On
the day he died, the News of the World, Britains largest circulation
weekly, claimed the Egyptian millionaire Emad Mohammed (Dodi) Al Fayed was
unfit to marry into Britains royalty.
In a "royal exclusive, " it asserted Sunday that Dianas 15-year-old son William was "horrified" at the notion that a two month romance between his mother and 41-year-old Dodi, as her new love was known, was headed for matrimony.
Close friends, relatives and associates of the couple say nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, they say, the Muslim Arab al Fayed family, one of Britains wealthiest, offered the Princess of Wales and her two sons, William and 12-year-old Harry, a welcome escape from the cold, remote world that enshrines a declining British aristocracy.
Diana, the woman who had wanted to be "a queen of hearts," indeed strove to envelop her children in the warm, down-to-earth fun world Mr. al Fayed inhabited.
Such have been the undercurrents of a love story which more than anything in recent times flushed out contradictions of an evolving British society. It pits an ascending service economy where accomplishment matters more than pedigree against a discredited old empire fighting to hold down immigrants, who in the past decade have made this Britains institutions, from small groceries to Harrods department store, better, faster and wealthier.
Now that both the princess and her companion have died, Britain has begun to examine the moral of this story and in the days to come will question many of the issues springing loose from a tragedy that has deeply shaken much of the country and most of the world.
"He told me last night he was going to marry her. We were so happy for him," said Hassan Yassin, a cousin of Mr. al Fayeds mother, Samira. "I felt that Dodi had found himself in her and she in him. The Saudi businessman was speaking from the Ritz Hotel in Paris on Sunday morning, where the al Fayed clan was gathering in the aftermath of the tragedy.
It all began a few weeks ago when Dodis father, Mohammed al Fayed, invited Diana and her two sons to his luxurious home on the French Riviera and Dodi was there, too. Although the two knew each before, that is when they fell in love.
"Dodi was very kind, very gentle and a decent man who cheered the lives of every one he met, " Michael Cole, a close associate of the al Fayeds and spokesman for the family, said in interviews Sunday.
He had great regard for the princess and her family. They had a wonderful happy holiday. They sat down and had coffee and croissants. She never had a family like this. Mr. al Fayed loved the princess and she loved his company. She suddenly saw what it would be like to be a part of a warm, caring family".
This appraisal, repeatedly asserted Sunday by friends and relatives, contrasted sharply with the way the royal family and Britains notorious tabloids shunned the princess after her divorce last year from Prince Charles.
For his part, Mohammed Fayed, the Harrods boss, is an integral part of the story, too. He bought Harrods 12 years ago, tripling its value to nearly $5 billion since. His other properties, including the legendary Ritz Hotel in Paris, Punch magazine, a soccer team, many yachts and multiple castles and homes, make him a hugely successful businessman and manager whose sense of humour, including a healthy dose of profanity, appealed to Diana.
Yet, even though the "House of Harrods" is clearly a pillar of English commerce Mr. al Fayed, his brother Ali, who owns Turnbull & Asser, one of the Britains finest shirtmakers, and his son Dodi have been consistently denied British citizenship for reasons unexplained.
They were outsiders - tolerated but not embraced. It was with delight, therefore, that the senior al Fayed welcomed the relationship of Dodi with the princess.
And the two were alike. Dodi, a 41 year-old playboy, was raised amid fabulous wealth. He did not excel at the French La Salle high school in his native Alexandria before moving to Swiss private schools. He did a two- year stint at Sandhurst, the British military academy.
He also dabbled at Harrods, manning various posts but never went to work for the store. And he participated in funding the 1981 Oscar-winning film "Chariots of Fire," "The World According to Garp," "F/X" and "Hook."
Otherwise, he threw lavish parties, smoked expensive cigars, dated beautiful women and was briefly married for eight months.
Continue to Plus page 7 - Diana: 1961 - 1997 * That day of pomp, pageantry
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