A picture really is worth a thousand words. On a new episode of Still Watching, cohosts Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, and Chris Murphy break down episode two of season six part one of The Crown, “Two Photographs,” with VF staff writer and royals expert Erin Vanderhoof.
A true anglophile, Vanderhoof distinguishes fact from fiction on the second episode of The Crown season six, which focuses on photographs taken of Diana and Charles by two very different types of photographers. One choice that really surprised Vanderhoof was The Crown’s insinuation that Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw) orchestrated famed paparazzo Mario Brenna’s iconic photo of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) embracing on the yacht, one of a set of images that drove tabloids crazy.
“There’s a lot of debate about who put Mario Brenna up to that,” says Vanderhoof, before sharing former Vanity Fair editor in chief and The Diana Chronicles author Tina Brown’s theory: that it was Diana herself who called Brenna to get the shot. “She wanted to make her other ex-boyfriend, Hasnat Khan jealous,” says Vanderhoof. “There’s a lot of debate about whether it was somebody close to Dodi, somebody close to Diana. It’s one of those things that cannot really be definitively proven.”
Vanderhoof also shared what happened to Mohamed Al-Fayed in the years following Dodi and Diana’s death. “We know from real life that he was crushed by the death of his son,” Vanderhoof says. “His entire life was sort of formed around it. He became, like, the biggest proponent of all the conspiracy theories. Like, it really, really crushed him.” She also shed some light on the relationship between the royals and their royal photographers, sharing a story about her own experience following Prince William on a press boat.
“When you turn [in a boat], your orientation relative to William changes, and so then all the photographers go running to the other side of the boat,” says Vanderhoof. “All the reporters have to then run to the other side of the boat so we don’t tip over. We’re doing cardio.”
For more on Diana, Charles, and the paparazzi you can listen to the full breakdown of “Two Photographs” below. And as always, send questions and comments and musings about The Crown season six part one to Still Watching at [email protected].
