Husband of Lady Diana. Dodi Al-Fayed's personal doctor, who examined Diana after the disaster, admitted that she was pregnant. Dodi Al Fayed and Princess Diana: a love story with a tragic end
0 30 June 2017, 12:20Diana Spencer and Dodi Al Fayed
The life story of Diana Spencer is shrouded in mysteries, many of which still remain unsolved and cause heated discussions. The novels of the most popular representative of the British royal family were practically legendary. The last love of Diana was the son of the Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed Dodi, with whom relations developed rapidly. the site recalls how Lady Di met an influential producer.
In 1996, Diana began dating Hasnat Khan, whom she met at the Royal Hospital in Brompton. Their relationship lasted about a year and a half. They say that it was with Hasnat that Diana again thought about the wedding, but the difference in outlook on life still did not allow the couple to build a harmonious relationship.
In 1997, Diana broke up with Khan, and her heart became free again. Many dreamed of meeting one of the most popular women in the world and Prince Charles, and therefore Diana had no end to invitations to social events and parties. Among them was a message from the Egyptian businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed, who invited the princess to visit his apartments in an expensive resort in Saint-Tropez.
The billionaire, of course, intended to pay all the expenses of Diana and her sons - 15-year-old William and 12-year-old Harry. There were many reasons not to refuse the businessman: a break with Hasnat Khan, still lingering feelings and fears about Prince Charles, a desire for radical changes in life.
Diana did not think long, soon she and her children flew to visit Al Fayed, and the paparazzi followed her. The reporters were able to take many pictures from Al Fayed's Jonical yacht. During his stay on the Cote d'Azur, Mohammed introduced the princess to his son Dodi, whom many considered a womanizer and who was credited with an affair with Julia Roberts herself.
They say that Diana immediately liked Dodi, but we will never know what really happened in her personal life at that moment.
Some insiders believe that Diana flew to Saint-Tropez while still in a relationship with Khan: allegedly she wanted to arouse the jealousy of a man. Others believe that Diana was already free at the time of meeting Dodi and her affair with Al-Fayed is a pragmatic story that Prince Charles's ex-wife needed for her purposes and in which there was no talk of love.
Hasnat Khan
Al-Fayed's friends recall that, after the first meeting with Diana on a yacht, he almost immediately decided for himself that not a single other woman who was in his life could even be compared closely with her. And above all, this concerned the actress Kelly Fisher, with whom Dodi had an affair at that time. These relationships had to end.
True, for some time, Al-Fayed, according to one of his former assistants, hesitated and simultaneously communicated with two women at once: Fisher was waiting for Dodi in the villa while the heartthrob seduced the unsuspecting Diana on the yacht. To put an end to the affair with actress Dodi was forced by his father, who insisted that his son leave her as soon as possible.
The rest is history, alas, ending very sadly: on August 31, 1997, Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed crashed in a car accident, trying to escape the persecution of the paparazzi.
Photo GettyImages.ru
Diana and Charles, 1992Princess Diana's infidelity to her husband, Prince Charles, became an "open secret" back in the early 90s. Then evidence of mutual adultery appeared in the press like mushrooms after rain. This anthill, alas, was stirred up by Diana herself, with the filing of which in 1992 Andrew Morton's book "Diana: Her True Story" was published. Throughout the year, new chapters about her life with Charles were printed in the magazines. As if in retaliation, the security service of the royal family, like a magician, took out dirt on the princess herself from her sleeve. Moreover, one with which it was difficult to argue (recordings of telephone conversations, photos). Officially, it looked like this: yes, Prince Charles cheated on Diana with Camilla, but he was justified by love for this woman, but Diana ... Diana was presented literally as a lustful cat who cheated out of boredom, out of revenge, and simply because she was "unstable" . The truth, as usual, remained somewhere in the middle. Diana got married, barely reaching the age of 20, before she had time to understand what true love is, and before she had time to know what “being loved” means. She was called "unloved", and this had its own homespun truth. Unable to love herself (her bulimia and suicide attempts are important confirmations of this), she desperately looked for an external source that would give her what she could not give herself.
