diana and dodi yacht

Diana's last day: Dodi's yacht, a Ritz suite, a diamond ring and relentless photographers

Diana, divorced from Prince Charles after he cheated on her, was the mother of the future king of England and the most photographed woman in the world

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By Michael S. Rosenwald

The last day of Princess Diana’s life began on the top deck of her lover’s yacht, with croissants and fresh jams.

Diana and her beau, Dodi Al Fayed, sipped their coffee marveling at the breathtaking Emerald Coast in Sardinia. Diana took hers with milk. Fayed took his black. There were kiwis, too.

“They were in a good mood,” his butler remembered later. “They were always laughing, holding hands.”

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Their romance was a whirlwind — passionate, thrilling, scandalous. Fayed, the son of Harrod’s department store owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, was a rich playboy. Diana, divorced from Prince Charles after he cheated on her, was the mother of the future king of England and the most photographed woman in the world.

That Saturday — Aug. 30, 1997 — promised to be a moment of change. The princess knew it. She snuck a call to Richard Kay, a friend who covered the Royals for the Daily Mail, and told him, as he later wrote, “she had decided to radically change her life.”

“She was going to complete her obligations to her charities,” Kay continued, “and then, around November, would completely withdraw from her formal public life.” Diana had not told Kay why, but he had a hunch: “They were, to use an old but priceless cliche, blissfully happy. I cannot say for certain that they would have married, but in my view it was likely.”

In the 20 years since she’s been gone, there have been countless revisions to this love story. Her friends and relatives: They weren’t in love! His friends and relatives: They were in love!

Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.

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Last week, in the Daily Mail, Kay published an article with this headline: “Was Diana about to dump Dodi?” In it, he quoted Diana’s private secretary saying she’d planned to return home after becoming bored with Fayed.

“It’s very much a personal view,” the secretary said, “but I don’t think she would have seen Dodi again once she got back.”

Whatever the case, Fayed wanted to propose that fateful night. It was summer. As they were on holiday, Britain announced plans to invite the Irish Republican Army for peace talks. Conspiracies theories about the suicide of Vincent Foster, President Bill Clinton’s lawyer, were spreading. Israel and Lebanon were sparring with one another.

Fayed’s primary concern was the six-figure diamond ring waiting in Paris. People close to Fayed said the couple picked it out a week earlier even though they had been dating less than a month.

The danger of their relationship wasn’t its brevity. To royal watchers, to Buckingham Palace, and no doubt to the British tabloids whose photographers were hounding them, the threat was something the couple apparently had not yet considered, even as rumours swirled that Diana was already pregnant.

“For the mother of the future king of England to bear the child of a Muslim Arab, a child who would be the half sibling of the heir to the throne, would be embarrassing in the eyes of the royal family and the ruling Establishment,” former Time magazine reporters Tom Sancton and Scott MacLeod wrote in their book, Death of a Princess .

Fayed’s calendar that day had just one entry — at 6:30 p.m., he was to pick up the ring at a store near his father’s hotel in Paris, The Ritz. They left the boat for Fayed’s plane around 11:30 a.m., taking along the butler and a masseuse for Fayed’s painful back.

As soon as they landed in Paris, Fayed saw the paparazzi out his window.

“Dodi did not want this special occasion ruined by a bunch of a shutter-happy cowboys trying to corral them on motorcycles and shoving lenses in their faces,” the ex-Time reporters wrote. “As soon as the door opened, cameras started clicking.”

The aggressiveness of the photographers — and their sheer numbers — would increase as the day progressed.

Diana and Fayed arrived at The Ritz in the late afternoon. She went to the salon for a hair appointment. He went to the jeweler. The couple then rested in the hotel’s Imperial Suite before going to Fayed’s apartment to get dressed for dinner. She checked in with her children, who were in Scotland with Prince Charles and the queen.

“On that Saturday evening, Diana was as happy as I have ever known her,” her friend Kay wrote in the Daily Mail. “For the first time in years, all was well with her world.”

They left for Fayed’s apartment around 7 p.m., trailed by photographers. More were waiting at the building’s front door when they arrived. Fayed fumed. There was an ugly shoving match.

Once inside, Fayed pulled his butler aside, telling him about his plan to propose that night.

“The ring was on the nightstand in his bedroom,” author Christopher Anderson wrote in “The Day Diana Died.” “Dodi had checked to make sure they had several bottles of Dom Pérignon on ice for the big moment.”

But dinner was a bust.

The first restaurant they tried — Chez Benoit, a cozy, casual bistro not far from the city centre – was quickly overrun by photographers. They split and headed for The Ritz, ducking into the dining room hoping to be left alone.

The princess ordered vegetable tempura. Fayed ordered grilled turbot.

“No sooner had they ordered,” the ex-Time reporters wrote, “they began to feel the indiscreet stares of other diners.”

The couple left and had the food delivered to the Imperial Suite. Fayed’s plan was in shambles. They had to get back to the apartment. But how? The hotel was swarming with photographers.

Fayed devised a plan: The couple’s driver and bodyguards would make a big show out front, appearing to get their caravan of Mercedes sedans ready to leave. Meanwhile, the Princess and Fayed would slip out the back door, in a borrowed car driven by a hotel security officer.

What happened next was the subject of lengthy investigations and conspiracy theories that live on today. The couple did get away. But the driver, it turned out, was drunk.

As the couple sped off, the photographers out front got tipped off about the escape, quickly catching up on their motorcycles. Their driver darted in and out of traffic, wrecking spectacularly inside the Pont de l’Alma tunnel near the Eiffel Tower.

Fayed died instantly. Diana died at the hospital.

Her death startled the world.

An up-and-coming anchor named Brian Williams broke into regular coverage on MSNBC to announce the news to Americans in the early morning hours of Aug. 31.

“I’ve just been handed from the Reuters news service what has been marked ‘bulletin,'” Williams said, speaking slowly. “It says, ‘Princess Diana has died.'”

She was 36.

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What Is Cinema?

The Crown: The Sad, Strange Details of Princess Diana’s Last Vacation

Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed are lounging on the sundeck of a reportedly £15 million yacht in The Crown ’s season six episode “Two Photographs” when Dodi’s domineering father telephones an onboard employee with an urgent question.

“Are they sleeping together?” Mohamed Al Fayed demands to know.

It’s an audacious question—but Mohamed really was checking in on the couple hourly during this August 1997 cruise, according to Tom Bower , who wrote an unauthorized biography of the billionaire called Fayed. The late princess was aware that these calls were coming in—so much so that she joked to Dodi, “God is calling,” when she heard a ring, according to Dodi’s spiritual healer, Myriah Daniels, who was onboard. In 2007, during the inquest into the 1997 crash that killed the princess, Dodi, and their driver, Henri Paul, Daniels said that this became one of Diana’s inside jokes with Dodi. “They’d both have a giggle,” she said.

Diana had vacationed with Mohamed, as well as Prince William and Prince Harry, aboard the Jonikal earlier that summer. As depicted in The Crown ’s season six episode “Persona Non Grata,” that first Jonikal vacation featured Jet Skis and a flirtation between Diana and the flotilla of press nearby.

“The young princes didn’t like [the trip] much,” Tina Brown writes in The Palace Papers. “The flash and excess of [Mohamed’s] hospitality—the groaning buffets and the palatial bathrooms—embarrassed William in particular.” Dodi, who was asked by his father to join the trip midway, did not help matters by making the “oddly flamboyant gesture of renting a disco for William and Harry to enjoy privately,” according to royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith in Diana in Search of Herself.

Mohamed was a controversial figure who long craved social acceptance by the British elite, and hoped a relationship between his son and the recently-divorced Diana would seal the deal.

During the summer of 1997, the billionaire ordered Dodi to drop everything—including his model fiancée, Kelly Fisher —and romance the late princess. Speaking about Mohamed, Bedell Smith previously told Vanity Fair, “He was really the puppet master behind Dodi and Diana’s very brief, barely more than a month, romance…. Dodi basically did whatever his father told him to do.”

Diana’s association with Mohamed caused serious backlash in the press. “These days, Diana, you are no longer the Teflon Princess,” warned Andrew Morton , the biographer behind her bridge-burning tell-all, Diana: Her True Story, in The Sun. “You might have the run of a £20 million yacht, but your friends and fans see a woman who is drifting on the sea of life, seriously in danger of becoming shipwrecked.” Referring to Diana’s cat-and-mouse game with the paparazzi during that initial trip, columnist Judith Whelan wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald, “Diana has been erratic before. This time, however, she has done it while hosted by one of the most reviled men in Britain.”

Despite the press outrage over her association with Mohamed, Diana agreed to return to the Jonikal for the intimate trip reimagined in “Two Photographs.” “Alone in August and attracted to [Dodi], [a] sympathetic, unthreatening listener, she accepted the invitation for a second trip alone with Dodi to the Jonikal on 31 July,” wrote Bower in Fayed. “Over the next six days…the two frolicked on the sundecks, inside the sumptuous craft and in the sea.”

