The True Story of Princess Diana's Vacation on Mohamed Al Fayed's Yacht in Saint Tropez
Season five of The Crown ends with Princess Diana packing for vacation, after Mohamed Al Fayed and his wife, Heini Wathen-Fayed, invited her and her sons on their yacht in Saint-Tropez. On that trip, Diana would meet Fayed's son, Dodi Al Fayed, who would go on to become her last boyfriend, and their relationship, as well as the second trip Diana took with him on the Fayed yacht, then named the Jonikal, play an integral role in The Crown season six.
"Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven," Prince Harry shared about the vacation he and Prince William joined his mother for aboard the vessel in his memoir, Spare. Here, some of the most memorable photos of Princess Diana with her sons and the Fayeds on the Jonikal in July 1997.
Princess Diana on board the Jonikal yacht, where she first got to know Dodi better.
Princess Diana was friendly with Mohamed Al Fayed, who had been in royal-adjacent circles for some time due to his ownership of Harrods department store.
Diana brought her two sons, Prince William (head down, center) and Prince Harry (right), on vacation with her.
"We'd been with Mummy weeks earlier when she first met him, in St. Tropez," Harry writes in Spare—the 'him' refers to Dodi. "We were having a grand time, just the three of us, staying at some old gent's villa."
At the time, Diana had recently broken up with British Pakistani heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan, who could not handle the media attention surrounding their relationship. Her friends later shared that they believed her fling with Dodi was to make Hasnat jealous.
Diana pictured with her bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, who would later be the sole survivor of the crash that killed Princess Diana and Dodi.
Princess Diana waved to Trevor ashore in Saint-Tropez.
The Princess looked happy to be spending time with her sons.
Harry writes, "There was much laughter, horseplay, the norm whenever Mummy and Willy and I were together, though even more so on that holiday. Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven. The weather was sublime, the food was tasty, Mummy was smiling."
Paparazzi snapped Diana giving her youngest, Prince Harry, a big hug.
Diana, ever the style icon, had some great swimwear moments on this vacation, including this neon set.
She also rocked a leopard-print one piece.
Princess Diana was beginning to navigate her not-quite-royal, but definitely not normal, life post her divorce from Prince Charles.
At the time, Dodi was reportedly dating American model Kelly Fisher—and she said that she was actually on the yacht in Saint Tropez with the Fayeds and Princess Diana.
Princess Diana made sure the vacation was fun for her sons; here, she rode on a jet ski with Prince Harry.
"Best of all," Harry remembers in Spare, "there were jet skis. Whose were they? Don't know. But I vividly remember Willy and me riding them out to the deepest part of the channel, circling while waiting for the big ferries to come. We used their massive wakes as ramps to get airborne. I'm not sure how we weren't killed"
Wearing life jackets, the royal mother-son duo zoomed around in the water together.
Princess Diana smiled as she swam in the sea off the coast of France.
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