Word: dianas
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...Tawny Kitaen. His past was littered with women he had romanced and rejected, as well as with creditors still hoping to be paid for meals consumed and lodging used long ago. And then there was that vexing question of his family's nationality. Romance novelist Dame Barbara Cartland, Diana's stepgrandmother, spoke for xenophobic Britons everywhere when she sniffed, "My only concern is that this Dodi is a foreigner." A writer for London's Daily Mail was cruder, warning Diana that by marrying into the clan of Al Fayeds she would be "trading in one prison, the life-style...
...often famous women. A recent flame, model Kelly Fisher, added to the Dodi lore by holding a press conference in Los Angeles this summer to show off a sapphire ring that she said was an engagement ring and to charge that she had been jilted in favor of Diana. Fisher, who also used the press conference to announce a $440,000 lawsuit for breach of contract and fraud, contended that while Dodi was wooing Diana on his father's yacht in the Mediterranean, he had Fisher hidden away nearby and was begging her to have his child...
Despite the elder Al Fayed's wealth, prestigious holdings and good works, he has never managed to be accepted into British society. He has lived in England for 20 years, and the four children of his second marriage are all British citizens. He was a friend of Diana's father, the late Lord Spencer, and employs her stepmother Raine, Countess de Chambrun, as a director of Harrods International, the store's duty-free arm. Al Fayed sponsors the Royal Windsor Horse Show, at which he shares the Queen's box. Still, the British government has for years denied his requests...
There have been suggestions in the London press that Al Fayed encouraged his son to court Diana as a way to get back--or, as the Independent put it, "cock a snook"--at the British Establishment. Nothing would have made him happier, some royal watchers contend, than for his son to become stepfather to the future King of England. Dodi and Diana's liaison reportedly began when the elder Al Fayed invited the princess and her two sons to vacation with his family at his villa in St.-Tropez. Adnan Khashoggi told a Saudi newspaper last month, "We welcome Diana...
...Some of Diana's friends, however, believed that Al Fayeds' wealth could do more for the princess than she could do for them. With Al Fayeds' seemingly endless supply of mansions, boats, helicopters and bodyguards, Dodi had the material resources to provide her with the stability and privacy that her life was so lacking in. The elder Al Fayed's decision to auction off the contents of the Windsor villa set off speculation that he was cleaning it out so that Dodi and Di could marry and move in. There would have been rich symbolism in the two of them...