Dodi indulged Diana with her favorite meals—“which included carrot juice in the morning, fruit at lunch, and fish in the evening, as well as plenty of Champagne, caviar, and pâté de foie gras,” according to Diana in Search of Herself. The music was Diana’s selection as well: George Michael’s 1996 album, Older, the occasional Frank Sinatra tune, and the soundtrack of The English Patient. “Such a marvelous film,” Diana raved to Dodi’s butler, Rene Delorm, according to Fayed. “And you miss the music when you’re watching.”

Mohamed’s staff was so attentive to Diana that the Jonikal ’s chief stewardess, Deborah Gribble, could remember the tiniest detail, like that some of Diana’s birth control packets were half-used. Speaking at the inquest, she also confirmed that Dodi and Diana “were clearly having a relationship and were a couple.”

Dodi lavished Diana with gifts during their six-week courtship, including a pearl bracelet, a diamond-studded wristwatch, a silver photo frame, and a gold-and-diamond ring. When the Jonikal docked in Sardinia’s Porto Cervo, according to Brown’s The Diana Chronicles, Diana and Dodi went shopping and returned with cashmere sweaters for the princess—one in every color.

Mohamed, meanwhile, was busy behind the scenes calling press. News of the relationship between Diana and Dodi broke the first week of August, less than a month before Diana’s death. The Sun ran the news with the headline “Di’s Secret Hol With Harrods Hunk Dodi,” while Mohamed’s publicist touted the relationship as “the romance of the century.”

But by the end of the trip, according to those who knew Diana, she intended their fling to be just that. The late princess suspected that Dodi might propose to her, according to Brown, but she told a friend that an engagement ring would be “going firmly on the fourth finger of my right hand” should it be presented. As recreated in “Two Pictures,” there was “a chaotic evening ashore in Monte Carlo when Dodi suddenly decided to send for the tender and take the princess for a walk.” Rather than going for a romantic stroll, however, Dodi “got her lost after a long pant up a hill trying to evade the paparazzi,” Brown writes.

It was so embarrassing, she continues, that Trevor Rees-Jones, a bodyguard on Mohamed’s payroll, “began to feel sorry for the princess; he believed she deserved better.”

According to Gribble, Dodi also became impatient with the amount of press attention Diana was receiving.

“The tension was noticeable throughout the trip and increasing as time wore on,” Gribble revealed during the inquest. “By the time we went to Paris, there was real tension. It was incredible. It was all so tense.”

Days before her fatal accident, Diana called her sister from the Jonikal, confiding that any love spell cast on her earlier had been broken. While she did not get into specifics, Sarah McCorquodale later told the court, “I just did not think the relationship had much longer to go.”

During that final trip on the Jonikal, Diana was photographed sitting alone on a diving board in an aqua swimsuit. The image remains so iconic that, 26 years after it was taken, Netflix recreated the visual in its promotional materials for The Crown ’s sixth season.

Contrary to what the photo showed, though, Diana was never really alone. By the end of the cruise, the princess suspected that Mohamed was doing more than periodically checking in with the Jonikal staff. As McCorquodale revealed during the inquest, “She thought the boat was being bugged by Mr. Al Fayed Senior.”

Julie Miller

Hollywood correspondent.

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The true story behind Princess Diana's iconic yacht photo

All you need to know about the iconic photo of the late princess of wales that went around the globe.

Princess Diana in a blue swimsuit sat on a diving board with the sea beneath her

Princess Diana was always a fashion icon , we can never forget her legendary 'revenge' dress , but one of her best-known looks was snapped when she holidayed on the Jonikal yacht with the al-Fayed family, scenes which were immortalised in the fifth and sixth seasons of The Crown .

The holiday that Diana enjoyed, alongside sons Prince William and Prince Harry , would be her last before she was tragically killed in a car accident in 1997. One of the most memorable photos saw the late Princess of Wales sat on the yacht's diving board looking out over the sea.

Even though the photo of Diana in the teal swimsuit is now one of the most poignant photos of the late royal, how much do you know of the story behind it? Read on to find out all you need to know…

Why was Diana on the yacht?

Princess Diana had become friends with the businessman Mohamed al-Fayed, with the pair reportedly meeting a polo match before becoming friends. Following her divorce from the then Prince Charles and the ending of her relationship with heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan, Mohamed invited Diana to join him and his family on a trip to St Tropez, in southern France.

Ahead of the trip, Diana had been in Milan to attend the funeral of fashion designer and friend Gianna Versace, who had been murdered by Andrew Cunanan. The late royal later travelled to Sarajevo, in Bosnia, to highlight the issue of landmines in the country. During her time in the city, she met with people who had been injured by the mines.

Who took the photo?

On 10 August, paparazzi photos were published in the Sunday Mirror showing Princess Diana and Dodi sharing a kiss, which intensified media presence around the couple and their holiday. Paparazzi photographers began renting dinghies to try and get new photos of the royal, with some even going for prices up to £1million.

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INSIDE STORY: The time Princess Diana called a journalist to her home after reading an article she didn't like

It's ultimately unknown which photographer grabbed the photo of Diana on the side of the yacht, which was published on 24 August, a week before Diana died. The snap saw the Princess in her teal swimsuit sat at the end of the yacht's diving board, with a life ring floating in the water beneath her.

See below for more images of Diana on the Jonikal…

Diana and Dodi

Diana and Dodi grew close on the trip, and in this photo the pair shared an intimate moment as they relaxed in the sun together.

Princess Diana with Mohamed al-Fayed and Dodi al-Fayed on a yacht

Diana with the al-Fayed family

The late Princess of Wales had been invited on the trip by Mohamed al-Fayed, and she enjoyed the businessman's company during her time onboard.

Dodi al-Fayed and Princess Diana on a yacht

Diana in blue

Diana favoured the teal swimsuit during her time in St Tropez.

Princess Diana in a green and blue swimsuit on the deck of a yacht

Diana's paparazzi moment

The royal was aware of the media presence, and she light-heartedly teased photographers in this photo, mimicking a pair of binoculars with her hands.

Princess Diana stretching on the deck of a yacht

Diana stretches

The mum-of-two also brought this stunning green and blue one-piece with her on the trip, and in this photo she enjoyed some morning stretches on the yacht's deck.

Princess Diana on the phone with a young Prince Harry

Diana's family moment

Diana didn't go on the holiday alone, and she also enjoyed time with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry, and a young Harry can be seen here with his mum while she spoke to someone on the phone.

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Inside the Superyacht Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed Spent Their Final Vacation On

A look at the vessel that saw the beloved royal’s last vacation.

T he Crown’s sixth season debuts this week on Netflix, chronicling the final weeks before Princess Diana’s untimely death in a car crash in Paris in August 1997. Amid the heart-wrenching moments that are sure to unfold, there’s one backdrop that will be a refreshing departure from the stately, windowless halls of the queen’s palatial residences : the multimillion-dollar super yacht that Princess Diana spent aboard touring St. Tropez just days before her death.

It was hot gossip, this adventure that the princess took abroad after having finalized her divorce from then Prince Charles less than a year before—something that was hinted at at the end of season 5 of The Crown as Queen Elizabeth is pressed to endorse a vacation a-sea with Fayed and her grandchildren, Prince Harry and Prince William. Diana was famously photographed sitting on the passerelle of this boat. Years later, in real life, Harry described the trip in his memoir, Spare , with fond recollection. “Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven,” he wrote.

While the series was filmed on a lookalike super yacht in Mallorca , the real boat was equally lavish. The 208-foot ship was commissioned by Dodi’s father, former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, who brought on naval architect Vincenzo Ruggiero to design it in the late 1980s. It was built by Italian shipyard Codecasa and launched in 1990. The steel and aluminum super yacht boasted nine staterooms that altogether accommodate up to 18 people, in addition to a crew of 26. Amenities included a Jacuzzi, swim platform, sun deck, formal dining room, a bar, and office space. Mohamed had named the yacht Jonikal (it has subsequently been called Sokar and is currently called Bash ) .

Shortly after Diana’s and Dodi’s deaths, Mohamed gave the interior a redesign by H2 Yacht Design and a refit that included extending the hull. He attempted to sell the yacht on a number of occasions, ultimately parting with it in 2014 to an anonymous buyer. The new owner carried out further work, including machinery upgrades, a repaint, and fresh teak decks. In 2021, the yacht came into the hands of Bassim Haidar , the founder of Intercomm and GMT, who gave it a further $9.7 million refit after a reported bridge deck fire—and its current name Bash . It’s now back to turn-key condition after an 18-month remodel completed in April 2023 by marine engineering and management company Capax and boat interior company Bobic Yacht Interiors . It features a beauty salon, massage area, high-tech gym, and a spacious main salon.

In May, Robb Report reported that Bash is available for charter in the Mediterranean starting at $278,000 per week, plus expenses. In June, Haidar listed Bash for $16.8 million, according to Boat International .