Barry Mannaki
Profession: Police sergeant/bodyguard
When: 1985–1986
One of the rules of the bodyguard code is nothing personal, just work. But in the case of Diana, keeping a distance was difficult. Barry Mannaki was her personal bodyguard, and at the same time the “vest”, in which Diana often cried in the literal sense of the word. Barry became for her not only a guard, but also a friend to whom she trusted all her experiences. And there were already many reasons for them at that time. Despite the fact that her marriage to Charles did not work out from the very beginning, 1985 became a kind of "point of no return" for both spouses, the year when each for their part decided to no longer fight for a family created too artificially to be viable. Barry was 14 years older than Diana, and besides, he was married. However, he showed clear sympathy and sympathy for his ward, and the unloved princess experienced what is called a classic transference. “I felt like a little girl in his presence. I always wanted him to praise me; I looked for him everywhere,” Diana will say about Barry in 1991, and under the recording on camera, not suspecting that this amateur footage, made by her personal teacher in the technique of public speech, after her death will be sold to the American television channel NBC and made public. But her other words will turn out to be even more sensational in this informal interview: “I was happy to give up everything ... And just run away and live with him. Can you imagine? And he kept saying it was a good idea.” According to these words, it turned out that for the sake of Barry, Diana was ready to sacrifice even little William and Harry, because no one would have given her the heirs to the British throne.
Strictly speaking, there is no evidence that Diana cheated on Charles with Barry physically. Most likely, the bodyguard did not allow himself to go too far, or, at least, simply did not have time. Prince Charles' security chief once caught Diana and Barry in what he described as "compromising" Her Highness, and immediately reported to the owner. Mannaki was immediately transferred to another facility (protection of the London diplomatic corps), and a year later he died in an accident, a couple of weeks before his 40th birthday. The circumstances of the death of the former bodyguard haunted Diana until the very end. A motorcycle with Barry as a passenger was hit by a passenger car, the driver of which was blinded by the headlights of a mysterious third participant in the accident. The police reports indicated that this third car, which was never found, was the culprit of the accident. Princess Diana has repeatedly expressed the opinion that the accident was rigged by the security service, because Mannaki knew too much about her and Charles.
James Hewitt
Profession: captain, also top polo player, riding instructor
When: 1986–1988 (or 1991, according to Hewitt)
This is Diana's most famous lover, and the only one she did not deny in an interview in 1995 ( read also: Not Saint Diana: 7 Fatal Mistakes of the Princess of Wales. Yes, and it would be pointless to deny, given the details with which their relationship was described in the book "Princess in Love", co-authored by Hewitt himself. They first met before the Royal Wedding, but it was a casual acquaintance. Later, according to Hewitt, he simply watched Lady Dee from a distance, not daring to approach, until Diana herself took the first steps towards her. Their relationship began in the late summer of 1986. After a few chance (or maybe not) meetings at social parties, Diana asked James to be her teacher. As a child, the future Princess of Wales fell off her horse and has since experienced a fear of riding, and the current situation obliges her to have the appropriate skills. Whether this was a pretext, or whether Diana really felt a desire to learn how to stand worthy in the saddle ─ history is silent. Hewitt, in an interview with Larry King, recalled: "Between me and Diana, everything happened quickly and mutually." Diana also did not deny that she was in love with James. Hewitt was only three years older than the princess, he was young and good-looking, and besides, he quickly realized that Diana was lonely and in dire need of a strong male shoulder, especially after Barry Mannaki was no longer next to her. And James became for her first a comforter, and then a lover. Charles also guessed that the riding instructor and the princess were connected by much more than a business relationship, but, obviously, this was already to his advantage. Diana hosted James at Kensington Palace (Charles did not actually live with his family at that time), often called Hewitt, went to visit and even met his mother. According to the memoirs of James himself, Diana turned out to be an attention-hungry, suspicious and demanding woman. In 1989, Hewitt was transferred to serve in Germany, and he unsuccessfully tried to explain to Diana that he was going there because it was his military duty. The Princess of Wales took the departure of her lover as a demarche, took offense and stopped writing to him and answering calls. According to Hewitt himself (and it's not so easy, given that he continues to make money on the memories of Lady Dee), as soon as James arrived in London for the holidays, their romance resumed. Diana again began to write to him and send gifts to the military unit. These mythical letters in the amount of 64 pieces, by the way, will later become the subject of Hewitt's serious bargaining with journalists from various publications. They say he was offered 10 million dollars for them, but in the end they were stolen from the former lover of the princess and disappeared without a trace.
What went wrong in the end? According to Hewitt, by 1991 it became very difficult to hide the relationship, and Diana at that time had already got involved in a confrontation with the royal court, and she did not need this publicity. All the more strange is the act of Hewitt himself, who in 1994 became a co-author of a book telling about his secret affair with Lady Dee. Diana, by her own admission, took this as a cruel betrayal. That did not prevent Hewitt from continuing to quite successfully monetize the story of his romance with the princess.
