{"id":39772,"date":"2023-11-16T09:01:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T08:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1925590"},"modified":"2023-11-16T10:14:50","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T09:14:50","slug":"diana-and-dodi-relationship-explained-did-he-really-propose","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/diana-and-dodi-relationship-explained-did-he-really-propose\/","title":{"rendered":"Diana and Dodi relationship explained: Did he really propose?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Crown season 6 dramatises their tragic relationship. <\/p>

By James Hibbs\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 16 November 2023 at 08:01 AM<\/p>

\n\n

The first three episodes of The Crown<\/a> season 6 dramatise the relationship between Princess Diana<\/a> and Dodi Fayed<\/a>, leading up to their death in a car crash in Paris.<\/p>\n

The series shows their whirlwind romance being driven, in many ways, by the insistence of Dodi\u2019s father Mohamed<\/a>, who eventually convinces Dodi to propose.<\/p>\n

But how did Diana and Dodi\u2019s relationship really play out, and did he really propose to her the night they died, as seen in the show\u2019s third episode?<\/p>\n

Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind Diana and Dodi\u2019s relationship.<\/p>\n

How does Diana and Dodi\u2019s relationship play out in The Crown?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Elizabeth\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Princess of Wales and Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed in The Crown season 6.<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

In the first episode of The Crown season 6, Diana, William and Harry visit Mohamed Al-Fayed in St Tropez, on his invitation.<\/p>\n

While she is there, Mohamed tells Dodi he must also visit, hoping to match them up and get Dodi away from his fianc\u00e9e, Kelly Fisher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Diana and Dodi do eventually strike up a relationship, and he ends his engagement with Kelly. Throughout this, Mohamed pushes Dodi to continue pursuing Diana, hoping that they will marry and he will be ingratiated within the heights of British society.<\/p>\n

Wanting to please his father, Dodi does just that, and the press become obsessed with the new couple. Mohamed hires Mario Brenna to take papparazzi shots of the couple together, which are then published around the world.<\/p>\n

After a summer holidaying together, the couple travel to Paris, where Dodi proposes to her, on the night when they later die in a car crash.<\/p>\n

Diana doesn\u2019t accept his proposal, telling him she doesn\u2019t want to be married again. Dodi tells her about the pressure from his father, and when speaking on the phone with him in front of her, tells him that \u201can agreement was indeed reached between two people tonight\u201d.<\/p>\n

He hangs up, and that is the last the time they speak with one another.<\/p>\n

How did Diana and Dodi\u2019s relationship really play out?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Khalid\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Khalid Abdalla plays Dodi Fayed in The Crown season 6.<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

In reality, as in the show, Diana and Dodi got to know each other properly in the summer of 1997<\/a>, when Mohamed Al-Fayed invited them to spend time on his yacht in St Tropez. Diana visited the yacht along with her sons, Princes William and Charles.<\/p>\n

She also returned to the yacht later in August without the children, and she and Dodi were photographed kissing by papparazzi. They continued holidaying in the region before then flying to Paris.<\/p>\n

On 15th August 1997, Kelly Fisher held a press conference and announced she was suing Dodi<\/a>, saying that they had been engaged and he had promised her $500,000 in premarital support for sacrificing her modelling career.<\/p>\n

The Al-Fayed family said at the time: \u201cWe are content to leave it to the good sense of the British and American people to judge this development for what it is.\u201d Fisher dropped the lawsuit<\/a> \u201cout of respect\u201d following Dodi and Diana\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Did Dodi really propose?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Khalid\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed in The Crown season 6.<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

There are conflicting reports as to whether Dodi really did propose to Diana in Paris.<\/p>\n

We do know that a ring was found in Dodi\u2019s flat after he had died, with a receipt for an engagement ring dated to the day before.<\/p>\n

There was an inscription on the ring which said Dis-moi Oui, which means \u201ctell me yes\u201d. This is\u00a0also the title of the third episode of The Crown season 6.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mohamed Al-Fayed\u2019s press spokesman insisted<\/a> that the couple were engaged, saying that\u00a0Dodi had given him \u201cthe strongest indication that he was going to marry Diana\u201d.<\/p>

However, a friend of Diana\u2019s, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, told the inquest<\/a> that she had asked Diana whether she was doing to \u201cdo anything silly like rushing off and eloping or getting married\u201d, to which she had said, \u201cI would need marriage like a rash on my face.\u201d<\/p>