There was a second motor yacht named Cujo, which Diana and Fayed also took earlier that summer. It was built in Italy in 1972 for John von Neumann, who commissioned the Italian Baglietto shipyard to build the world's fastest motor yacht. She was given two 18-cylinder engines that allowed it to go as fast as 42 knots. Fayed had bought the boat from his cousin, Saudi businessman and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. In August, the Mediterranean Sea reclaimed Cujo, as the 62-foot artifact of Diana’s life hit an unidentified object off Beaulieu-sur-Mer on July 29 and sprang a leak, Vanity Fair reported. The seven people on board were rescued by teams from Antibes and safely returned to shore.

An imitation of Jonikal will feature in The Crown season 6, a set that was intended to visually illuminate the tension between Diana and the royal family. “Diana’s south of France adventure was bright and lovely pastel colors, and her world even in Kensington Palace is optimistic and warm, compared to the queen’s residence at Balmoral, which is very static, with gloomy light and drab colors,” set decorator Alison Harvey tells ELLE DECOR.

Filming on the yacht off the island of Mallorca (a St. Tropez stand-in) required many moving parts with few do-overs. “We brought in the drapes, the artwork, many furnishings,” Harvey explains. “Everything was set in the early ’90s, so we thought hard about the colors and textures that we brought in.” Harvey’s team had just half a day to dress the yacht, and then it was off to sea. “There was no getting on or off after that,” Harvey says, adding that they were “subsumed by the logistics of what we had to achieve and the time we had to do it.”

However painstaking the process, the yacht scenes will offer an intriguing context—though largely fictitious—for the iconic photographs that exist of those final weeks leading up to Diana’s death.

Rachel Silva, the Assistant Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, covers design, architecture, trends, and anything to do with haute couture. She has previously written for Time, The Wall Street Journal, and Citywire.

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Insiders reveal the truth about Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's relationship

New documentary highlights the last few weeks of princess diana and dodi fayed’s lives.

A paparazzi photo of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed in a boat appears in a camera lens, with the title "Diana and Dodi: The Princess and the Playboy" positioned to the side.

Social Sharing

During the summer of 1997, photos of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed filled the tabloids as paparazzi photographers scrambled to snap shots of their apparent love affair.

In the new documentary Diana & Dodi: The Princess and the Playboy , members of Diana and Fayed's inner circle remember what they witnessed that summer — which would ultimately be the couple's last.

She was a former member of the British Royal Family, he was a filmmaker and the son of a wealthy businessman who wanted to be included by the British elite.

Featuring interviews with close friends, former employees and even Fayed's ex-girlfriends, Diana & Dodi: The Princess and the Playboy uncovers how the two met — and how Fayed's father appears to have orchestrated it all.

Insiders reveal the truth about Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's relationship | Diana & Dodi: The Princess and the Playboy

The film also documents how their relationship came under intense scrutiny by the press. Images of the pair together could fetch over one million euros, and they had to find elaborate ways of avoiding photographers. At the same time, a former girlfriend of Fayed's — who says they were engaged when he met Diana — was suing him, claiming he had promised her money to abandon her career.

Was it true love? Former friends of Diana have said it was just a fling, a rebound from her very public divorce. But in the documentary, Fayed's former butler reveals that the filmmaker was planning to propose in Paris on the night of their deaths.

In Depth Expert investigation reveals the truth about Princess Diana's death 25 years ago

Diana & Dodi: The Princess and the Playboy tells the untold story of Dodi Fayed and the truth about his relationship with Princess Diana, featuring unprecedented access and new, revelation-packed stories.

What Really Happened During Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed’s Vacation?

The Crown depicts her jaunts on Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht, the Jonikal, where her romance with Dodi kicked off.

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Among Princess Diana’s most iconic images—the revenge dress, the casual biker shorts—is a photo of her in an aqua blue swimsuit, sitting on a diving board over the ocean. Taken before her tragic death in August 1997, the solitary princess was captured aboard the Jonikal, the boat owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed , on a getaway with his son Dodi , her new fling. The shot is so recognizable, so symbolic of her isolation. (Decades later, SZA even recreated it on her SOS album cover and The Crown paid homage to it for its season 6 posters.) But it turns out that the real-life story of the trip behind it is even more complex. Most of what the public knows of Diana’s vacations with the Fayeds that summer in 1997 is limited to blurry paparazzi shots from afar. In The Crown ’s sixth season, Peter Morgan attempts to dramatize what might’ve happened behind closed doors. These scenes, however, were filmed in Mallorca instead of the French Riviera.

Diana was invited by Mohamed, a friend and businessman, to vacation in Saint-Tropez with her sons in July 1997. The Harrods owner would also goad his own son to join, too. The invitation came at a good time, after a few rough blows for Diana: Prince Charles was throwing a lavish birthday party for Camilla Parker Bowles at Highgrove, the house he and Diana once shared. And she had just broken up with surgeon Hasnat Khan, due to the media frenzy around their relationship. It was the month before William and Harry would be at Balmoral with their father and the rest of the royals, who no longer accepted her. So off she went, straight to the $20 million yacht that Fayed bought just before the trip to impress her—Tina Brown writes in The Diana Chronicles .

Prince Harry has looked back fondly at that trip, mostly because of the quality time they spent with their mom. “Actually, we’d been with Mummy weeks earlier when she first met him [Dodi], in St. Tropez,” he writes in her memoir Spare , per Today . “We were having a grand time, just the three of us, staying at some old gent’s villa.

“There was much laughter, horseplay, the norm whenever Mummy and Willy and I were together, though even more so on that holiday. Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven. The weather was sublime, the food was tasty, Mummy was smiling.”

But the cameras followed her, like they always did. The Crown depicts photographers sailing out toward the Jonikal to snap images of the princess sunbathing and swimming in her one-piece. It also shows her approaching the boats filled with paparazzi to forge a deal: She’ll pose for them for a few shots if they’ll leave her and her kids alone.

princess diana, elizabeth debicki, poses for photographers in the crown season 6, part 1

Part of this is true. The New York Times reported in 1997 that Diana was quite cooperative with the press, at least during the first trip in July: “Three times, on separate occasions, she went out to the sea front and jumped off a small pier into the water, with photographers around her. Then, after leaving for 10 days with Mr. Fayed on the boat trip during which the photographs of the embracing couple were taken, she returned.”

“It was clear enough to all of us that she wanted to show the British establishment she was free,” Frederic Garcia, who photographed Diana on the trip, told the paper at the time. But her and the Al-Fayeds’ exasperation with the media grew after helicopters flew over the boat, according to the NYT .

Perhaps her openness to being photographed was her response to Camilla’s birthday party. “She just wanted to make the people at Balmoral as angry as possible,” her friend, art collector Lord Palumbo, told Brown. Now it wasn’t just a revenge dress; it was a revenge photo shoot with revenge swimsuits on a revenge vacation.

Brown even writes that the biggest photos from the trip, of the princess kissing a shirtless Dodi on the boat, “were the direct result of tips from Diana herself.” After they were published, she called photographer Jason Fraser, who “was in cahoots” with Mario Brenna, who shot the images, to ask why the pictures were so grainy. But she wasn’t the only one working with the press. Mohamed also had a publicist tip gossip columns on her and Dodi’s whereabouts and frame their getaway as a sensational romance, according to Brown.

thecrown220922ep601stillsdanielescale0559arw

Meanwhile, Dodi was juggling this burgeoning love story with another one. He was already engaged when he first joined Diana on the boat at his father’s behest in July. His fiancée was Kelly Fisher , an American actress and model, and their wedding was scheduled for the following month, on August 9, 1997. He had even left Fisher in Paris to board the Jonikal in St. Tropez. She joined later but, just as it’s shown in The Crown , she was relegated to a different Al-Fayed boat, where Dodi would visit her at night, Brown writes. Fisher soon caught on. In August, she sued Dodi for breach of contract, and was represented by high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred. But she withdrew the suit after his death.

In Spare , Harry remembered thinking Dodi was “cheeky” but overall was content with the relationship: “As long as Mummy’s happy, I told Willy, who said, he felt the same.” But Brown reported in her 2007 book that Prince William grew concerned. He told friends it was weird that they were on vacation with what seemed like a “substitute family.” When photos of Diana and Dodi on the boat were published, William complained to her that the boys at school would mock him for it.

After doing significant charity work in Bosnia with land mine victims, Diana reconvened with Dodi on the Jonikal in August. “The fact that she came back for a second visit so soon really shows her loneliness more than it does a passion for Dodi,” Dominick Dunne reported for Vanity Fair in 2008. But the privacy—or whatever amount of it that they had—might have appealed to her. “A splendid yacht. A helicopter. A private plane. Guards to keep the paparazzi at bay. She probably knew that she was being used by a social climber for his and his son’s advancement in London society, but in high society it was a fair deal. Each benefited.”

