The first part of season six of The Crown has dropped - with a big part of the storyline covering the tragic death of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.
In the Netflix series, Khalid Abdalla’s Dodi Fayed pulls out a ring to propose in a hotel room at the Ritz Paris. As he says, 'I have a question I want to ask you, to which I hope you will indeed tell me yes,' Diana replies, 'No, no! Stop, I can’t bear it. This is madness. Please get up.'
The two are then pictured facing a conversation about their future, where Diana shares that she's not ready for marriage. The scene is only made more heartbreaking by what comes next: the two head out of the Ritz through the back door, where they are swarmed by paparazzi. It makes the night there the couple would be killed, following a car crash in a tunnel under the Pont de l’Alma—killing both passengers and the driver.
With the couple's relationship being revisited onscreen, many people have questions over how accurate certain moments are- including the 'Dis-Moi Oui' ring that Dodi purchased for the Princess.
Dodi, the son of former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, did indeed buy Princess Diana an £11,600 ring a few hours before the couple’s death in the Paris crash in 1997 – though he had no chance to give it to her.
CCTV footage showed Dodi visiting the prestigious Repossi jeweller’s shop that sat across from the Ritz hotel in Paris. Dodi was spotted popping into the jewellers the afternoon before the crash, with a Ritz hotel employee later delivering a bag to the couple’s room.
Sadly, Dodi never had the chance to give the gold and diamond ring to Diana. The custom-made ring bearing the inscription of the French phrase ‘Dis-moi Oui’ – which translates to ‘tell me yes’ – was recovered from the flat after the couple’s death. Also recovered was a receipt dated August 30 1997, the day before the crash.
On the receipt, the purchase was listed as a ‘bague de fiancaille’ (which does translate to engagement ring) but it’s not known if Dodi’s intention was to propose. Since then, Dodi’s father has spoken about his belief that Dodi was planning to present the Princess with the ring on the night they died.
During the inquest into the couple's death, it was heard that paparazzi photographers had gathered around the Ritz hotel on hearing rumours that the couple would be announcing their engagement, or a pregnancy – however friends of Diana’s have denied that the couple were engaged, or that Diana was thinking of marriage. After the crash, Repossi himself also stressed that he had never been told whether the ring was intended to be an engagement ring.
It wasn’t the first ring that Diana received from Dodi. The Princess was also gifted a gold Bulgari ring, which she wore on her right hand rather than her left. But according to Diana's former butler Paul Burrell, the ring was simply a friendship ring - with the Princess not ready to remarry.
During the inquest into their death, it was heard that paparazzi photographers had gathered around the Ritz hotel on hearing rumours that the couple would be announcing their engagement, or a pregnancy – however friends of Diana’s have denied that the couple were engaged, or that Diana was thinking of marriage. After the crash, Repossi himself stressed that he had never been told whether the ring was intended to be an engagement ring.