Te presentamos a Dodi Al-Fayed, el último novio de la princesa Diana

Ene 10, 2022

La princesa Diana era muy querida, no solo por el público británico, sino por gente de todas partes del mundo. Ella usó su estatus y su influencia para hacer el bien, y dedicó mucho tiempo a hacer campaña por causas humanitarias, tratando de mejorar la vida de los demás. Se sentó junto a personas enfermas, y ayudó a romper el estigma sobre el VIH-SIDA, enfermedad que era relativamente nueva para ese entonces. Por eso y por muchas otras razones se le recuerda como la "princesa del pueblo".

El precoz fallecimiento de Diana, ocurrido el 31 de agosto de 1997, dejó desconsoladas a personas de todo el mundo. Muchos la recuerdan a través de sus hijos, los príncipes William y Harry. Le han dedicado muchos homenajes y memoriales a lo largo de los años para preservar su legado. Hoy en día se sigue hablando de Diana, e incluso aparece en varios medios de comunicación, ya sea por sus obras de caridad, su impecable sentido de la moda o su faceta como madre.

Diana se hizo famosa por su relación con el príncipe Carlos, el hombre con el que estuvo casada durante 15 años, antes de que su matrimonio llegara a su fin debido a la aventura extramarital de él. El escrutinio público y las reacciones negativas hicieron que Diana decidiera alejarse de la familia real, con la esperanza de poder llevar una vida más privada. Sin embargo, su relación con Carlos no fue la única que despertó el morbo de los medios. Su último novio fue Dodi Al-Fayed, que lamentablemente murió en el trágico accidente automovilístico que también le costó la vida a ella. Sigue leyendo para que conozcas más datos sobre su relación.

Nacida el 1 de julio de 1961, Diana Spencer creció bastante cerca de la familia real. En 1981, mientras trabajaba como asistente de maestra de guardería, se comprometió con Carlos, el hijo mayor de la reina Isabel II, y no tardaron en casarse formalmente. Su boda se celebró ese mismo año, en la Catedral de San Pablo, y con ello se convirtió oficialmente en princesa de Gales. Más tarde, la pareja tuvo dos hijos: William y Harry.

A pesar de ser una princesa, la vida de Diana no fue ningún cuento de hadas. Aunque el público en general y la Mancomunidad de Naciones acogieron con entusiasmo a la princesa, en los años posteriores se volvieron contra ella. Durante su tiempo como miembro activo de la familia real, Diana tuvo muchos problemas en su matrimonio con Carlos. Pasaron muchos años separados, hasta que su formalizaron su divorcio.

Tras su separación matrimonial, Diana dejó de ser el foco de atención y se retiró de ese estilo de vida. Siguió cumpliendo con sus responsabilidades y tuvo ciertas apariciones en algunos compromisos reales, pero su presencia ya no era tan destacada.

Durante esta época tan difícil, los medios de comunicación parecían estar del lado de Carlos, mientras que Diana recibía duras críticas por su forma de actuar. Ella se tomó un tiempo para crecer como persona y para encontrar su propia voz. Según iNews, Diana se esforzó por encontrar la valentía que necesitaba para hablar de los problemas por los que estaba pasando, utilizando a los medios de comunicación social en su beneficio.

En 1995, Diana le concedió una entrevista al periodista Martin Bashir de la BBC. El intercambió la hizo sentir inadecuada, ya que allí habló sobre sus problemas de salud mental y sobre los problemas que tuvo dentro de su matrimonio. A pesar de esas revelaciones, Diana recibió poco apoyo. iNews informó que mucha gente consideró que Diana debió haber tratado de "despertar compasión entre el público, como víctima de la prensa voraz". Pero en cambio, ella se rebeló, cometiendo supuestos "crímenes contra la realeza".

Diana llegó a expresar en varias ocasiones que en su relación habían tres personas, refiriéndose al romance que su marido tenía con Camila, la duquesa de Cornualles. Tanto Diana como Carlos ofrecieron entrevistas públicas en las que detallaron esos problemas, pero los medios de comunicación protegían a Carlos, mientras que ella fue avergonzada por hablar tan mal de un miembro de la familia real.

Nicholas Soames llegó a decir que Diana "estaba en una fase avanzada de paranoia", según iNews. En aquella época, Soames era ministro del gobierno. En una ocasión, la feminista Bea Campbell dijo que los medios "representaron la protesta (de Diana) como un episodio de locura". Durante su entrevista con Bashir en la BBC, Diana habló sobre sus experiencias y dificultades personales, pero fue criticada sobre todo por haber sacado a la luz todos esos temas. Parecía que los medios de comunicación estaban muy del lado de Carlos, y que lo apoyaban por sacar a la luz su aventura; pero los mismos medios se habían puesto en contra de Diana por expresar sus propios pensamientos y sentimientos respecto al tema.

Entre 1992 y 1993, la princesa de Gales contrató a un entrenador de voz, Peter Settlelen, para que la ayudara a desarrollar mejor su voz y su oratoria. Se estaba esforzando para mejorar sus habilidades como figura pública, al tiempo que hablaba con amargura de Carlos y de la forma como él la trataba en su relación.

In December 1993, Diana made the decision to withdraw from the public but partially returned in the following year for the occasional commitment and appearance. The princess continued to work on herself and enlisted the help of voice coach Stewart Pearce. 

“She knew that her voice was not powerful,” Pearce told People in May 2021. “She knew that her voice was a voice of submission, not a voice of triumph. She wanted to find that.” After working on her confidence and sticking with Pearce, Diana found her voice of courage and triumph, especially while giving public speeches.