Dodi and Diana’s romance would be short-lived, but he showered her with gifts during their six-week relationship, including a pearl bracelet and diamond wristwatch, according to Vanity Fair . With him, the princess felt “so taken care of,” her confidant Lady Elsa Bowker told Brown. And on top of that, he was a “sympathetic, unthreatening listener,” wrote Tom Bower, author of Mohamed Al-Fayed’s unauthorized biography.

thecrown221007ep603stillsdanielescale0042arw

But their relationship probably wasn’t going to be a lasting one. According to Brown, Diana suspected Dodi might propose to her, but told a friend that the ring would go “firmly on the fourth finger of my right hand,” meaning she would not have accepted. Her sister Sarah McCorquodale later testified, “I just did not think the relationship had much longer to go.”

It’s been believed that the romance was even orchestrated by Mohamed himself. According to Bower, the older Al-Fayed would check in on Dodi and Diana during the trip (which is also portrayed in The Crown this season). McCorquodale also told the court that Diana “thought the boat was being bugged by Mr Al-Fayed Senior.”

On that second trip in August, Diana and Dodi were photographed together in the South of France and Sardinia, before heading to Paris for their tragic final days. There, they would be chased by cameras again for the last time.

Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.

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Princess Diana’s Yacht Saga: Revisiting the Boats She Vacationed on With Dodi Fayed

In the summer of 1997, Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana’s yacht adventures were the infatuation of the tabloids, paparazzi, and public like no other. The pair were captured sailing around the Mediterranean in July, first with both of their families, then again, just them, at the end of the month, spurring nonstop controversy and speculation. Weeks later the couple was killed in a tragic car accident, prompting even greater interest in the brief but impactful relationship. Nearly 30 years later, understanding just what happened on the high seas remains a notable point of interest for many invested in the Royal Family.

The momentous vacation was recently recreated in season six of Netflix’s The Crown and recounted in Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare . While conversations about the trip often recount what the couple did—and what Diana wore—it’s worth revisiting the stunning vessels where all the escapades took place. Below, AD surveys the two superyachts Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed used during their prominent summer together.

Jonikal, now known as Isabell Princess of the Sea

The sensationalized couple most famously spent time on Jonikal , a 208-foot superyacht. At the time, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi’s father, owned the boat. Reportedly, he originally invited Diana to the yacht in an attempt to play matchmaker between the People’s Princess and his son.

Princess Diana sunbathes on an orange couch aboard Jonikal .

Those who watch The Crown will be unsurprised to learn that the interiors of Jonikal , which has since been renamed Isabell Princess Of The Sea by a new owner, are just as lavish as those depicted in the look-alike on the show. Inside, the ship boasts nine staterooms, a formal dining room, bar, office space, swim platform, sun deck, and Jacuzzi. Designed by navel architect Vincenzo Ruggiero in the 1980s, coffered ceilings and dark wood paneling draw inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 1900s.

Diana Princess of Wales wearing a animal print halterneck swimsuit and sunglasses rides on a jet ski with Prince Harry

Princess Diana and Prince Harry on a jet ski near St. Tropez

In his memoir, Prince Harry remembers his experience on the yacht as idyllic. “There was much laughter, horseplay, the norm whenever Mummy and Willy and I were together, though even more so on that holiday,” he writes. “Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven. The weather was sublime, the food was tasty, Mummy was smiling.”

After the original trip with her children, the princess returned to the boat a second time with just the younger Fayed. According to Vanity Fair , Fayed catered to all of Di’s preferences, even letting her pick the music that played. Reportedly, she opted for tunes by George Michael, Frank Sinatra, and the English Patient soundtrack.

Princess diana sitting on the passarelle of a boat

A now famous image of Princess Diana on Jonikal ’s passarelle

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Nearby, a brigade of press boats captured a number of photos of Princess Diana on the yacht, formally immortalizing the vessel. Most famously, Princess Diana was captured sitting alone on the vessel’s passerelle in a now iconic image. According to Boat International , the yacht most recently sold in 2023.

As Robb Report describes it, Cujo, a 65-foot military-style superyacht was once the most famous in the world thanks to her high-profile passengers. In 1997, Fayed reportedly used this smaller vessel to woo the princess.

Lady Diana Princess of Wales with her sons Prince William Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry of Wales on holiday in...

Princess Diana and Prince William on Dodi Fayed’s yacht

The impressive yacht was originally launched in 1972, commissioned by its first owner John von Neumann. According to Robb Report, Von Neumann hired Italian shipyard Baglietto to build him a boat that was “faster than any other motoryacht on the water.” During its maiden voyage, Cujo had largely achieved this goal thanks to its twin 54-liter V-18 turbo diesel engines, which provided 2,700 horsepower and allowed it to easily hit 46 miles per hour. Von Neumann eventually sold the boat to arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who later passed the boat to Dodi Fayed, his nephew.

Cujo was already halfway underwater when rescuers arrived.

The boat sank quickly after the distress call was made.

However, the boat’s story came to a dramatic end last summer, when it sunk off the coast of France, as reported by The Independent . According to a Facebook post from the Gendarmerie des Alpes-Maritimes, a division of the French military, passengers issued a distress call at around 12:30 local time on July 29, 2023. A little under an hour later, a rescue boat arrived, finding the vessel’s bow already partially submerged. “The cabins of the yacht were already flooded, and only a few suitcases located in the kitchen and on the deck could be retrieved by the gendarmes,” reads the statement. The seven passengers who were on board had already evacuated and were safely on a nearby lifeboat. Rescuers and passengers then quickly left the area, as the boat sank 2,500 feet to the ocean’s floor. The cause of the accident was not shared; however, according to Boat International , sources claimed that the ship hit an unknown object floating near the center of the hull.

At one point, the vessel was among the fastest in the world.

Though Princess Diana was among the most notable guests onboard, other high-profile passengers hosted by Fayed included Clint Eastwood, Tony Curtis, Bruce Willis, and Brooke Shields. Following the passing of Di and Fayed, Cujo fell into disrepair and decommissioned in 1999. After many years in storage, Fayed’s cousin Moody Al-Fayed purchased the vessel and brought it back to life. He later sold the boat to Simon Kidston, a British car collector and restorer and the last-reported owner of the vessel.

‘The Crown’: Behind the Photo of an Embrace That Changed Princess Diana’s Life

In the show, Mohamed al-Fayed sends the photographer Mario Brenna to capture shots of Diana and al-Fayed’s son, Dodi, on vacation. The portrayal is inaccurate, Brenna says.

In a blurry photo from 1997, a woman in a pink swimsuit is seen from behind, embracing a topless man wearing sunglasses.

By Alex Marshall

Reporting from London

It’s summer 1997, and Princess Diana is flirting with Dodi Fayed, a globe-trotting playboy, on the Jonikal, a yacht floating on sparkling Mediterranean waters.

Diana, teasingly, says that she likes men who have lips that are “just the right temperature.”

“Are mine the right temperature?” Dodi replies.

“I don’t know,” Diana says: “Need to check.” Then, the couple kiss, blissfully unaware that just a few meters away, Mario Brenna, a slick Italian photographer, is on a boat, with a long-lens camera trained on the couple.

A few days later, Brenna’s shots of the princess and her new beau are on the front pages of newspapers worldwide.

This is a central scene in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s royal drama “The Crown” — the first batch of episodes premiered on Thursday — and a moment that signaled the start of a tabloid frenzy around the couple that many blame for their deaths on Aug. 31, 1997, in a car crash in Paris as they were chased by photographers.

Yet the depiction is far from accurate, according to Brenna, speaking in what he said was his first interview with an English-language newspaper.

For a start, “The Crown” has Mohamed al-Fayed — Dodi’s father, and a retail and hotel tycoon who died this year — appearing to hire Brenna to take the shots, in an effort to push Diana and Dodi’s relationship into the public eye, and cajole the pair to marry.

In an email, Annie Sulzberger, the head of research for the show — she is also the sister of The Times’s publisher, A.G. Sulzberger — said that “there are a few theories about how Brenna managed to find the Jonikal moored somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea,” but the one the team found most credible was that one of al-Fayed’s employees leaked the boat’s location to Brenna.

But Brenna said the idea that al-Fayed hired him was “absurd and completely invented,” and that no one leaked information about the yacht’s whereabouts to him. Every summer at that time, he was in Sardinia so he could take paparazzi shots of famous people, he said, and coming across Diana and Dodi was simply a “great stroke of luck.”

On Aug. 1, 1997, Brenna said he approached Diana’s yacht on a fast moving inflatable boat after mistaking a blonde woman making a telephone call on its upper deck for an old acquaintance. As he got closer, he was stunned to realize it was the princess.

Bruno Malka, Brenna’s agent at the time who helped sell the images to Paris Match magazine, said in an email that he thought Brenna was familiar with the yacht, “without knowing it was Diana and Dodi” onboard that day. Brenna was successful, Malka added, because he had spent so many years working in the region.

After spotting the couple, Brenna said he spent the next few days stalking the boat, including climbing a cliff to get a better view. From that elevated position, about 400 meters away from Diana, he took several photos of Diana and Dodi in an embrace. The shots were almost blurred, Brenna said, because the heat haze meant he struggled to get the pair in focus.

Still, he knew immediately he’d secured “a historic photo.” He’d also captured an image that “solved my personal and family problems,” he said, at a time when he had recently divorced and so “was not swimming in wealth.”