It is noteworthy that it is James Hewitt who is called the real father of Prince Harry. First of all, the hypothesis arose because of the color of Harry's hair and freckled face, which was suspicious, because neither Charles nor Diana were red-haired. However, Harry was born two years before his mother's affair with a riding instructor began, and Hewitt himself always denied a hypothetical relationship with the young prince. Of course, no one believes him: what you won’t do for the well-being of, perhaps, your only son. The Royal Court adds fuel to the fire, ignoring even hints of the need for a DNA examination.
James Hewitt, not without reason, is considered the most pathetic and dishonorable man in Diana's life. The contempt of his compatriots forced him to move to permanent residence in Spain. He never married in the end, although he made several attempts at new relationships. Perhaps his loneliness was a kind of retribution for the treacherous betrayal of the unfortunate princess.
David Waterhouse
Occupation: Cavalry Officer, Captain, and later Major
When: 1987-1992
David Waterhouse was one of Diana's longtime acquaintances. In particular, this was facilitated by the origin of the young man - he was the grandson of the 10th Duke of Marlborough, John Spencer-Churchill, so David and Diana were in a sense relatives, although very distant. History is silent about exactly when they became friends, but according to the recollections of Lady Dee's friend, Waterhouse was a frequent visitor to Diana's house even before the princess went headlong into an affair with James Hewitt. As a friend and distant relative, David, who served at the royal court, was allowed to accompany Diana to those events where, for various reasons, Charles could not or did not want to go with her. In the company of Waterhouse, Diana went to the ski resort of Klosters in Switzerland. I've been to rock star concerts with him. Their most famous outing was a David Bowie concert in the summer of 1987. The next day after him, Diana's photo appeared on the front pages of London newspapers. True, the main sensation was not the princess’s companion, but her high-waisted leather leggings ─ for them, Diana got even from Elizabeth II, according to whom, she grossly violated the royal dress code. As for the company, by 1987 the family had already begun to get used to the "friends" of Charles's bored wife.
Their communication came to naught in 1992. Then Diana tried to invite David to become her companion during a vacation in Austria, but at the last moment she abandoned this idea, because she was already involved in a serious media war with the Royal Court and considered that such a friendly trip could compromise her.
Were Diana and David lovers? There is no direct evidence for this. In one of his interviews, Hewitt mentioned that he was jealous of the princess for her friend and believed that she had lost interest in him not without the participation of Waterhouse. David himself never commented on the relationship with Diana, which, of course, does him credit.
James Gilby
Profession: car dealer
When: 1989–1992
James had known Diana perhaps longer than Charles. According to some reports, Diana almost had an affair with him back in 1979, that is, two years before her marriage. She was 18, he was 23. But at that moment, James was not too interested in Miss Spencer, and the prospect of a more successful marriage quickly arose in front of Dee herself. However, over time, the acquaintance turned into friendship, and only the two of them know how close it was. Gilby's name might never have come up in the context of Diana's "love list" had it not been for the 1992 audio recording of their telephone conversation, which took place back in 1989, when the princess was visiting Sandringham for Christmas. Confident that no one would eavesdrop on her, Diana was extremely frank with James: she complained to him about Charles, about her loneliness, about her relationship with the royal family. And James consoled her, calling her “dear” and “squidgy” (squidgy, which can be translated as easily vulnerable, soft), exchanged kisses with her on the phone and talked about how he would like to be with her. There were other details there, from which it became obvious that the relationship of these two went beyond friendship.
The Sun newspaper in 1992 published a full transcript of this long conversation between the princess and the car dealer, although, they say, the most intimate places were still cut out. And for 36 pence, anyone could call the number indicated in the newspaper and personally listen to the recording. A scandal broke out, called Squidgygate (similar to Watergate). James himself never discussed relations with the princess, without commenting on questions about their contacts, neither recognizing nor denying their connections, which, of course, left a lot of loopholes for fantasies and insinuations. But there was something about which Gilby did not remain silent. At Diana's request, he gave an interview to journalist and biographer Andrew Morton, where he gave quite a few details about her unhappy marriage to Charles. These revelations were included in the book "Diana: Her True Story", released in the same 1992.
James Gilby may have been one of the few men in Diana's life who had real feelings for her. Their break occurred at the initiative of the Princess of Wales, who at that time did not want a divorce from Charles at all. For most of his life, James lived as a bachelor. He married only in 2014 to a divorced mother of five children.
