | Mail Online

Sep 1997, had she not died, she would bring Dodi to see her indian friend Gulu Lalvani. Diana told Lalvani she wanted to to do a documentary on the AIDS epidemic in Mumbai, just like the documentary she had done on landmines in Angola. She told him she had approached the Indian high commissioner in London and that he had turned her proposal down. She was told that the Government of India might not like the idea because it would expose the AIDS epidemic in India to the world, it would affect tourist traffic to India. So Lalvani offered to hire a local camera crew and said to her, we will just go ahead and do it.


It is very clear that Diana wanted to more develop her role as a film maker. But only passion is not enough, you need money and professional help. Especially like India's case, she won't able to get any government fund to do the film. She would need to find the fund and professional crew herself. Diana was a perfectionist, she wouldn't be satisfied with a local camera crew. She always wanted the best in her work. And now please remember Dodi's occupation was a professional film maker with a very wealthy father.

Di's Indian Friend | Sanjay Suri, Archana Jahagirdar

 

[anbrida]

The second thing is Tony wanted Diana to play a good-will non formal ambassador role, because her popularity all over the world. Even if a country is not friendly to Britain, it is very possible that she would be still friendly to Diana. The first mission Tony ask Diana to do, is to go to visit China.

Here are some articles about Diana's ambassador role

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/ambassador.html
Di's Indian Friend | Sanjay Suri, Archana Jahagirdar
Blair held secret talks with Diana over New Labour 'ambassador' role | Mail Online

July 6, 1997 Diana and Tony Blair had a meeting in Chequers, to talk about “what she could do for the country in a more formal way.

July, 1997 Diana had a lunch with Tina Brown, in which she talked about her wish to visit China, because "I'm very good at sorting people's heads out." she said.

July, 1997 When Diana was on Fayed boat, she was deep in discussions with her friend the Chinese entrepreneur David Tang, who was helping her make plans for her three-day trip to Hongkong on Sep 27, 1997. David Tang helped arrange her charaity appearances there and meetings with government officials. During the visit, Diana would also have a lunch with Beijing's top representative in Hong Kong.

Aug, 1997 Diana gave a birth party for David Tang.

Aug 30, on the way from southern France to Paris Diana talked to David Tang by phone about her appearance in Hong Kong in September. Diana wanted to know how were everything going with her trip to Hongkong. And she also wanted David Tang to help arrange a trip to mainland China. David Tang said she wanted to bring the two princes to visit China someday.

Sep 2, 1997 China's leading People's Daily on Tuesday eulogized Diana as an
''ambassador of peace'' and a ''princess of the people'' and then roundly condemned the Western news media. ''She sympathized with the hardships of ordinary people,undertook charitable works with all her heart and expressed a special concern for society's masses of weak and frail,'' the Communist
Party-run paper said in a eulogy. Please note that Diana had never visited China, but still the Chinese government created a new title "ambassador of peace" for her, besides the people's princess.

Here are some background information of her planned trip to China. On July 1st, 1997 Hongkong was handed over from Britain to China. However, the two governmets were very unhappy with each other, there were a lot of disagreements. So when Tony Blair met Jiang in Hongkong's handover ceremony, Jiang told to Blair something like "the Labor is a new government, you don't have that history burden, let's forget the past and look forward.

I think Tony would use Diana to make visit those not traditional friend countries, in order to warm up the relationship, such as China, Argentina and some Muslim countries. Due to Diana's unofficial status, it would be very convenient for her visit any countries under the cover of charity events.

I have noticed that for each major countries or region, Diana would have a friend she can rely on to arrange visit or meeting local official. Of course such a friend is very critical for her unofficial ambassador role. In China, she had David Tang, in Indian Gulu Lalvani, and do we need to ask who would be her such a friend in the Muslim world?

As popularity concerned, to be a successful ambassador, her popularity in the host countries, such as China, Argentina, Muslim world, and etc, would be more important than her popularity in the home country, Britain.

 

[Dman]

Diana was on her way to turning her life around after her divorce but she never got that shot. I just wish she didn't accept the Al-Fayed's invitation to vacation with them that summer. It seems her life went out of her own control after that.

 

[AfricanAUSSIE]

And all this is just a snippet of her apparently complicated life I expect. I confess I am already exhausted!