He unloaded the rolls of film from the camera, then buried them to make sure they didn’t get exposed to the sun as he tried to take more images, and also as he feared a competitor might have seen him at work and try to steal his camera and so obtain the images every other photographer in the Mediterranean had been hoping to get first.

On Aug. 10, the Sunday Mirror, a British tabloid, splashed Brenna’s image on its front page . “The Kiss,” the headline read. Soon, Brenna said, he was selling the pictures worldwide. In the following six-to-eight months, he said, he made about 1.7 million pounds, or $2.1 million, from his photos of the couple.

Brenna’s pictures — and the prices news outlets paid for them — sparked a frenzy. In 2013, Jason Fraser, a British photographer who helped Brenna sell his images, told The Daily Mail that after they were published, over 2,000 photographers arrived in the Mediterranean hoping to get their own snaps of Diana and Dodi. “I felt the whole thing was spinning out of control,” Fraser said. Weeks later, the couple died.

In “The Crown,” Brenna (portrayed by Enzo Cilenti) explains his methods to camera. To capture celebrities misbehaving, the fictional Brenna says, you have to take risks. Paparazzi also have to act like “hunters … killers.”

Brenna said in the email interview that he did not share this opinion of his work (“I do not identify with the term ‘killer,’”) and that he was never contacted by anyone from “The Crown” to learn about his experiences (Netflix did not respond to a request for comment).

After Diana and Dodi’s death, al-Fayed sued Fraser, the British photographer, for taking photos of Diana and Dodi on a boat, saying it was an invasion of privacy. Brenna said he did not face any such action, adding his images were legal as they “were taken outdoors, in a public place.” And he regretted the privacy crackdown that happened since, with governments and stars trying to stop the paparazzi from taking photos: “There is still the right to report,” he said.

Today, Brenna lives near Lake Como, in Italy, where he said he’s photographed celebrities including George Clooney, Miley Cyrus and Beyoncé, even as the dawn of social media had impacted his profession significantly, including its financial rewards.

Brenna said he and his family enjoyed the success of the photos throughout August 1997. But then, Diana died. When he heard the news, Brenna said, he “couldn’t believe it” and cried, not least because he had two children himself and so could understand what her death would mean for Diana’s boys. He made a decision “not to speak or disclose anything about the incident until William and Harry reached adulthood.”

The mere thought that his images “could have contributed to fueling the hunt for Diana and Dodi obviously saddens me,” Brenna said. But he did not think his work added significantly to the furor around the princess.

“If it hadn’t been me,” he added, “someone else would certainly have captured those images.”

Alex Marshall is a European culture reporter, based in London. More about Alex Marshall

clock This article was published more than 7 years ago

Diana’s final hours: Dodi’s yacht, a Ritz suite, a diamond ring and relentless photographers

The last day of Princess Diana’s life began on the top deck of her lover’s yacht, with croissants and fresh jams.

Diana and her beau, Dodi Al Fayed, sipped their coffee marveling at the breathtaking Emerald Coast in Sardinia. Diana took hers with milk. Fayed took his black. There were kiwis, too.

“They were in a good mood,” his butler remembered later. “They were always laughing, holding hands.”

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Their romance was a whirlwind — passionate, thrilling, scandalous. Fayed, the son of Harrod’s department store owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, was a rich playboy. Diana, divorced from Prince Charles after he cheated on her, was the mother of the future King of England and the most photographed woman in the world.

[ How Britain and the world mourned Diana, the ‘People’s Princess’ ]

That Saturday — Aug. 30, 1997 — promised to be a moment of change. The Princess knew it. She snuck a call to Richard Kay, a friend who covered the Royals for the Daily Mail, and told him, as he later wrote , “she had decided to radically change her life.”

In the 20 years since she’s been gone, there have been countless revisions to this love story. Her friends and relatives: They weren’t in love! His friends and relatives: They were in love!

“It’s very much a personal view,” the secretary said, “but I don’t think she would have seen Dodi again once she got back.”

Fayed’s primary concern was the six-figure diamond ring waiting in Paris. People close to Fayed said the couple picked it out a week earlier even though they had been dating less than a month.

As soon as they landed in Paris, Fayed saw the paparazzi out his window.

Diana and the media: She used them, and they used her. Until the day she died.

The aggressiveness of the photographers — and their sheer numbers — would increase as the day progressed.

“On that Saturday evening, Diana was as happy as I have ever known her,” her friend Kay wrote in the Daily Mail. “For the first time in years, all was well with her world.”

They left for Fayed’s apartment around 7 p.m., trailed by photographers. More were waiting at the building’s front door when they arrived. Fayed fumed. There was an ugly shoving match.

Once inside, Fayed pulled his butler aside, telling him about his plan to propose that night.

But dinner was a bust.

The first restaurant they tried — Chez Benoit, a cozy, casual bistro not far from the city center — was quickly overrun by photographers. They split and headed for The Ritz, ducking into the dining room hoping to be left alone.

The Princess ordered vegetable tempura. Fayed ordered grilled turbot.

“No sooner had they ordered,” the ex-Time reporters wrote, “they began to feel the indiscreet stares of other diners.”

JFK’s last birthday: Gifts, champagne and wandering hands on the presidential yacht

The couple left and had the food delivered to the Imperial Suite. Fayed’s plan was in shambles. They had to get back to the apartment. But how? The hotel was swarming with photographers.

What happened next was the subject of lengthy investigations and conspiracy theories that live on today. The couple did get away. But the driver, it turned out, was drunk.

Fayed died instantly. Diana died at the hospital.

Her death startled the world.

An up-and-coming anchor named Brian Williams broke into regular coverage on MSNBC to announce the news to Americans in the early morning hours of Aug. 31.

“I’ve just been handed from the Reuters news service what has been marked ‘bulletin,’” Williams said, speaking slowly. “It says, ‘Princess Diana has died.’”

She was 36.

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Yacht used by Princess Diana and lover Dodi Fayed on final summer holiday sinks

Seven people on board were rescued following the accident off the coast of france, article bookmarked.

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The world-famous celebrity yacht used by Princess Diana on her final summer holiday in France has sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Cujo, once also a favourite of Hollywood superstars, disappeared below the Mediterranean waves after hitting an unidentified object off Beaulieu-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera, on Saturday.

Seven people on board were rescued following the accident, but the boat ended up at a depth of almost 2500m around 18 nautical miles off the coast.

“The skipper of the Cujo issued a Mayday,” said one officer. “His ship was sinking due to a leak.

Cujo, once also a favourite of Hollywood superstars, disappeared below the Mediterranean waves

“Rescue boats were sent from Antibes, and, after making sure everyone was safe, gendarmes detected a significant water leak at the level of the starboard front hull.

“Her owner had activated the pumps and kept the engines running, but this didn’t stop the boat sinking.”

Reports about Cujo dominated the media in August 1997, when it was owned by Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed

All of those on board, including the Cujo‘s Italian owner, were placed in a rescue boat, and taken back to shore uninjured.

Reports about Cujo - an Indian word that means ‘Unstoppable Force’ - dominated the media in August 1997, when it was owned by Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed.

Salvage launches arrived, but could not save the boat sinking

The multi-millionaire film producer had spent some £1m refitting the boat, and wooed Diana on board, as the world’s media looked on.

This was shortly before the couple died in a car crash in central Paris caused by their drunk driver.

All of those on board, including the Cujo‘s Italian owner, were placed in a rescue boat

That summer, Diana was also photographed on Sokar, the yacht then owned by Al-Fayed’s father, retail billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Cujo was built in Italy in 1972 for businessman John von Neumann after he told Italy’s Baglietto shipyard that he wanted the world’s fastest motor yacht.

She was fitted with two 18-cylinder engines that ensured she had a top speed of 42 knots.

Van Neumann then sold the boat to the son of Adnan Khashoggi, the world’s richest arms dealer, and he sold her on to his cousin, Dodi Al-Fayed.

The memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayad is seen in Harrods department store, December 2003

Cujo was frequently moored off St Tropez, the most famous celebrity hotspot on the Riviera, with celebrity guests including Clint Eastwood, Tony Curtis and Bruce Willis on board.

Following the death of Princess Diana and Mr Al-Fayed, Cujo fell into disrepair.

She was decommissioned in 1999, and spent years in storage, before being restored by new owners.

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Inside the Superyacht Princess Diana Vacationed on With Dodi Fayed

It was hot gossip, this adventure that the princess took abroad after having finalized her divorce from then Prince Charles less than a year before—something that was hinted at at the end of season 5 of The Crown as Queen Elizabeth is pressed to endorse a vacation at sea with Fayed and her grandchildren, Prince Harry and Prince William. Diana was famously photographed sitting on the passerelle of this boat. Years later, in real life, Harry described the trip in his memoir, Spare , with fond recollection. “Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven,” he wrote.

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A Complete Timeline of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed's Relationship

During the summer of 1997, Diana and Dodi had a brief love affair before their untimely deaths.