Oliver Hoare
Profession: art dealer
When: 1992–1994
Charles himself introduced Diana to the handsome millionaire Oliver Hoare. Hoare was a friend of the Prince of Wales, and besides, he was married. Diana always singled him out from her husband's circle because he was perhaps the only one who knew how to keep up a conversation with her. Much later, when Charles heard rumors about Oliver's affair with Diana, the prince said in surprise: “For God's sake, what can they talk about?” Diana found Oliver very modern, well-read and more attuned to life than her husband. She was drawn to this man, but for a long time the interest was not mutual. The fact that Oliver was a friend of the prince had an effect, and until Diana and Charles officially parted ways in 1992, Hoare kept a friendly distance with the princess. Diana got together with Oliver after the death of her father, in 1992.
And in 1994 there was a quiet scandal with 300 anonymous phone calls that Diana made to Hoare's phone in a fit of jealousy. At least part of this impressive series of calls was proven to have been made through the private line of the Princess of Wales from Kensington Palace. Oliver was married to the French aristocrat Diana, and was not at all going to destroy his marriage for the sake of another Diana ─ Lady Dee ─ and chose to end the risky relationship. Hoare never commented on his connection to the late princess. However, it is he who is responsible for the fire alarm that went off in Diana's chambers. The security guard Ken Ouarf, who ran in to the princess, found a half-naked millionaire hiding behind a tub with a palm tree with a cigar in his hands. This story, however, surfaced five years after the death of Diana.
Will Carling
Profession: rugby player, TV show host
When: 1993–1995
Former England rugby captain, Will Carling was a crowd favorite. They met Diana closely when the athlete began giving rugby lessons to Princes William and Harry in 1993. It is alleged that Diana and Will crossed paths several times in the cafe of the gym, where both came to train, and once Diana invited the athlete to her place for a cup of coffee. The fact that the relationship between Diana and Will (he was five years younger than the princess) went further than it should have been known not only by their friends. Carling's visits to Kensington Palace stopped only when their affair with Diana was declassified by the press. Unable to withstand the pressure and gossip, in early 1996, Will's wife filed for divorce. The cup of patience was filled with the words of Diana that got into the press, where she actually advised Karling to leave his wife Julia, because she (Diana) could see that Will was unhappy in marriage (Diana had a wealth of experience of such experiences).
Despite a lot of evidence, the rugby player himself flatly refused to admit to adultery. And then, and now he stubbornly answers: "Diana is my friend." However, the memories of their mutual acquaintances say that they still did not limit themselves to friendship.
A few years after the scandal, Will remarried and even had a child. Family became his main priority. But ironically, his wife is very similar in type to the late Princess Diana.
Hasnat Khan
Profession: cardiac surgeon
When: 1996–1997
It is this man that is considered to be the main love of Princess Diana. She met him at the Royal Hospital in Brompton, where she visited the sick as part of her philanthropic mission. The main information about how this short-lived but passionate romance unfolded was gathered by the world thanks to the chatty butler Paul Burrell. It was he who told in colors how he organized their secret meetings in Kensington Palace (Hasnat Khan was taken past the guards and the gate in the trunk of a limousine, because Diana did not want premature publicity. The same Burrell painted how the princess met her lover, stripped naked and wrapped in a long fur Burrella Diana was not shy, because she knew that the butler was gay, and besides, he managed to earn the trust of the hostess during her years at Kensington Palace.
This love also had a downside: for the first time, Diana seriously thought about the possibility of getting married again. The difference in religion, now the former princess, was going to solve it radically: she began to study the Koran and did not rule out the possibility of changing religion for the sake of her Muslim husband. Fortunately for the royal family, Hasnat Khan never proposed to Diana. He made a career with the zeal of a workaholic and had little idea how it could be combined with Diana's star status. In addition, during their short romance, Diana managed to show her temper. According to the recollections of the butler, Diana called Hasnat, sometimes too often, including during working hours. And if the lover did not pick up the phone, Lady Dee sent Burrell in search of Khan. “It was especially unpleasant when I had to wait for several hours for him in the lobby of the hospital while he completed another appointment or operation,” the butler recalled.
What went wrong? It is quite obvious that Diana wanted to receive from the Pakistani doctor what he could not and did not want to give her. He did not need a wife with the manners of a spoiled princess, he did not need a star wife. And besides, Diana literally choked him with her attention and love. After the death of Diana, Hasnat Khan returned to Pakistan, where he married by agreement the daughter of friends of his parents.
