Al Fayed calls Di documentary a travesty

Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed has criticised a new television documentary for allegedly sullying late Princess Dianas love with his late son.

London, Aug. 2 : Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed has criticised a new television documentary for allegedly sullying late Princess Diana's love with his late son.

Diana: Last Days Of A Princess, broadcast on Five earlier this week, alleged that the late Princess of Wales had colluded with the Press to set up the famous photograph of her kissing Dodi on board his father's yacht off St Tropez in the summer of 1997.

Fayed, who agreed to co-operate with the documentary, has now accused it of misleading the public. He claims that the programme carries 'grotesque inaccuracies' by which the memory of the couple's love is being sullied.

He insists that such suggestions are untrue, and stressed that the producers duped him into taking part in a 'trashy' programme.

The Egyptian-born tycoon says that he gave a lengthy interview for the programme only because he believed the filmmakers were intent on telling the truth about what happened in the weeks leading up to the Paris car crash in August 1997.

"I was approached to help a film crew about a programme the makers said was dedicated to telling the truth about what happened. The tragedy is still very painful for me to talk about so it's not a decision I took lightly. I was assured that it would be a faithful and factual account," the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

"I answered all their questions and gave a lengthy interview. But the programme did not use most of it. One of the most serious was the allegation that Diana contrived the famous picture of them supposedly kissing. This is a grotesque misrepresentation of what happened," he added.

The famous photograph showing Diana and Dodi embracing stunned the world when it was first published on August 10, 1997, and it was seen as confirming rumours that the former had finally found love again.

In the programme, which starred Genevieve O'Reilly as the Princess and Patrick Baladi as Dodi, it is claimed the late Princess set the whole incident up in order to make her former lover Hasnat Khan jealous.

"These were magic moments for two people who were in love. I cannot understand why people want to rubbish the relationship," Al Fayed said.

"They were happy, they were smiling, Diana - who everybody loved - was having the time of her life. Suggestions that she was simply play-acting for the Press are clearly untrue," he added.

He also expressed his displeasure over the casting in the documentary.

"Also grotesque was the actor chosen to play me. It is racial caricaturing - and that is insulting. Do the producers think that all Egyptians resemble gorillas?" he said.

Al Fayed further said that he made a huge mistake by believing the filmmakers' assurances.

"Trashy programmes like this don't make it easier to cope with the situation my family has endured for the last 10 years. My mistake was to believe the filmmakers' assurances," he said.

Spokespersons for Five have denied to comment on the allegations of inaccuracy.

ANI