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The first part of the final season of The Crown focused heavily on Princess Diana and her relationship with Dodi Al Fayed , the son of Mohammed Al Fayed . Portrayed by Elizabeth Debicki and Khalid Abdalla , respectively, the first episodes of season six show their brief romance.

"The funny thing is that everyone focuses on the crash," Abdalla told Town & Country . "And strangely, as a result, what they miss is this fabulous summer that Dodi and Diana had with each other. From an acting perspective, that's the real challenge—and that's also been the real joy to explore. They're falling in love, but you know what happened afterwards. You look at the images of Diana at that time, and she was really happy. It's been a real pleasure as Dodi, as a character who makes Diana happy, having those scenes with a happy Diana."

As the final season of The Crown is now fully streaming ( part two dropped today ), here's the full, complete timeline of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed's brief relationship:

Sometime in the late '80s: Princess Diana meets Mohammed Al Fayed

After Mohammed, an Egyptian businessman, purchased the iconic Harrods department store in 1985, he entered the orbit of the British royal family—including Princess Diana. They met numerous times over the years, and even attended a charity dinner together at Harrods in 1996.

Reportedly, during this time, Diana meets Dodi for the first time, at a 1986 polo match in Windsor.

August 1996: Prince Charles and Diana formally divorce

Then- Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated in 1992 , but would not formally divorce until August 1996. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip supported a divorce in late 1995, and it was finalized less than a year later.

"After considering the present situation, the Queen wrote to both the Prince and Princess earlier this week and gave them her view, supported by the Duke of Edinburgh, that an early divorce is desirable. The Prince of Wales also takes this view and has made this known to the Princess of Wales since the letter," Buckingham Palace said in a statement on December 1995. "The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will continue to do all they can to help and support the Prince and Princess of Wales, and most particularly their children, in this difficult period."

Charles and Diana split custody of their children.

July 1997: Diana and Dodi's romance begins

In summer 1997, Mohammed invites Princess Diana and her sons, Princes William and Harry, to vacation with his family in the south of France . She accepts the invitation, and the end of season five of The Crown shows Diana packing for this trip .

By this point, Diana was no longer dating Hasnat Khan , a British Pakistani surgeon. (Here, a guide to all of Diana's rumored boyfriends .) Khan said of Dodi, "She wanted to be with someone who was happy to be seen with her in public and she could do that with Dodi." He added, "I think that Diana finally realized that Al Fayed could give her all the things I could not. He had money and could provide the necessary security for her ."

Diana and her sons join the Fayed family on their yacht and at their villa, Castle St. Therese, for a trip from July 11 through 20. Prince Harry would later write in his memoir, Spare , "Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven." He explains, "We'd been with Mummy weeks earlier when she first met him, in St. Tropez"—the him refers to Dodi—"We were having a grand time, just the three of us, staying at some old gent's villa." At the time, Dodi was dating (and possibly engaged to) American model Kelly Fisher , but soon, a romance blossoms between Dodi and Diana.

August 1997: Diana continues seeing Dodi

After Princes William and Harry go to Balmoral in Scotland for summer vacation with Prince Charles, Diana continues to undertake engagements. She flies back to the South of France, where she and Dodi spend time together aboard the Jonikal in early August, where they are snapped by paparazzi photographer Mario Brenna—who sells the pictures to the Sunday Mirror for record-breaking prices . The pictures first ran on August 10, 1997 with the headline "THE KISS" while Diana was traveling to Bosnia to highlight her work around landmines .

Despite the press surrounding them, after going to Greece with Rosa Monckton, Diana returns to Saint Tropez to vacation again with Dodi on August 21, 1997. On August 24, 1997, Diana is photographed famously sitting at the end of the yacht's diving board.

During this trip, too, Diana and Dodi visit Monaco, where they visit the Repossi boutique. The Washington Post later reported, " Alberto Repossi said in a telephone interview today that the couple came into the Monaco branch of his store unexpectedly about 10 days before the Aug. 30 auto accident that killed them. The couple was vacationing on the Riviera at the time. They spent only about four or five minutes in the store, Repossi said, because they already knew which ring they wanted. They had seen it in a Repossi advertisement in the September edition of a fashion magazine, L'Officiel de la Couture et de la Mode de Paris."

August 30 and 31, 1997

On August 30, 1997, Diana and Dodi fly to Paris , where they go to the Ritz Paris, which is owned by Mohammed Al Fayed . That same day, Dodi also goes to the Repossi store in Paris to pick up the ring they reportedly chose in Monaco.

As the Associated Press reports , " the day has been tense. The couple has been having problems with paparazzi ever since their mid-afternoon arrival in Paris. First, they trailed Diana and Dodi from Le Bourget Airport outside Paris, on their way to see Villa Windsor — a mansion that once housed the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and that Dodi’s father has bought and renovated. Their driver managed to shake the photographers." They try to have dinner at Chez Benoit, but paparazzi trail them so they eat at the Ritz Paris, in the Imperial Suite.

After dinner, they decide to go to an apartment Dodi owned off the Champs-Elysees, and 20 minutes after midnight, they leave the hotel. With paparazzi in pursuit, their car crashes in the Pont d'Alma tunnel, in Paris. Dodi died instantly, and early that morning, August 31 at Hospital La Pitié Salpêtrière, Diana was declared dead .

Dodi was buried that evening , in accordance with Muslim tradition, after a funeral at Central London mosque. Princess Diana's funeral took place on September 6, 1997

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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Yacht that Princess Diana spent last summer on with Dodi Al-Fayed sinks to bottom of Mediterranean

Cujo, which made front-page news around the world back in the summer of 1997 when Diana was entertained on board a year after her divorce from Prince Charles, went down in 2500m (8200ft) of water.

Thursday 3 August 2023 17:00, UK

A motor yacht used by Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed on their final summer holiday in the South of France before they died in a Paris car crash has sunk.

The 19m (62ft) Cujo went down 21 miles (35km) off Beaulieu-sur-Mer after sending out a mayday call last Saturday.

The seven people on board the luxury vessel, which was taking on water, were rescued by teams from Antibes before it sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean at a depth of 2500m (8200ft).

They were safely returned to shore.

The area was monitored for pollution as the boat sank with 7,000 litres of diesel in its tanks.

Cujo made front page news around the world back in the summer of 1997 when Al-Fayed entertained Diana onboard, a year after her divorce from Prince Charles, which was finalised in August 1996.

That summer, Diana was also photographed on Sokar, the yacht then owned by al Fayed's billionaire father Mohamed.

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Dear Deidre

Inside the £13m 208ft ‘love boat’ yacht where Princess Diana & Dodi Fayed had their romantic fling which is on The Crown

Becky Pemberton
Published : 12:36, 16 Nov 2023
Updated : 12:36, 16 Nov 2023

THE famous £13million superyacht where Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed enjoyed their romantic fling is featured on the new season of The Crown.

The glamorous royal and her wealthy boyfriend were famously pictured kissing on the luxury “love boat” Jonikal, which is now called Bash, before their tragic deaths in 1997.

Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed on their romantic Mediterranean break on his family yacht, Jonikal

Photos of the couple’s Mediterranean getaway circulated around the world, with The Sunday Mirror paying £250,000 for first rights to the collection.

The fall out of the photos was depicted on the sixth and final season of Netflix’s The Crown, with the Queen , played by Imelda Staunton , seen viewing the multi-page spread back home.

The stunning 208ft yacht can hold up to 18 people across nine staterooms, along with 26 crew members.

It also offers a range of impressive amenities including a jacuzzi, swim platform, sun deck, formal dining room, a bar, and office space.

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The yacht belonged to Dodi’s multi-millionaire father Mohamed Al-Fayed .

The billionaire former Harrods owner amassed his astonishing fortune running several high-profile business ventures and a Premier League football club prior to the announcement of his death in August 2023.

The ship was first launched in 1990, and has had a number of owners over the years.

According to Boat International, it was sold earlier this year, and although the sum hasn’t been disclosed, the asking price was €15,500,000 (£13million).

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Diana’s final month included two cruises on The Jonikal.

The holidays sparked unfounded rumours that Diana was pregnant and about to announce plans to marry Dodi .

Dodi died aged 42 in a Paris car crash with Diana 26 years ago.

The pair first met at a polo match in 1989, but they did not get together until Dodi invited the princess to stay at his father's 30-bedroom villa in St Tropez in July 1997.

Much of Dodi's fortune was spent on impressing a string of beautiful models and actresses.

The playboy was linked to Blue Lagoon actress Brooke Shields, Val Kilmer’s ex-wife Joanne Whalley, Stranger Things star Winona Ryder and Frank Sinatra’s daughter Tina.

Following the 1997 car crash that led to the couple's deaths, Mohamed attempted to sell the yacht on a number of occasions before ultimately parting with it in 2014.

It was most recently purchased by Bassim Haidar in June of 2021, who sold it just over a year later with plans to upgrade to a larger vessel.