Dodi Al Fayed
Profession: Playboy, television producer, heir to his father's billions
When: 1997
Before meeting with Diana Dodi, Al-Fayed was known as a desperate playboy and heartthrob. His list of victories already included Brooke Shields, Julia Roberts and many other models and actresses. However, having met Diana, he seriously decided to tie up with the past. “I will no longer have a single girl, except for Diana,” Dodi told his friends. As for Diana's feelings, most likely they were not. Lady Dee initially perceived the new admirer as a friend. And at the same time, for her, it was a good (so it seemed to her) option to make Hasnat jealous. However, relations with Dodi developed too rapidly and along an unpredictable path for her.
Having barely met, Diana accepted the invitation of Dodi and his father to unwind in their house on the Cote d'Azur (officially - after a painful divorce from Charles). Diana thoughtlessly took her sons on this vacation, completely losing sight of the fact that contacts between underage crown princes and Muslim nouveau riches were highly undesirable. Dodi, in turn, did everything to charm the sons of Diana, organizing their leisure time in Saint-Tropez at the highest level: water skiing, rides, discos and more.
The abundance of photographs of the couple, which Diana seemed to specifically allow the paparazzi to take during that vacation, is also surprising. In August, Dee and Doddy returned to Paris, and then the ex-princess began to realize that the case, against her will, was moving towards a marriage proposal. The younger Al-Fayed literally flooded Diana with gifts (one of them was a diamond ring, which many still consider an engagement ring ─ but it is no longer possible to know for sure). On August 31, Diana and Dodi were victims of a car accident in one of the Paris tunnels, when their car tried to break away from the photographers chasing the couple. The death of Diana gave rise to another flurry of rumors and conspiracy theories. According to one of them, a few days before the tragedy, Diana found out that she was pregnant from Dodi, and he, in joy, was going to propose to her. If so, then Diana could indeed have been removed from the road, since her actions were beginning to cause significant reputational damage to the British monarchy. Not to mention the fact that one day she was to become a queen mother, and Muslim children from marriage to the heir to Egyptian billions did not fit into the Windsor picture of the world.
"Etc…"
Celebrity biographies
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01.07.17 10:46
Princess Diana was included in the list of "100 Greatest Britons", taking third place in it. And even now, many years after the death of Princess Diana, her personality is of great interest, and daughter-in-law Kate Middleton is constantly compared to her mother-in-law. The death of Princess Diana and the life of Princess Diana are shrouded in mysteries that are no longer destined to be solved.
Princess Diana - biography
Representative of an ancient aristocratic family
Diana, Princess of Wales, known as "Lady Diana" or "Lady Dee" for short, was born on July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk. Then her name was Diana Frances Spencer. She belonged to a noble family: her father John Spencer was Viscount Althorp (and later Earl Spencer) and was distantly related to the Dukes of Marlborough (to whom Winston Churchill belonged). Also in the pedigree of John were the bastards of the king brothers Charles II and James II. Princess Diana's mother's name was Francis Shand Kydd, she could not boast of such ancient noble roots.
The early biography of Princess Diana took place in the family nest of Sandgringham, with the same governess who raised Francis. After home schooling (primary school), the future Princess Diana went to Sealfield Private School, and then moved to Riddlesworth Hall Preparatory School. Even then, her father and mother were divorced (divorced in 1969), Diana came under the care of John, like her brother and sisters. The girl was very worried about separation from her mother, and after that she could not establish relations with a strict stepmother.
Newly trained assistant teacher
In 1973, Princess Diana entered an elite women's school in Kent, but did not finish it, showing poor results. Becoming Lady Diana (when John took over the peerage from his deceased father), the 14-year-old girl moved with her family and the newly-made earl to the Noramptonshire castle of Althorp House.
Another attempt to send Diana away from home was made in 1977, when she moved to Switzerland. But, unable to bear the parting with relatives and homeland, Diana left Rougemont and returned home. The biography of Princess Diana continued in London, where she was presented (on her 18th birthday) with an apartment. Having settled in a new home, Diana invited three friends to be neighbors and got a job in a kindergarten in Pimiliko as an assistant teacher.
Princess Diana's personal life
Meeting on the hunt
In 1981, she was destined to become Diana, Princess of Wales, and we'll talk about that.
Before she left for Switzerland, Diana was introduced to the son of Queen Elizabeth the Second, Prince Charles - he took part in the hunt arranged in Althorp. It happened in the winter of 1977. But a serious relationship between Princess Diana and Charles began later, in the summer of 1980.
