MOHAMED AL
Al-fayed in St Tropez 10 days ago
Breaking a six-year silence in the run up to the 20th anniversary of her death this week, ex-harrods owner Mohamed al-fayed said she “trusted” his son who wanted to protect her and sons William and Harry.
He spoke as a letter he wrote eight years after the couple’s death emerged, claiming the truth would “one day come out” about their “murder” in a Paris car crash.
Mr Al-fayed, 88, told the Sunday Mirror he would mark the anniversary on Thursday surrounded by his family.
He said: “It is a particularly difficult time for my family and I. The reality is we suffer grief every day of our lives.
“Princess Diana trusted my son and he became a shoulder to lean on at a troubled time in her life.
“Dodi wanted to be a safe haven for her and her boys. Our hearts go out to her sons. They lost a devoted mother and a wonderful human being.”
KISSING
Princess Diana, 36, and 42-year-old Dodi died on August 31, 1997 along with chauffeur Henri Paul as their Mercedes crashed in the Pont de l’alma tunnel in Paris during a chase by photographers.
The pair began dating after Mr Al-fayed invited the princess and her young sons to stay at his 30-bed mansion in St Tropez that summer.
She and Dodi were famously snapped kissing aboard luxury yacht the Jonikal.
Mr Al-fayed has always claimed Diana had found happiness with Dodi and the pair would have married.
He regularly spends time sitting beside Dodi’s tomb in a mausoleum in the grounds of his 17th century mansion in Oxted, Surrey.
He also visits Dodi’s old apartment on Park Lane, Mayfair, where the film producer and Diana used to sit on the living room floor eating takeaway meals and watching films.
Mr Al-fayed – who sold Harrods to the Qatari royal family for €2billion in 2010 – describes it as “a sanctuary” and has refused to sell it.
The fourth floor apartment remains exactly as it was when Dodi and Princess Diana shut the door behind them days before they died. Mr Al-fayed has previously made claims that Dodi and Diana were victims of a murder plot involving senior Establishment figures and members of the Royal Family.
Now a letter has been found, sent by the tycoon to a fan of the princess after she contacted him in March 2005.
It was discovered when the woman’s family