Mohamed Al Fayed's Conspiracy Theories About the Royal Family, Explained
Following the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed, Dodi's father, Mohamed Al Fayed, refused to accept that they died in a car crash, and that it was an accident.
Following their deaths, he hired his own private investigators, and started spreading the theories that the British royal family was somehow involved. As Reuters noted, Fayed was "beset by grief and an overwhelming sense of injustice, al-Fayed spent millions on legal battles to ensure there was an inquest."
He did numerous interviews in the years after their deaths, and his repeated allegations led the British government to open Operation Paget, an investigation in 2007 into Diana and Dodi's deaths.
That report (which you can read in full, here) details an overview of his allegations: "In essence Mohamed Al Fayed’s allegation is that the ‘Security Services’ (unless otherwise specified, this is taken to be the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) - commonly known as MI6) acting at the behest of HRH Prince Philip, arranged for or carried out the murder of Dodi Al Fayed and the Princess of Wales."
The report continues, "The alleged motive was that the Princess of Wales was pregnant with Dodi Al Fayed’s child and there was to be an imminent announcement of their engagement. It is suggested by Mohamed Al Fayed that the Royal Family ‘could not accept that an Egyptian Muslim could eventually be the stepfather of the future King of England’. It is alleged that the Security Services of the United Kingdom covertly obtained the information concerning pregnancy and engagement, with or without the co-operation of overseas agencies, precipitating the need to put into operation a plan to murder them. Mohamed Al Fayed further alleges there was a cover-up by the ‘Establishment’ to prevent the conspiracy and murders from coming to light."
There are three main parts of his conspiracy theory: that the royals orchestrated it, that Diana and Dodi were engaged, and that Diana was pregnant. Fayed testified that Diana "told me that she knew Prince Philip and Prince Charles were trying to get rid of her" and that the royals could not stand that "a person who is different religion, naturally tanned, curly hair" would be dating the mother of the future king.
Fayed testified, "It's proved, there are dark forces. My version is the right version because [I] don't take any garbage from anybody who can pretend they are important."
To be clear: The car crash on August 31, 1997 was determined to be an accident by both French and British authorities, there is no evidence that Diana and Dodi were engaged, nor that she was pregnant at the time of her death. As the judge ruled, Mohamed Al Fayed's "beliefs may be genuine but there is no doubt that many of them have no support in evidence at all." The verdict held that they were killed in a car accident, due to their driver being intoxicated. Fayed said he accepted the result, but "I'm leaving the rest for God to get my revenge."
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