They went on a weekend together (on the royal yacht Britannia), and then Charles introduced Diana to his parents, Elizabeth II and Philip - this happened in the Scottish castle of the Windsor Balmoral. The girl made a good impression, so the Charles family did not argue with their romance. The couple began dating, and on February 3, 1981, the heir to the throne proposed to Diana at Windsor Castle. She agreed. But the engagement was announced only on February 24. The famous ring of Princess Diana with a large sapphire surrounded by 14 diamonds cost 30 thousand pounds. Later, it passed to Kate Middleton - the eldest son of Princess Diana William gave it to his bride at the betrothal.
The most expensive "wedding of the century"
Princess Diana's wedding took place on July 29, 1981 at St. Paul. The celebration began at 11.20, 3.5 thousand eminent guests were present in the temple, and 750 million viewers watched the “wedding of the century” on TV. Great Britain rejoiced, the queen declared this day a day off. After the wedding, a reception was held for 120 people. The wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles is recognized as the most expensive in the history of the country - 2.859 million pounds was spent on it.
Princess Diana's wedding dress was made of airy taffeta and lace, with very puffy sleeves, by fashion designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel. Then it was estimated at 9 thousand pounds. Hand embroidery, vintage lace, a bold neckline, rhinestones and a long ivory train - all this looked great on a slender bride. For insurance, two copies of Princess Diana's toilet were sewn, but they were not needed. The bride's head was adorned with a tiara.
Desired heirs William and Harry
Princess Diana and Charles spent their honeymoon on a Mediterranean cruise on the Britannia, with stops in Tunisia, Greece, Sardinia and Egypt. Returning to their homeland, the newlyweds went to Balmoral Castle and rested in a hunting lodge.
There is also a biopic "The Queen", about the events after the death of Princess Diana, Elizabeth II is portrayed in it by Helen Mirren.
Princess Diana of Wales was, perhaps, perhaps the most important secular newsmaker of the end of the last century. A fabulous wedding (and a dress whose design began to be copied a few hours after the ceremony was shown on TV), an exemplary monarchical family and the front pages of tabloids describing unusually stylish outfits for the wife of the heir to the British throne, charity, divorce from the unlucky Charles, finally, tragic and an absurd death with a lover in Paris.
death under the bridge
Over the past years, tons of paper and gigabytes of html code have been exhausted to describe the car accident in the tunnel under the Alma bridge, so let's just briefly recall the circumstances. Diana and the son of Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed Dodi, whom the divorced princess seriously considered marrying to the dismay of the royal family, flew to Paris on a private jet on August 30, 1997. On the night of August 31, around 00:20, Diana and Dodi left the Ritz hotel owned by the Al Fayeds through the back exit (on Rue Cambon) to avoid the crowd of reporters and paparazzi photographers that had gathered. A black 1994 Mercedes-Benz S280 with license plate 688 LTV 75 was supposed to deliver the couple to an apartment on Rue Arsen Use. Henri Paul, head of security at the hotel, was driving, and Trevor Rees-Jones, one of the Al Fayed family's bodyguards, was in the front passenger seat. The car crossed Place Vendôme and entered the tunnel under the Alma bridge, where it crashed at a speed of 105 km / h into the thirteenth support column. The police arrived already at 00:30, some of the paparazzi chasing the Mercedes provided some assistance to the victims (most of them, however, were arrested there).
- Reuters
Al-Fayed and Paul died on the spot, Diana was taken to the Salpêtrière hospital at 2:06. Despite attempts to save the princess, her internal injuries were incompatible with life. She died at 4 o'clock in the morning. The only survivor of the disaster, Rees-Jones, almost lost his face: he was restored from photographs through several complex operations.
The tragedy, of course, gave rise to a wave of conspiracy theories that blamed the death of Diana on the machinations of the special services (Father Dodi also played a significant role here, insisting that the princess was killed to hide the fact of her pregnancy from the Egyptian). However, it seems that the conclusions of Scotland Yard and the subsequent investigation of Judge Scott Baker in 2007 are much more realistic than the romantic theories of conspiracy theorists. Alcohol was found in the blood of Henri Paul, as well as traces of antidepressants. In addition, no one in the cabin was wearing a seat belt.
