25 years after the tragic death of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, we take a look into the fascinating life of Diana's last partner
Born into Wealth
Dodi Fayed was born on April 15 1955 in Alexandria Egypt to his father Mohammed Al-Fayed, who later became the billionaire owner of Harrods, and his mother Samira Khashoggi, sister of businessman Adnan Khashoggi. His fathers' ambitious business ventures bought a luxurious upbringing for young Dodi, whose childhood was divided between Egypt and France. Schooling at Le Rosey in Switzerland and the time spent at Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain set Dodi up for the high flying lifestyle he went on to lead. Princess Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry would go on to graduate from Sandhurst in 2006. He had a substantial allowance from his father, reported by 'The Guardian' to be anything from £100,000 to £400,000 per month.
No doubt taking after his father, Dodi was determined to be successful and in 1979 he started his film production company called Allied Stars Ltd. Although producing several well-known movies such as Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire, F/X, and Stephen Spielberg’s Hook, he has been described by other producers as ‘hands off,’ showing up to set for a few days and for post-production. British film critic Derek Malcom stated that; ‘he just liked being around celebrities.’ With the success of Chariots of Fire in 1981, Fayed moved his production company to LA in 1986. His net worth at the time of his death is not exactly known, but he never achieved the level of wealth of his father, who it is believed was worth around £2 billion at the time of his death in August 1997.
Relationships with women
Dodi Fayed married Suzanne Gregard in 1986 and was married to the actress for a brief eight months. After that he charmed many women over the years, going to great lengths to impress them with his wealth. Among women with whom he is said to have been connected are Brooke Shields, Julia Roberts, Winona Rider and Daryll Hannah. Although he is probably best known for his relationship with Princess Diana, they actually only dated for a short time. Prior to that, he had been engaged to model Kelly Fisher, breaking said engagement off when he started dating Diana.
Diana was not to be impressed by his ostentatious lifestyle, however. She was looking for a genuine connection, having the divorce from her husband Prince Charles finalised in August 1996, just one year before her tragic death. She now rests at her childhood home, Althorp. In August 1997, Dodi and Diana had been touring the Mediterranean in his yacht before spending the night at the Ritz in Paris as shown in the documentary on Diana's life The Princess. They left in an attempt to escape the paparazzi that had gathered around the hotel. As the Mercedes being driven by their chauffeur Henri Paul sped through the Pont D'Alma tunnel, they crashed and all three occupants lost their lives.
Season six of the Netflix series The Crown portrays Dodi as proposing to Diana at the Ritz in Paris and being turned down.
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