Although Diana is no longer with us, her attitude, dedication, and hard work have contributed to helping many people across the world overcome their own obstacles. People reported that the speech Harry gave when he left the royal family was extremely similar to his late mother’s, showcasing just how impactful her actions really were.

During her life, Diana always made her children her first priority and frequently included them in her royal outings. The Independent reported that Diana took William with her on her first overseas tour in 1983 when he was only nine months old. In April 1985, Charles and Diana took both of their sons on a 17-day tour of Italy; Harry was only seven months old at the time.

The Princess of Wales also did many normal activities with her sons, such as going to the movies, visiting amusement parks, and enjoying standard day-to-day activities with each other. Harry explained that her motto was: “You can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught.”

No matter how many years pass, it’s evident that the Princess of Wales will never be forgotten. Following Diana’s tragic death, many of her family members paid tribute to honor the late princess. On July 1, 2021, William and Harry came together at Kensington Palace to commemorate and unveil a statue of their mother on what would have been her 60th birthday. 

The Spencer family has also done their part to pay tribute to Diana. Charles Spencer, Diana’s brother, took to Instagram to post a photo of the Spencer family home that flew a flag at half-mast in honor of his sister’s passing. Spencer has continued to be quite thoughtful when it comes to remembering his sister on her birthday and death anniversary. 

According to Hello! Magazine, Diana’s brother said:

“I remember my father always used to talk about the day Diana was born actually, the July, 1, 1961, and it was a sweltering hot day and this wonderful daughter appeared and it’s so funny to be of an age now where your slightly older sister is 60 but yes, it will be an emotional day but, you know, I think it will be a tribute to a much missed and much loved sister, mother, whatever.”

Diana’s final resting place is at Althorp House, a place that Spencer visits often. He said:

“I do, and every landmark day, such as birthday, or Mother’s Day I always take flowers, of course, and I do go to a lot and take the children over. It’s an oasis of calm, actually. It’s a lovely place to go.”

In June 2021, a team of medical professionals spoke out to explain what happened in the early hours of the morning on the day that the Princess of Wales died. The Independent reported that the doctors said they tried “everything possible” to revive her. Dr. MonSef Dahman was a general surgeon at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris and was told upon arrival that he would be treating Diana.

“It only took that moment for all this unusual activity to become clear to me,” he said. Dahman continued, “For any doctor, any surgeon, it is of very great importance to be faced with such a young woman who is in this condition. But of course even more so if she is a princess.” After taking an X-ray, the doctor found that Diana was suffering from “very serious internal bleeding,” so he tried to remove the excess fluid from her chest cavity and gave her an external heart massage and emergency surgery to “enable her to breathe.”

The Independent reported that Diana had suffered a significant tear in her pericardium, which protects the heart. Professor Alain Pavie, a heart surgeon, arrived to help save Diana and discovered that she had a tear in her upper left pulmonary vein. Although Pavie was able to stitch up the lesion, Diana’s heart had already stopped and would not restart.

Professors Riou and Pavie, and Dahman did all they could for a good hour to help save the princess, including electric shock, but nothing worked. Dahman revealed that not being able to save the Princess of Wales affected him “very much.”

Another person had been in the tragic car accident that took Diana’s life: her then-boyfriend, Fayed. Fayed was known for being an Egyptian film producer, as well as the son of a billionaire named Mohamed Al-Fayed. 

Fayed and Diana had just started dating a few weeks earlier and spent a total of nine days together on a romantic vacation. The couple actually started their last day together with a relaxed breakfast on Italy’s Emerald Coast, located on the island of Sardinia. The pair had been spotted holding hands and laughing at the time.

Later that day, Diana told a friend named Richard Kay that she was going to completely withdraw from public life within the next 12 months, something that she had already slowly been doing. According to the Washington Post, it was believed that the Princess of Wales wanted to focus on her private life with Fayed, and he had planned to propose to her that coming evening. Sadly, Fayed’s hopes to marry the princess never materialized.

As soon as the couple arrived in Paris that afternoon, they were quickly spotted by paparazzi, who seemingly followed Diana and Fayed’s every move. Growing frustrated with the increase in paparazzi as the day went on, Fayed tried to figure out how to get himself and Diana back to his apartment, where he planned to propose. The couple managed to slip out the back door of the Ritz and entered a car that was driven by Henri Paul, a hotel security officer who was drunk, unbeknownst to Diana and Fayed. 

The paparazzi quickly caught on to the plan and chased the car through the Parisian streets. At 12:23 a.m., the car struck a wall before colliding with a pillar. Fayed died instantly. According to USA Today, Diana was initially alert but later went into cardiac arrest and died a few hours later.

In 2005, a bronze statue was unveiled at Harrods, a department store in London, to honor Diana and Fayed eight years after they died. According to CNN, Mohamed was the owner of Harrods and wanted to create something to remember his son and Diana. Mohamed said:

“Many thousands of people have written to me over the last several years thanking me for remembering the lives of Dodi and Diana with the memorial at Harrods. In the absence of any further official memorial for these two innocent victims… I wanted to keep their spirits alive with a further gesture.”

Unfortunately, not everyone was a fan of the lovers. According to a 2010 article from the Guardian, Tony Blair – the former Prime Minister of the UK who gave Diana the moniker as the “People’s Princess” – had told Diana that her relationship with Fayed was a problem. “It had not been all that easy,” he said, explaining that the Princess of Wales did not like him interfering with her relationship. 

Diana’s good deeds and legacy have continued to live on, as well as her previous dating history and complications within her personal life. Although she and Fayed did not get much time together, it’s clear that they loved each other and will continue to be remembered.

Did you know about Princess Diana’s last relationship? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your friends and family, too.