Word: dianas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...minute he took his oath at the inquest into the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed on Monday, Burrell became the closest thing this extended soap opera has to a star witness. Sitting with his hands clasped in front of him, speaking so softly that the lawyers had to ask him several times to talk louder, he spent most of the day answering questions about relationships: his and Diana's, Diana's and Prince Philip's, Diana's with Dodi's versus that with her ex-boyfriend, heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan. But it was near...
Michael Mansfield, lawyer for Dodi's father, Harrod's owner Mohamed Al Fayed, asked Burrell to repeat for the court what he had heard Kydd - who has since died - say to her daughter during a phone call in June 1997, a call that Diana had let Burrell listen in on. At first, Burrell balked, saying, "Respectfully, that's not very kind to a woman who's no longer here." But the judge ruling over the inquest, Lord Justice Scott Baker, insisted. Burrell stared down at his desk, chewed his lower lip, took a deep breath, and then, as his voice...
Mansfield's goal was to counter Burrell's earlier claims that nobody had a problem with Diana dating Dodi and Khan, both Muslims. Al Fayed's case depends on it; he alleges that the Royal Family had his son and the Princess assassinated to stop her from marrying a Muslim. Earlier that morning, Burrell, who flew in from his home in Florida for the inquest, had called Al Fayed "a very kind man," before going on to demolish - in the nicest possible way - Al Fayed's claims that Diana and Dodi were engaged...
Sure, Burrell said, Diana told him Dodi was "charming, handsome and very attentive." But, from what the butler saw, he was just "a rebound," and it was Khan who Diana wanted to spend the rest of her life with. "This was her soul mate," he said. "This was the man she loved more than any other. It was a very deep and spiritual relationship." Khan would often visit Diana and her boys at Kensington Palace, Burrell added, because the Princess was "adamant" that William and Harry get to know and grow to like Khan. Dodi, on the other hand...
Burrell revealed that he and Diana discussed giving Khan his own quarters at the Palace and that the Princess was so serious about marrying Khan she asked Burrell to find out if it was possible for them to have a private wedding. But Khan was unwilling to go public with their romance and, frustrated, Diana broke up with him. She started dating Dodi in part, said Burrell, to make Khan jealous. Their courtship "took place on the world stage," he said. "And she was used to the world stage. She knew very well what she was doing." All those tabloid...