An 1987 photograph that shows 3 people greeting one another on a sunny day. They look happy to be meeting. The crowds behind the ‘flunky’ in Harrods uniform, the Harrods wrapped parcels bottom left, and the sports attire of the man with his back to us suggest maybe a prize giving?
The three people who are the focus of this image are famous and would have been known to viewers of this image. The Prince of the Realm, Charles Windsor, Diana Windsor (nee Spencer) Princess of Wales, and Mohamed Al Fayed owner of Harrods store in London.
We know now that already this image represented an untruth. Diana was to tell Andrew Morton that she realised that her marriage was over around the time her second son was born in 1984. In 1986 she was in an adulterous affair, as was Charles. The Prince had had a long relationship with his now consort Queen Camilla, which developed into a known affair after 1986. An acrimonious separation and divorce was to follow in 1992 the year which the Queen called her ‘Annus Horribilis’.
This image is even more interesting for the inclusion of Al Fayed who died 30th Aug 2023 at the age of 94. We now know that he was a social climber who falsified his origins, wealth and business interests to become a billionaire. His financial interests in the UK were aimed at becoming a British citizen (constantly denied), His association with royalty was part of this continual attempt to position himself within the British establishment. In 1996 using Diana, now a divorcee, he introduced her to his son Dodi in an attempt, it is suggested, to engineer a marriage of his family close to British nobility. This ended in the death of both Diana and Fayed’s son Dodi in a car accident in 1997.
With Al Fayed’s death, his reputation as a serial sexual abuser, using his immense wealth and influence to cover up his wrong doing has become common knowledge. Over 20 women have revealed that he raped and sexually abused his workers in Harrods. It appears that the establishment of Britain, including the media who would have published this image to maintain this false perception of royalty, was complicit in covering up for him. Another Jimmy Saville story!
This image was already representing an untruthful relationship between the three, that has ended in reputational disaster for them.
TTE (2024) The British establishment enabled billionaire abuser Mohamed Al-Fayed, Socialist Worker. Available at: https://socialistworker.co.uk/comment/the-british-establishment-enabled-billionaire-abuser-mohamed-al-fayed/ (Accessed: 18 November 2024).
What Happened During Queen Elizabeth’s Annus Horribilis (2022) Town & Country. Available at: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a41705035/queen-elizabeth-annus-horribilis-year-explained/ (Accessed: 18 November 2024).
Who Is Mohamed Al Fayed? Inside His Friendship With Princess Diana (no date). Available at: https://www.today.com/popculture/who-is-mohamed-al-fayed-rcna53450 (Accessed: 16 November 2024).
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