Harrods removes Diana statue

LONDON For eight years the permanent memorial that Mohamed Al-Fayed created to his son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales, has remained at London department store Harrods, despite his sale of the store to the Qatari royal family in 2010. Now its owners have decided to return the memorial to Al-Fayed.

Widely derided as kitsch, the work consists of a bronze statue of the couple dancing on a beach beneath the wings of an albatross.

The sculpture is entitled Innocent Victims, a reference to AlFayed’s belief – unsupported by any evidence, according to the official inquest – that the couple were murdered on the orders of the Duke of Edinburgh.

A spokesman for the Al-Fayed family said: ‘‘We are grateful to Qatar Holdings for preserving the Dodi and Diana memorial at Harrods until now. ‘It has enabled millions of people to pay their respects and remember these two remarkable people. It is now time to bring them home.’’

Al-Fayed was not always so happy to see the memorial moved from its Knightsbridge home. In 2010, he warned the store’s buyers: ‘‘They have to pay back double the price if they do that. If they dare to do that!’’

Harrods said it made the decision after Prince William and Prince Harry revealed plans to erect a new statue of their mother at Kensington Palace. The Times