In 1997, photographer Mario Brenna found himself in an unusual position: a paparazzo who’d become the subject of headlines himself. That summer, Brenna had snapped some photos of Britain’s Princess Diana with her new boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed while the couple were vacationing on the yacht of Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed. The photos, which ran in the Sunday Mirror on August 10, 1997, showed the princess and Dodi kissing, and served to break the news of what would become the royal’s final romance.
The story of those photos, and the ensuing fallout, feature on the latest season of Netflix’s hit historical drama, The Crown, including a suggestion that Brenna was able to capture the photos with the aid of Dodi’s father, Mohamed. While there’s no evidence that the former Harrod’s owner was involved in the taking of the photos—Brenna told the New York Times that the idea that Fayed hired him was “absurd and completely invented,” after season six premiered—Brenna really did snap the pics, and he really did make millions in the process.
Here’s what we know about the paparazzo.
Brenna, an Italian man reportedly lived in Monaco in 1997, making his living as a fashion and society photographer, even serving as an official photographer to the Versace fashion house, according to The Independent. He was described by a fellow photographer at the time as “a very smooth chap,” while an unnamed journalist praised his adaptability, saying, “The most successful people in this business are the ones that can cross from one sort of thing to another. He’s one of them.”
According to Jason Fraser, who stated that he was tipped off about the trip by Diana herself and later acted as Brenna’s agent for the sale of the photo rights, Brenna independently found the yacht—then named the Jonikal—off of the Sardinian coast and snapped the infamous pictures before flying to London about their potential sale.
(Authors Tim Clayton and Phil Craig allege in Diana: Story of a Princess that Fraser was the one to give information about Diana’s whereabouts to Brenna. Brenna himself said in 2023 that he was summering in Sardinia and simply happened across the Jonikal, mistaking Diana from a distance for a friend of his. He called the situation a “great stroke of luck.”)
“Mario wouldn’t tell me what he had over the phone. He flew to London, came to my house and simply said: ‘You’re not going to believe this. You might want to sit down.'” Fraser said in 2013. “When he showed me the prints, we spread them out over the kitchen floor and we sat in silence.” Fraser said that he ultimately decided to help with the sale of the photos, as he felt it was what Diana wished. Brenna is said to have received £250,000 from the Sunday Mirror, with additional photos sold to other British publications at £100,000 each—further international rights were also sold with Brenna’s ultimate take coming in around 1.7 million pounds, or $2.1 million, within the following six to eight months.
Less than a month after the publication of the photos, the princess and Dodi were tragically killed in a car accident in Paris while being followed by paparazzi. When he learned of her death, Brenna says the he cried. The idea that his photos, “could have contributed to fueling the hunt for Diana and Dodi obviously saddens me,” he told the Times. Subsequently he says he decided, “not to speak or disclose anything about the incident until William and Harry reached adulthood,” out of respect for Diana’s children. However, he adds, “If it hadn’t been me, someone else would certainly have captured those images.”
Brenna himself has largely disappeared from the spotlight since the famous kiss photos. He now lives near Lake Como and continues to photograph celebrities. While in The Crown his character speaks of his cut-throat attitude toward his work, opining that paparazzi have to act like “killers,” Brenna reportedly doesn’t share the sentiment (“I do not identify with the term ‘killer,'” he told the Times) and says the show did not contact him about his experiences.
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Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails.