Photos of Diana sitting on the yacht circulated around the world

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A complete timeline of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's summer romance

Princess Diana was dating film producer Dodi Fayed before they were killed in a car crash in 1997.
The couple met in 1986 but they wouldn't start dating until more than a decade later.
Their relationship was fleeting with a tragic end.

Princess Diana spent her final summer in a brief whirlwind romance with Dodi Fayed .

Fayed was a film producer and son of Mohamed Al-Fayed, a wealthy entrepreneur and former owner of the London department store Harrods.

Following the princess' divorce from Prince Charles the year prior, Diana vacationed with Dodi in St. Tropez and Paris in July and August of 1997. They were photographed kissing on Mohamed's luxury yacht, a major news moment which was recreated in the latest season of "The Crown."

The couple were killed in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997. Here's a complete timeline of their fleeting relationship.

Princess Diana reportedly met Dodi at a polo match in 1986, when she was still married to the then-titled Prince Charles.

Diana and Dodi were first introduced at a polo match in Windsor in 1986, according to Dodi's obituary published by The Independent in September 1997. Dodi and his family were playing against Diana's then-husband, Prince Charles — who she had been married to since 1981 — the publication's Tom Vallance reported.

That same year, Dodi married the model Suzanne Gregard, according to the obituary. They were married for eight months and Gregard was granted more than £2 million, or around $2.4 million, in the divorce settlement, the outlet added.

Diana and Dodi's relationship didn't become romantic until more than a decade later after Diana and Charles' divorce, according to The Independent.

Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.

As Business Insider previously reported , the couple's separation was announced by then-Prime Minister John Major in 1992 following rumors that Charles had an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, which he admitted in a TV documentary interview in 1994.

Speaking to filmmaker Jonathan Dimbleby , Charles said he was "faithful and honorable" to Diana until their marriage "became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried."

In August 1996, the divorce was finalized and Diana was awarded a $22.5 million lump settlement in addition to an annual payment of $600,000 toward the maintenance of her offices, according to the princess' obituary in The New York Times.

Dodi met model Kelly Fisher in July 1996 and the pair were reportedly engaged when he met Diana.

Dodi met the British model Kelly Fisher in Paris in July 1996, The Los Angeles Times reported in 1997 . Speaking to the world's media at a press conference in August 1997, Fisher's lawyer, Gloria Allred, alleged that Dodi had asked Fisher's parents for their blessing to marry her, and they were due to wed the following year, according to the publication.

Allred said that Fisher was still engaged to Dodi when he started dating Diana. Dodi never publicly commented on Fisher's allegations.

"We would like the princess, who has suffered greatly in the past, to know of Ms. Fisher's experiences with Mr. Fayed so that she can make an informed decision regarding her future and that of her children," Allred said during the press conference, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Diana and Dodi made several public appearances together in the summer of 1997.

Following Diana's divorce, she was tied to a number of high-profile men, including Hasnat Ahmad Khan and Bryan Adams, BI previously reported.

According to Dodi's obituary in The Independent, Diana and Dodi's relationship began after the princess and her children, Prince William and Prince Harry, joined the Fayed family for a vacation in St. Tropez in July 1997.

Diana and Dodi were seen on the luxury yacht owned by his father, Mohamed, with Diana's children, and a second time on their own, according to a 2017 report by The Guardian's Caroline Davies . During the second outing, the couple were pictured kissing by the paparazzi, and news of their apparent relationship became public, the outlet reported.

Fisher filed a lawsuit against Dodi a couple of weeks before his death in August 1997.

In August, Fisher's lawyer, Gloria Allred, announced the model's intention to sue Dodi for breach of contract after photos of Diana and Dodi were made public, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The publication reported that the lawsuit alleged Dodi had offered Fisher $500,000 to relocate to Paris and to slow down with her modeling work, in addition to promising her a new family home in Malibu's Paradise Cove.

Diana and Dodi were killed in a car crash on August 31, 1997.

Following their vacation in St. Tropez, Diana's children returned to the UK to spend the remainder of the summer with Charles. Meanwhile, Diana and Dodi visited Paris.

According to The Guardian and a 1997 BBC News report , the couple were staying at the Ritz Hotel, which was owned by Dodi's father at the time. After leaving the hotel, the couple were pursued by paparazzi and were killed after the car they were traveling in crashed into a tunnel.

The driver of the car, Henri Paul, was also killed. According to BBC News, blood tests proved that he had consumed a "large amount of alcohol" and drugs before the crash.

Diana's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only survivor, BBC News reported.

Diana and Dodi were mourned around the world.

Following the announcement of the couple's deaths, tens of thousands of flowers were laid by the public at Diana's Kensington Palace residence, The Guardian reported.

The couple was honored with a statue at Harrods, a luxury department store in London that was owned by Dodi's father Mohamed at the time.

Mohamed sold the store to Qatar Holdings in May 2010, according to his obituary published by Sky News in September 2023. And speaking to the Daily Mail in April 2018, Mohamed said the statue had been relocated to his home in Surrey.

"It is a blessing and a comfort to have the statue of Dodi and Princess Diana in the privacy of our family home after having shared it with the public for so many years in Harrods," Mohamed told the publication.

Mohamed died on September 1, 2023, which was one day after the 26th anniversary of his son's death, according to the Sky News obituary. He was 94.

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Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's South of France superyacht is up for sale

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Diana, Princess Of Wales is seen in St Tropez in the summer of 1997

Since her death in August 1997, the late Diana, Princess of Wales's last months have been described as some of her happiest. During the weeks before the tragic car accident that would kill them both, the princess took a blissful tour through the Mediterranean aboard a superyacht with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. At the time, a photograph of the pair kissing atop the vessel's sun deck made headlines around the world. Now, 25 years on, the multi-million-pound boat, which is loaded with memories of the princess's final summer, is up for sale.

The luxury vessel was bought by Mohamed Al-Fayed, former owner of Harrods and father of Fayed. Following the death of his son, Al-Fayed attempted to sell the yacht several times before it was finally purchased in 2014. Most recently the boat was owned by billionaire entrepreneur Bassim Haidar, who apparently has a ‘great affection for the ocean’. With reported plans to upgrade to a larger vessel, Haidar is parting with the 64m boat just a year after its purchase. The superyacht does not presently have an advertised price, although it was last sold for $10,000,000 (approximately £8,186,300).

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Currently named Bash , the vessel has previously been called Jonikal , then Sokar. According to House and Garden , the yacht was designed by naval architect Vincenzo Ruggiero in the 1980s and built by the superyacht building firm Codecasa before launching in 1990. Lined with wood panelling and coffered ceilings, the interiors are suggestive of the Arts and Crafts style of the fin de siècle. With features such as a jacuzzi, swim platform, a formal dining room, main saloon, a bar, and office space, the boat is far from lacking in luxury spaces.

Fayed and Diana first met at a polo match in Windsor in 1986, while the royal was still married to Prince Charles. A year following Diana's divorce, the couple enjoyed a fleeting and jet-set romance, spending time in the South of France and Sardinia before they flew to Paris in August 1997. It was during their visit to the French capital that the pair were both devastatingly killed in a traffic collision, following their brief stay at the Hôtel Ritz.

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Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed's 'Last Minute' Wrong Decisions Killed Them Both

For the world, Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were killed in a tragic car crash. However, a journalist told an outlet last year (in 2023) that sadly a series of Al Fayed's decisions on the night led to their untimely death. Although brief, Diana's romance with the Egyptian billionaire and film producer was a source of media fascination before she died on August 10, 1997.

Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Jacques Langevin

Journalist Andrew Neil claimed, "Of course, Dodi was, sadly, the architect of his own death and Diana's. The decision to leave The Ritz wasn't taken until the very last minute, as was the roundabout route through a tunnel to get to Dodi's apartment. By Al Fayed's own testimony to me, nobody could have been lying in wait to assassinate them since nobody knew in advance what they were going to do or how they were going to do it," per The Royal Observer.

The late couple were settled in The Ritz Hotel when Al Fayed decided to take Diana to his apartment close to the Champs-Elysées. But, Al Fayed was aware the paparazzi would follow them through. So he dialed his father, Mohamed Al Fayed, who died on August 30, 2023, for help and asked if he and Diana could use the businessman's personal security to escape the swarming photographers. And, of course, he allowed.

Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed kiss, 1997. Diana, glowing, perches on the back of a jet-ski bobbing on a sun-kissed ocean as her new lover Dodi grips the handlebars. She appears laughing and carefree and - at 36 - on the brink of a new life after many troubled years. It is still… pic.twitter.com/wyTxPgwM8I — Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) August 1, 2023

The next contributing decision was when Al Fayed instructed the driver Henry Paul to take a different detour, once again, to avoid the intrusive media. Little did he know it was the same route that death would be waiting for them. Out of the four people in the car, only one survived- their bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones. However, to date, the sole survivor has no memory of the crash.

An investigation probe launched in the mid-2000s concluded in 2008, citing "gross negligence" of the chauffeur and the paparazzi pursuing them . However, despite an apparent accident, Al Fayed's father, Mohamed, blamed a royal conspiracy and alleged it wasn't a natural death but a well-planned murder. The Harrod's owner told the inquest, "Diana told me on the telephone that she was pregnant. I was the only person that they told," per The Guardian.

