Who was Dodi Al-Fayed, the “millionaire playboy” and Lady Diana’s last love?

“He’s not a prince, he’s just a frog dressed as a prince,” says Gloria Allred. On August 14, 1997, journalists witnessed a surreal scene. Under flickering lightning, a famous American lawyer holds a press conference on behalf of his client, model Kelly Fisher. Dressed in a black dress, the latter seems to be shrouded in silence. From time to time, she barely hides her face behind her hand, which is decorated with a sapphire and diamond engagement ring. “No one deserves to be treated the way my daughter was,” added the model’s mother, Judith Dunaway. This time, Kelly Fisher burst into tears. At this moment, the young woman probably regrets that one day her fiance was the way of a man. A certain Dodi Al-Fayed.

A stolen kiss

They met for the first time in July 1996, in Paris. The charm between the Hollywood producer, son of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed (owner of Harrods and the Ritz) and the model begins immediately. It is decided. one who has long since multiplied conquests, among them, say, Julia Roberts, Tina Sinatra or even Winona Ryder, is ready to settle down. His marriage to Kelly Fisher is scheduled for August 9, 1997. A month before this union, Dodi Al-Fayed, moving to Paris with his partner, receives a call that will change everything. His father, Mohamed, then invites him to stay on his new yacht, Jonikal, in the south of France.

On the ship, 42-year-old Dodi Al-Fayed crosses paths with 36-year-old Lady Diana. A meeting that owes nothing to chance. In 1986, Mohamed Al-Fayed and his son met the Princess of Hearts at a polo match sponsored by the Egyptian businessman’s Harrods stores. Eleven years later, the tycoon decided to make Lady Dee his bride. Reunions are mentioned in Season 6 The crown the first four episodes of which will be available on Netflix on Thursday, November 16.

“I was expecting a thank you,” Mohammed Al-Fayed (Salim Daou) tells his son (Khalid Abdallah) in Episode 1. “For what?”, asks the latter. “To serve on a tray,” answers the businessman. As expected, the producer falls under the spell of the princess of hearts. And ends up drawing the ire of Kelly Fisher, who discovers photos of them kissing on the secluded second yacht. SundayMirror. The furious model sued him for breach of prenuptial agreement. She accuses him of not paying her the £2,000 (€2,200) a day he promised her to get her to agree to give up her career.

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Sulfuric aura

It is not important. Dodi Al-Fayed already has a sulphurous aura. Director of the company Allied Stars, which was founded by his father Mohamed in 1979, the young man directed such feature films as: Chariots of fire (1981), was awarded four Oscars or even Hook or Captain Hook’s Revenge (1991), which was named in five categories at the prestigious ceremony. Undoubtedly, the twenty-year-old knows Hollywood codes to perfection. And this even in his personal life. Over the years, the producer, like many celebrities, has gained a very controversial reputation.

Dubbed the “millionaire playboy” by the tabloids, Dodi Al-Fayed is known for his sense of partying. In the US, he rents villas where he parties with Jack Nicholson and Robert Downey Jr., but also with his love life. full of twists and turns, his drug use, he is said to have taken cocaine for a while, and his passion for sports cars; he has five Ferraris.

Some, mentioning him, remember a “lovely”, “beautiful”, “brilliant” man. Others are of “unstable” nature. The man does have a reputation for racking up unpaid bills, between bad checks, unpaid attorney fees and rent, unpaid repairmen and projectionists, or even selling the rights to movies he doesn’t own. In total, ten lawsuits will be filed against Dodi Al-Fayed. They even drew the ire of Mohamed Al-Fayed, who once tended to withdraw his roughly $100,000 (€92,000) monthly pocket money. Because the shadow of a businessman always hangs over Dodi’s life.

A difficult year

For Johnny Gold, a close friend of Mohamed Al-Fayed, who trusted the columns; Vanity Fair USA In 2011, Dodi found himself in a paradox, on the one hand, the desire to “please his father”. On the other hand, the “disappointment” caused by his lack of independence. Dodi Al-Fayed, born on April 15, 1955 in Alexandria, lived by his father’s wishes since childhood. The commercial director of a furniture importing company, Mohamed Al-Fayed, a future billionaire, married Samira Khashoggi, daughter of the Saudi king’s private physician and sister of potential arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. The couple divorced in 1959.

Dodi Al-Fayed had a pampered but lonely childhood. Raised by servants, with his father often on business trips, the little boy spends his holidays between Khashoggi’s residences on the Cote d’Azur, Paris and Cairo, and his father’s home in Alexandria. When he turned 13, Mohamed Al-Fayed sent him to study at a boarding school in Le Rosy, Switzerland. An institution that he leaves at the end of a “really difficult” year. Two years later, Dodi’s father gave her a flat in Mayfair, along with a Rolls-Royce, a chauffeur and a bodyguard.

What did he spend the next four years doing? A mystery. Tired of his 19-year-old son’s idleness, Mohammed Al-Fayed sent him to Sandhurst Military Academy, where Winston Churchill studied. Although he once considered enlisting in the Air Force in Dubai, Dodi Al-Fayed eventually accepted as an attaché at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in London. And with Mohamed Al-Fayed still wielding influence, Dodi spends three months a year working in Harrods’ marketing department. Until the creation of his father’s production company in 1979, which he immediately joined.

“Better Deal”

On the personal side, the young man has a somewhat careless sentimental life. Apart from his many achievements, all his attempts at marriage are unsuccessful. In 1983, his secret engagement to wealthy Iranian Linda Aterzaed quickly broke off. After an affair with Brooke Shields, Dodi Al-Fayed married model Susan Gregard in 1986. But eight months later they broke up. Vanity Fair. Could his affair with Lady Diana, the woman he admired so much and showered him with gifts, change the situation? No one knows.

In the summer of 1997, Dodi Al-Fayed and Lady Diana’s sunny reunion lasted several weeks. We see them on a speedboat in Monaco, side by side in the port of Saint-Tropez before they stop in Sardinia. Until the last shot, in which the princess appears sitting at the end of the diving board, seemingly lost in thought. Before returning to London, Dodi Al-Fayed and Lady Diana plan to spend a few days in Paris. They have to restore the ring there, model.”Tell me yes» by Alberto Reposi.

But also visit a settlement that can become their home; Villa Windsor, a private mansion located in Neyly-sur-Seine. The couple will not have time. He died in a tragic car accident during a paparazzi chase on August 31, 1997 under the Alma Bridge. A death from which Mohammed Al-Fayed will never recover, convinced that the Windsors, ashamed of this affair, killed his son. But also that the princess was pregnant and that the couple was going to get engaged. Rumors denied in 2008 by official investigation and autopsy. The former owner of the Ritz, who died on August 30, visited his son Dodi’s grave 300 days a year. Proof that in 68 years, Mohammed Al-Fayed never really stopped watching over her.