Parting
Diana's funeral took place on September 6 at Althorp, the ancestral home of the Spencer family. The ceremony was broadcast on TV, and it became one of the biggest events in the history of television - almost two billion viewers watched it around the world. The funeral was attended by three former British Prime Ministers (Margaret Thatcher, James Callahan and Edward Heath), Hollywood stars (Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman) and music (Cliff Richard, Luciano Pavarotti, George Michael), members of the British royal family, representatives of foreign monarchies (Queen Noor of Jordan, Princess Margaret of the Netherlands and others) - a total of 2,000 people, from Richard Branson to Nelson Mandela. Diana's body was dressed in a long black dress from her favorite designer Catherine Walker (there were about 1000 dresses of this fashion designer in the princess's wardrobe), which she acquired shortly before her death. She held a rosary in her hand, a gift from Mother Teresa, who had died the day before Diana's funeral.
The death of the 36-year-old "People's Princess", of course, caused an immediate response from the masters of culture. Diana's close friend Elton John hurriedly asked poet Bernie Taupin to revise the lyrics of his famous 1973 hit Candle In the Wind, originally dedicated to the memory of Marilyn Monroe, and sang the song at the funeral ceremony, prompting a snide comment from the guitarist Rolling Stones Keith Richards: "All he knows how to compose songs about dead blondes." Elton responded by calling Keith a "goat" and an "arthritic macaque trying to perch on stage". To Sir Elton's credit (he was knighted a year later), he never again performed the version with the words "Farewell Rose of England!" live, but the studio recording of Candle In the Wind 1997, released on September 23, 1997, became one of the best-selling singles in the history of the recording industry: 10 million copies sold in the US alone; the song spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard charts. It is noteworthy that the British public in 2001 included Candle In the Wind 1997 in the list of "most hated hits".
Music, of course, was not enough - several documentaries, at least four feature films of varying degrees of reliability, postage stamps from several countries. Finally, in 2002, the late princess came in third on a list of the greatest Britons of all time, beating Albion, Shakespeare, Darwin, Newton and every reigning British monarch, to the dismay of the cultural public.
Impermanence of memory
Nevertheless, the peak of mass worship of the memory of the “People's Princess” did not occur in the United Kingdom, but in countries that were not at all monarchical, from the USA to Russia. Few people remember, but none other than Boris Grebenshchikov recorded a song in memory of Diana - "4D (Last Day of August)", which was included as a bonus track in the 1997 album "Lilith"). The British themselves, despite the touching headlines of the yellow press, the princess seems to have had enough time to get fed up during her lifetime. Judging by the typical reaction of ordinary Englishmen to the mention of Diana in a conversation, it becomes clear that the "popular love" for the "people's princess" remained mostly only on the pages - paper and virtual - of the Daily Mail, Daily Express and similar publications.
- Reuters
But still, the myth of Diana continues to live - the myth of a beauty (judging by the photo, a rather controversial moment), a smart girl (in reality, she failed her final exams at school twice) and a connoisseur of beauty (who confessed her love for Duran Duran is an excellent pop group, but not Beethoven and Wagner). However, perhaps it is in this earthiness and rusticity of the daughter of Viscount Althorp, the eighth Earl Spencer, the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Rothesay, the Countess of Chester and Baroness Renfrew, that the secret of the charm that survived her lies.
Vladislav Krylov
Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana, Princess of Wales), nee Diana Francis Spencer (Diana Francis Spencer; July 1, 1961, Sandringham, Norfolk - August 31, 1997, Paris) - from 1981 to 1996, the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne. Commonly known as Princess Diana, Lady Diana or Lady Di. According to a poll conducted in 2002 by the BBC broadcaster, Diana was ranked third in the list of the hundred greatest Britons in history.
Diana was born July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk to John Spencer. Her father was Viscount Althorp, a branch of the same Spencer-Churchill family as the Duke of Marlborough, and.
Diana's paternal ancestors were carriers of royal blood through the illegitimate sons of King Charles II and the illegitimate daughter of his brother and successor, King James II. Earls Spencers have long lived in the very center of London, in Spencer House.
Diana spent her childhood in Sandringham, where she received her primary home education. Her teacher was the governess Gertrude Allen, who taught Diana's mother. She continued her education at Sealfield, at a private school near King's Line, then at Riddlesworth Hall Preparatory School.
When Diana was 8 years old, her parents divorced. She stayed with her father, along with her sisters and brother. The divorce had a strong influence on the girl, and soon a stepmother appeared in the house, who disliked children.
In 1975, following the death of her grandfather, Diana's father became the 8th Earl Spencer and she received the courtesy title of "lady" reserved for daughters of high peers. During this period, the family moved to the ancient ancestral castle of Althorp House in Nottrogtonshire.
