Dodi, who was born Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed, was the eldest son of Saudi Arabian author Samira Khashoggi and Egyptian businessman Mohamed. As we saw on The Crown, Dodi's father Mohamed owned the luxury department store Harrods as well as the Ritz Hotel.
The Crown portrays Dodi as a rather sensitive figure, who is frustrated with the overpowering presence of his father in his life. The latest season sees him struggling, with him trying to make a mark for himself after facing a slew of flop films and eventually setting up his meeting with Princess Diana.
LONDON, Feb. 7, 2008— -- Dodi Fayed had all-night sex sessions with his previous girlfriend Kelly Fisher at the same time he was seducing Princess Diana in the Mediterranean, according to transcripts of phone calls between Fisher and Fayed released at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday.
Played by Egyptian-British actor Khalid Abdalla in the series, Dodi was famous mostly for being billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed's son and having a very short-lived affair with Princess Diana. He spent just over a month in a whirlwind relationship with Princess Diana.
Dodi's parents, Mohamed Fayed (the 'Al' was added later, after he moved to England) and Samira Khashoggi, married in 1954. Dodi was born in 1955; a year later, his parents divorced. Though his father got custody of him, his mother was still part of his life.
How did Dodi and Diana meet? The couple first met at a polo match in 1986 while Diana was still married to Prince Charles, The Independent reports. Eleven years later, Diana reconnected with Dodi while vacationing at his father Mohamed's home in St. Tropez with Prince William and Prince Harry.
The couple had been seeing each other for just a few months before the tragic car accident took both of their lives. Princess Diana's romance with Dodi Fayed, the Egyptian-born film magnate, was just beginning when the two died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
The ring reportedly was found in the wreckage of the Mercedes and given to Diana's sisters when they came to Paris to accompany her body back to England.
In real life, Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed dated for a few months before their sad deaths in a vehicle collision in Paris in late August 1997. Dodi Fayed and their driver were killed on the spot, in the incident, while Diana died from her injuries hours later.
Diana and Dodi were together for one summer before they both tragically died in a high-speed car crash in Paris. Diana was 36, and Dodi was 42.
Diana and Dodi didn't start dating until summer 1997 (shortly after her relationship with Hasnat ended), but an entire episode of The Crown was devoted to his father, Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Dodi Al-Fayed dated American model Kelly Fisher prior to his relationship with Princess Diana. Kelly, who is played by Erin Richards in the series, was apparently engaged to Dodi and living with him in their newly-purchased Malibu home when he met Diana.
Asked in court if he thought Prince Philip had plotted to murder Diana, Burrell replied “That is fantasy.” Al-Fayed's lawyer Michael Mansfield asked Burrell about suggestions that Philip, notorious for making tactless gaffes in jest, had called Dodi “an oily bedhopper”.
Innocent Victims is a copper statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed, which was on display at the Harrods department store in London, England, between 2005 and 2018. It was commissioned by Dodi's father Mohamed Al-Fayed when he owned Harrods, and designed by William Mitchell.
But without the catalyst of that Fayed fortune, they might have struggled to get off the ground. The Crown places Dodi on the beach during filming of Chariots of Fire's famous beach scene.
What were Princess Diana's last words? The firefighter on the scene of Princess Diana's accident revealed the last words she spoke before her death in an interview with The Independent. According to the firefighter, Xavier Gourmelon, the Princess of Wales asked: “My God, what has happened?”
Diana suffered from a concussion, broken arm and a cut to her thigh in the crash, but what ultimately took her life were her severe chest wounds. Her heart was displaced in her chest and she suffered a tear to her pulmonary vein that proved lethal and caused internal bleeding.
'” According to Burrell, Harry wanted the ring because it represented a fond memory from his childhood. After Harry received the iconic jewel, Burrell remembers that William was happy for his brother because he's “not materialistic, so he didn't look for the flashiest jewel in mummy's collection."
Harry allegedly requested the engagement ring because "'that's the ring I remember from my childhood. '" On what happened next, Burrell said the brothers must have struck a deal. "Harry obviously gave up his treasure to his brother so that it could be on the ring finger of his wife who would one day be Queen."
However, the ring actually first belonged to Harry after he inherited it from his mother's estate, but he decided to give it to his older brother when Will decided he was going to propose to Kate. William spoke about the importance of the ring during the couple's engagement interview.
Diana brought her two sons, Prince William (head down, center) and Prince Harry (right), on vacation with her. "We'd been with Mummy weeks earlier when she first met him, in St. Tropez," Harry writes in Spare—the him refers to Dodi. "We were having a grand time, just the three of us, staying at some old gent's villa."
Dodi Fayed was Princess Diana's partner and he too lost his life in the accident. He was 42 years old when he died.
Gary, or Gan-Gan
According to royal correspondent Richard Kay, Prince William was encouraged to call her Granny as a child, but he couldn't quite get the hang of it. What he could manage, was Gary. Kay said: "On another occasion, the Queen was on hand after William fell over at Buckingham Palace, bawling: 'Gary, Gary'.
While Princess Diana and Prince Philip were not reported to have gotten along well (during her marriage to Philip, there were reports that he was "unkind" to her, according to CNN), behind closed doors, it appears he was there for Diana during the difficult divorce — to a degree at least.