Throughout the season, Mohamed al-Fayed is portrayed as trying to set Diana up with his eldest son, Dodi – ringing up the maid to ask if they had been “intimate” and seemingly organising the photograph of them kissing to be taken.
In reality: Diana and Dodi did kiss on the yacht – the paparazzi photo of them kissing was, at the time, reportedly the most-expensive paparazzi photo ever sold. There have been multiple theories about who tipped off photographer Mario Brenna to take the photographs, from Diana to those close to her, though we’ll most likely never know.
Since The Crown aired, Brenna told New York Times that the storyline that Mohamed hired him to take the photographs was “absurd and completely invented.”
Michel Dufour
The proposal
In The Crown: Episode 3 of the series, titled Dis-Moi Oui (“tell me yes”) reimagines the final hours of Diana and Dodi’s lives. After dinner at The Ritz in Paris – which they have to leave due to overwhelming paparazzi attention – the two head upstairs to one of the hotel suites, where Dodi proposes to Diana with a ring she had seen in a jewellery shop in Monte Carlo.
While Diana does not accept the proposal – “I know the whole world is wondering if we’re going to get married, but that’s not a reason to actually do it” – the two have a drink and speak about how they need to live their lives going forwards. They then decide to head to Dodi’s Parisian apartment – and, sadly, viewers know the tragic turn the story takes. Their car is tailed by paparazzi and their driver is intoxicated, which results in a fatal crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
In reality: We will never know exactly what took place in the hotel room – however according to a 2004 report into Diana’s death, the couple were upset by paparazzi’s “intrusive behaviour” at The Ritz, and they did head upstairs from the restaurant to the hotel’s Imperial Suite for dinner instead.
At the inquest into their death in 2007, CCTV footage was shown of Dodi buying an engagement ring in a jewellery store across the square from the Ritz Paris on the afternoon before their dinner. Further CCTV footage showed the assistant to the president of the Ritz Paris, Claude Roulet, taking an item back to the couple’s suite. However, there is no confirmation of what this item was.
A ring bearing the inscription “Dis-moi Oui” (hence the name of the episode) was recovered from Dodi’s Parisian apartment after the couple’s death, along with a receipt dated 30 August 1997, the day before the crash, listing a “bague de fiançaille” (engagement ring).
At the inquest, Dodi’s father claimed that they had met the jeweller behind the ring in Monte Carlo during their yacht holiday, and he believed that his son had planned to propose to Diana that night.
The Crown is currently available to watch on Netflix – series six part two will air on 16 December 2023.