At the age of 12, the future princess was accepted into a privileged school for girls in West Hill, in Sevenoaks, Kent. Here she turned out to be a bad student and could not finish it. At the same time, her musical abilities were not in doubt. The girl was also fascinated by dancing.
In 1977, she briefly attended school in the Swiss city of Rougemont. Once in Switzerland, Diana soon began to feel homesick and returned to England ahead of schedule.
Princess Diana Height: 178 centimeters.
Princess Diana's personal life:
In the winter of 1977, before leaving for training, she met her future husband for the first time - - - when he comes to Althorp to hunt.
In 1978 she moved to London, where she initially stayed in her mother's apartment (who then spent most of her time in Scotland). As an 18th birthday present, she received her own £100,000 apartment in Earl's Court, where she lived with three friends. During this period, Diana, who previously adored children, began working as an assistant teacher at Young England Nursery School in Pimiliko.
The wedding of Charles and Diana, which took place on July 29, 1981, attracted a lot of attention from the public and the media. In 1982 and 1984, the sons of Diana and Charles were born - the Princes and Wales, who are next in line of succession to the British crown after their father.
By the early 1990s, relations between the spouses were upset, in particular, due to Charles's continued relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles (subsequently, after the death of Diana, who became his second wife).
Diana herself was for some time in a close relationship with her riding instructor James Hewitt, which she admitted in a 1995 television interview (Charles had made a similar confession about the connection with Camilla a year earlier).
The marriage broke up in 1992, after which the couple lived separately, and ended in divorce in 1996 at the initiative of the Queen.
Shortly before her death, in June 1997, Diana began dating film producer Dodi al-Fayed, the son of the Egyptian billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, but apart from the press, none of her friends confirmed this fact, and this is also denied in the book of Lady Diana's butler - Paul Barrela, who was a close friend of the princess.
Diana was actively involved in charitable and peacekeeping activities (in particular, she was an activist in the fight against AIDS and the movement to stop the production of anti-personnel mines).
She was one of the most popular women in the world of her time. In the UK, she has always been considered the most popular member of the royal family, she was called the "Queen of Hearts" or "Queen of Hearts" (Queen of Hearts).
On June 15-16, 1995, Princess Diana made a short visit to Moscow. She visited the Tushino Children's Hospital, which she had previously provided charitable assistance to (the princess donated medical equipment to the hospital), and Primary School No. 751, where she solemnly opened a branch of the fund for helping children with disabilities Waverly House.
On June 16, 1995, the ceremony of presenting Princess Diana with the International Leonardo Prize took place at the British Embassy in Moscow.
Death of Princess Diana
On August 31, 1997, Diana died in a car accident in Paris, along with Dodi al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul. Al-Fayed and Paul died instantly, Diana, taken from the scene (in the tunnel in front of the Alma bridge on the Seine embankment) to the Salpêtrière hospital, died two hours later.
The cause of the accident is not entirely clear, there are a number of versions (alcohol intoxication of the driver, the need to escape at speed from the persecution of the paparazzi, as well as various conspiracy theories). The only surviving passenger of the car "Mercedes S280" with the number "688 LTV 75", bodyguard Trevor Rhys Jones, who was seriously injured (his face had to be restored by surgeons), does not remember the events.
On December 14, 2007, a report was presented by the ex-commissioner of Scotland Yard, Lord John Stevens, who stated that the British investigation confirmed the conclusions according to which the amount of alcohol in the blood of the driver of the car, Henri Paul, at the time of his death, was exceeded by three times, than is acceptable in French legislation. In addition, the speed of the car exceeded the permissible in this place twice. Lord Stevens also noted that the passengers, including Diana, were not wearing seat belts, which also played a role in their deaths.
Princess Diana was buried on September 6 at the Spencer family estate of Althorp in Northamptonshire, on a secluded island.
Who bothered Princess Diana
Diana has been repeatedly called "the most photographed woman in the world" (some sources share this title between her and Grace Kelly).
Many books have been written about Diana in various languages. Almost all of her friends and close employees spoke with memories. There are several documentaries and even feature films. There are both fanatical fans of the memory of the princess, insisting even on her holiness, and criticism of her personality and the pop cult that has arisen around her.
As part of the album Black Celebration (1986) by Depeche Mode, the composition "New Dress" was released, in which the author of words and music, Martin Gore, ironically plays up how much attention the media showed to the life of Princess Diana.