Ecco l'ultimo fidanzato della principessa Diana, Dodi Al-Fayed

Gen 13, 2022

La principessa Diana è stata amata non solo dal pubblico britannico ma anche dalle persone di tutto il mondo. Riuscì a utilizzare il suo status e la sua influenza per fare del bene, passando molto del suo tempo a partecipare a campagne umanitarie destinate a migliorare la vita degli altri. Si sedette con le persone malate e aiutò a rompere lo stigma dell'HIV e dell'AIDS, quella che era, all'epoca, una nuova malattia che incuteva spavento. Queste sono solo alcune delle molte ragioni per cui Diana è ricordata come la "Principessa del popolo."

La scomparsa prematura di Diana il 31 agosto 1997 fu un momento straziante per persone di tutto il mondo. Il suo ricordo è mantenuto vivo, attraverso i suoi figli, il principe William e il principe Harry. Nel corso degli anni ci sono stati anche molti tributi e memoriali dedicati a lei, con l'obiettivo di portare avanti la sua eredità e diffondere il suo messaggio. Ancora oggi si parla spesso di Diana e appare ancora in vari media, sia per le sue azioni caritatevoli, che per il suo impeccabile senso della moda o per il suo essere stata una madre amorevole.

Durante la sua vita, Diana è stata legata al Principe Carlo, l'uomo con cui è stata sposata per 15 anni prima che il loro matrimonio finisse in seguito ad una relazione extraconiugale del marito. I continui giudizi del pubblico e il contraccolpo causato dalla scoperta del tradimento del marito portarono Diana ad abbandonare la famiglia reale, nella speranza di vivere una vita più privata. La sua relazione con Carlo non è stata la sua unica relazione nota. Il suo ultimo fidanzato è stato Dodi Al-Fayed, morto nello stesso incidente d'auto dove Diana ha perso la vita. Continua a leggere per scoprire di più sulla loro relazione.

Nata il 1 luglio 1961, Diana Spencer è cresciuta vicino alla famiglia reale. Mentre lavorava come assistente di una maestra d'asilo nel 1981, si fidanzò con Charles, il figlio maggiore della regina Elisabetta II, e non passò molto tempo prima che la coppia si sposasse ufficialmente. Il loro matrimonio ebbe luogo alla Cattedrale di St. Paul più tardi quello stesso anno, rendendo Diana ufficialmente la Principessa del Galles. La coppia accolse in seguito due figli, William e Harry.

Nonostante fosse una principessa, la vita di Diana fu tutt'altro che una favola. Il pubblico in generale e il Commonwealth inizialmente accolsero con entusiasmo la principessa, ma si rivoltarono contro di lei negli anni successivi. Durante il suo periodo come membro attivo della famiglia reale, Diana attraversò varie difficoltà. Il suo matrimonio con Carlo attraversò vari problemi e i due finirono per separarsi molti anni prima che il loro divorzio fosse ufficialmente finalizzato.

Diana passò dall'essere al centro dell'attenzione e una figura pubblica, ad un tipo di vita più riservata dopo la sua separazione. Mantenne le sue responsabilità, facendo apparizioni occasionali durante le attività reali, ma la sua presenza non era più assidua come prima.

Durante questo periodo difficile, i media furono continuamente dalla parte di Carlo, mentre Diana ricevette aspre critiche per il suo modo di agire. Dopo essersi presa del tempo per crescere come persona, Diana ritrovò la sua voce. Secondo quanto riporta iNews, Diana aveva infine trovato il coraggio di parlare dei suoi problemi con i media, utilizzandoli a suo vantaggio.

L'intervista di Diana alla BBC del 1995 con il giornalista Martin Bashir la fece sentire inadeguata dopo aver rivelato i suoi problemi di salute mentale e le difficoltà del suo matrimonio, e la principessa ricevette ben poco sostegno. iNews riferì che molte persone credevano che la principessa del Galles avrebbe facilmente "ricevuto sostegno come vittima innocente della stampa cattiva," ma che lei, invece, si era ribellata, commettendo "crimini contro l'istituzione della monarchia."

In vari periodi della loro relazione, Diana aveva espresso che la sua relazione includeva in realtà tre persone, riferendosi alla relazione del marito con Camilla, la duchessa di Cornovaglia. Sia Diana che Carlo rilasciarono interviste pubbliche dove parlavano delle loro difficoltà, ma mentre Carlo venne protetto dai media, Diana fu sempre additata per aver parlato male di un membro della famiglia reale.

Nicholas Soames affermò che Diana "era in uno stadio avanzato di paranoia," come riportato da iNews. All'epoca era un ministro del governo. La femminista Bea Campbell una volta dichiarò che "hanno presentato la rivolta (di Diana) come una follia." Durante la sua intervista alla BBC con Bashir, Diana parlò delle sue esperienze personali e delle sue difficoltà ma venne criticata per aver portato alla luce queste questioni. I media continuavano ad essere dalla parte di Carlo e lo sostenevano per essere stato onesto in merito alla sua relazione extraconiugale; si erano invece rivoltati contro Diana per aver espresso i suoi pensieri e sentimenti riguardo allo stesso argomento.

Tra il 1992 e il 1993, la principessa del Galles assunse un voice coach, Peter Settlelen, che potesse aiutarla a migliorare la sua voce in pubblico. Fino all'ultimo stava cercando di lavorare per diventare un personaggio pubblico migliore, mentre continuava a parlare amaramente di Carlo e del modo in cui l'aveva trattata nella loro relazione.

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.