RIP Mohamed Al-Fayed, 94. An extraordinary tour de force of a man who never got over the death of his beloved son Dodi in the crash that also killed Diana. Mohamed wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and he was a flawed, complex character, but I liked him. pic.twitter.com/gMHSunkmzu — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 1, 2023

But PR executive Chester Stern told a publication, "He [Mohamed] backed off [Diana's pregnancy news] being a direct conspiracy led by Prince Philip in more recent years. This suggests he was quietly beginning to accept it was an accident."

Shortly after Diana's relationship with Hasnat ended, she began dating Al Fayed in the summer of 1997. Similar to Diana, the Egyptian was divorced. They were first photographed kissing on the Fayed family yacht and less than a week before their death, Sunday Mirror wrote, "You only have to look at the sensual body language to know that they have found physical and spiritual fulfillment in each other," per PEOPLE .

Why I don't believe that Diana and Dodi were ever in love! Along with millions worldwide I watched the first four new episodes of Netflix's The Crown, which linger over the final days of the relationship between Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed that led to both their deaths in a… pic.twitter.com/g27ub8QAgN — Amanda Platell (@amandajplatell) November 19, 2023

Although they seemed smitten with each other, royal historian Sally Bedell Smith told Vanity Fair , "Mohamed Al Fayed engineered the romance with Dodi. And Dodi basically did whatever his father told him to do. He was really the puppet master behind Dodi and Diana’s very brief, barely more than a month, romance."

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Huge Princess Diana tributes laid outside palace on anniversary of her death

The 'People's Princess' died in a crash alongside her partner Dodi Fayed in 1997

13:22, 31 AUG 2024

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Huge tributes to Princess Diana have been laid outside Kensington Palace on the anniversary of her death. Her loss sparked a national outpouring of grief still felt by many Royal fans across the world.

News of her death broke on August 31, 1997, with millions left devastated after hearing of the fatal car crash in Paris. Wellwishers laid flowers outside Kensington Palace today.

Photographs of the 'People's Princess' were also attached to the gates of the Palace, where she used to live.

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One large banner displaying a number of photos of Diana read: "Her work continues through her loving sons Prince William and Prince Harry ." Princess Diana was killed in the crash alongside her partner Dodi Fayed.

William, then just 15, and Prince Harry, 12, were on holiday with their dad Charles at Balmoral at the time. It was Charles who broke the news to them, Mirror reports .

A BBC documentary 'Diana, 7 Days' was released to mark the 20th anniversary of her death. In it, Prince Harry said: "One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died.

"How you deal with that? I don't know. But you know, he was there for us. He was the one out of two left, and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after.

"But you know, he was going through the same grieving process as well." William said: "I remember just feeling completely numb, disorientated, dizzy.

"You feel very, very confused. And you keep asking yourself "why me?", all the time "why? What have I done? Why? Why has this happened to us?"."

Their last interaction with their mum was a brief phone call - something that happened every evening since their parents separated. Ina HBO 2017 documentary 'Diana, Our Mother', Harry said: "I can't really, necessarily, remember what I said.

"But all I do remember is probably, you know, regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was. And if I'd known that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother – the things I would have said to her."

Less than a week after Princess Diana's death, the brothers had to say goodbye to their mother in the most public of funerals. An estimated 2.5 billion people across the globe watched as William and Harry walked with their heads bowed behind her cortege.

Walking with them were Charles, Diana's brother Earl Spencer and Prince Philip. Philip had said to his grieving grandsons: "I'll walk if you walk."

Harry reflected on that day and said: "My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands watching me while millions more did on television. I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today."

William said: "There's nothing like it in the world. There really isn't. It's like an earthquake has just run through the house and through your life and everything. Your mind is completely split. And it took me a while for it to actually sink in."

The princes recalled the difficulty of coping with Diana's death. William added: "Being so small at that age, it was very difficult to communicate or understand your feelings.

"I was very touched by it, but none of it sank in... In order not to break down we have to put on a game face." Harry admitted it was confusing to see the love and emotion from so many who had never met his mother.

He said the first time he cried was when Diana was buried at her family home - the Althorp Estate, in Northamptonshire. Her final resting place was on a small island in the Oval Lake.

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Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed leave hotel on night they died
The Crown: Who are Mohamed and Dodi al-Fayed?
Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed leave hotel on night they died
Princess Diana was photographed with her beau, Dodi Fayed, on his
See Inside the Superyacht Princess Diana Shared With Dodi Fayed
Princess Diana’s Former Yacht That She Vacationed on with Boyfriend

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Inside the Superyacht Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed Spent Their Final Vacation On. A look at the vessel that saw the beloved royal's last vacation. The Crown's sixth season debuts this week on Netflix, chronicling the final weeks before Princess Diana's untimely death in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
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Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed sailed around the south of France during the summer after her divorce. ... Bash, as the yacht is currently named, was designed by navel architect Vincenzo Ruggiero ...
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Then named the Jonikal (it has subsequently been called the Sokar, and the Bash), the yacht was owned by Dodi's father, former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, when Diana traveled on it. Following ...
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Insiders reveal the truth about Princess Diana and Dodi ...
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Most of what the public knows of Diana's vacations with the Fayeds that summer in 1997 is limited to blurry paparazzi shots from afar. In The Crown 's sixth season, Peter Morgan attempts to ...
Diana and Dodi's final holiday yacht sinks off French Riviera
The yacht used by Diana, Princess of Wales, and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, for their final summer holiday in the South of France has sunk off the French Riviera after hitting an unidentified object.
Princess Diana's Yacht Saga: Boats Used During Relationship With Dodi
In the summer of 1997, Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana's yacht adventures were the infatuation of the tabloids, paparazzi, and public like no other. The pair were captured sailing around the ...
Diana and Dodi Scene in 'The Crown' Is Inaccurate, Mario Brenna Says
Mario Brenna's photograph of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea plays a prominent role in Season 6 of "The Crown.". Mario Brenna. It's summer 1997, and ...
Diana's final hours: Dodi's yacht, a Ritz suite, a diamond ring and
The last day of Princess Diana's life began on the top deck of her lover's yacht, with croissants and fresh jams. Diana and her beau, Dodi Al Fayed, sipped their coffee marveling at the ...
Yacht used by Princess Diana and lover Dodi Fayed on final summer
Yacht used by Princess Diana and lover Dodi Fayed on holiday sinks. All of those on board, including the Cujo's Italian owner, were placed in a rescue boat. Gendarmerie des Alpes-Maritimes.
Inside the Superyacht Princess Diana Vacationed on With Dodi Fayed
Shortly after Diana's and Dodi's deaths, Mohamed gave the interior a redesign by H2 Yacht Design and a refit that included extending the hull. He attempted to sell the yacht on a number of ...
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's Relationship Timeline
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's Relationship ...
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's Yacht Sank in the Mediterranean
The yacht where Princess Diana spent part of her last summer with Dodi Fayed has sunk to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The boat, named Cujo, sank on July 29 after colliding with an ...
Yacht that Princess Diana spent last summer on with Dodi Al ...
A motor yacht used by Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed on their final summer holiday in the South of France before they died in a Paris car crash has sunk.
Inside the £13m 208ft 'love boat' yacht where Princess Diana & Dodi
Dodi died aged 42 in a Paris car crash with Diana 26 years ago. The pair first met at a polo match in 1989, but they did not get together until Dodi invited the princess to stay at his father's 30 ...
True Story Behind the Iconic Yacht Photo in 'The Crown'
True Story Behind the Iconic Yacht Photo in ' ...
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed Relationship Timeline
Diana and Dodi were seen on the luxury yacht owned by his father, Mohamed, with Diana's children, and a second time on their own, according to a 2017 report by The Guardian's Caroline Davies ...
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's South of France superyacht is ...
Now, 25 years on, the multi-million-pound boat, which is loaded with memories of the princess's final summer, is up for sale. The luxury vessel was bought by Mohamed Al-Fayed, former owner of Harrods and father of Fayed. Following the death of his son, Al-Fayed attempted to sell the yacht several times before it was finally purchased in 2014.
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's Yacht Sinks
The People's Princess's favorite yacht went under. Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed were famously photographed on a yacht in summer 1997 with Prince William and Prince Harry —and now that ship has ...
Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed's 'Last Minute' Wrong ...
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed kiss, 1997. Diana, glowing, perches on the back of a jet-ski bobbing on a sun-kissed ocean as her new lover Dodi grips the handlebars. ... They were first photographed kissing on the Fayed family yacht and less than a week before their death, Sunday Mirror wrote, "You only have to look at the sensual body language ...
Huge Princess Diana tributes laid outside palace on anniversary of her
Princess Diana was killed in the crash alongside her partner Dodi Fayed. William, then just 15, and Prince Harry, 12, were on holiday with their dad Charles at Balmoral at the time. It was Charles ...