Twenty years after her death the media continue forcing Diana down our throats. I am sick and tired of hearing about how great she was. Don't think she was anything special at all having lived a life of luxury and comfort. Am I missing some great quality in her? What do other think of her?
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Diana - Princess of Wales
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Black Zero
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I do not think that you are sick and tired of hearing about her.
You started a thread and encouraging others...so that you can "hear" more about her.
Robert
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The recent coverage is about her sons' loss of their Mum.
Hitman
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I've always wondered the same thing. There was a list compiled of '100 Greatest Britons' back in 2002 by the BBC, and Diana was placed #3, ahead of geniuses like Darwin, Shakespeare, Newton and the likes. Why? What made her so great?
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Asim_khan
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She looked like she cared, like she actually cared. Be it hugging aids victims, or picking up malnoutrishioned babies abroad, or doing work with/for Shaukhat Khanum hospital, as well as her work against landmines and putting political pressure on those who made/sold them.
Also she was quite good looking in comparison to most of the inbred Saxe-Coburg/Gotha's so was easy on the eye and very glamorous, so you basically had a Princess Grace of Monaco with a political angle.
Also she was quite good looking in comparison to most of the inbred Saxe-Coburg/Gotha's so was easy on the eye and very glamorous, so you basically had a Princess Grace of Monaco with a political angle.
I want the opinions of others. I am sick and tired of hearing from her from the media. I hope you can see the difference.
Adil_94
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she was one of the first royals to connect to people on a normal level and got off the high throne. And made them more relatable to a generation of Brits. She was seen as the Peoples Princess thats why so many people loved her.
im not a big royalist myself but considering its 20 years since her death. This programme is about her sons coped with her death.
dont see the issue with it.
im not a big royalist myself but considering its 20 years since her death. This programme is about her sons coped with her death.
dont see the issue with it.
KingKhanWC
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Im not a Royalist but she was an amazing lady, a true princess.
She raised show much awareness for so many causes around the world. She had a very difficult life as Royal and eventually died a result of this.
She raised show much awareness for so many causes around the world. She had a very difficult life as Royal and eventually died a result of this.
Robert
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Jungian stuff. She fulfilled the Fairytale Princess archetype, and also the Nurturing Mother archetype. These are deep in our collective unconscious, connecting us all.
Or more prosaically, when someone is in all the papers, mags and screens for nearly twenty years then people think they have a relationship with her.
When someone of such iconic status passes, millions feel it.
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KingKhanWC
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She did meet and connect with people more than any Royal I can think of.
Do you believe there was any foul play in her death?
chacha kashmiri
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She her death was a little hasty as was the aftermath which still lingers on to this day
Her legacy has not been destroyed but wounds still remain in different communities
Her neighbours will always remember her as a friendly person
Her legacy has not been destroyed but wounds still remain in different communities
Her neighbours will always remember her as a friendly person
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Worth a watch given this MI5 Princess Diana plot stuff is in the news again<br>Former MI5 intelligence agent Annie Machon <a href="https://t.co/rkZn4QWV1U">pic.twitter.com/rkZn4QWV1U</a></p>— The Absolute Boy JC (@TheBirmingham6) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBirmingham6/status/877194547226456064">20 June 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Robert
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No. If the state were to decide to assassinate someone I am sure there are more precise methods than interfering with a car.
The Princess died because her driver went too fast, with drink and drugs in his system, and struck a concrete pillar head on at 65 mph, and she had no seatbelt on. The French police said that and I am sure they would not be in on a conspiracy.
James
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A magnificent woman.
Strong whiffs of a Windsor-sponsored MI6 plot hang around her untimely death. There was always a strong chance that they would have been driving through tunnels. Would have been easy to convince one of the less moral agents in the service to drop a zonk-out solution into the driver's glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, then once he gets behind the wheel it's goodnight Vienna.
Strong whiffs of a Windsor-sponsored MI6 plot hang around her untimely death. There was always a strong chance that they would have been driving through tunnels. Would have been easy to convince one of the less moral agents in the service to drop a zonk-out solution into the driver's glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, then once he gets behind the wheel it's goodnight Vienna.
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KingKhanWC
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Wasnt the driver used to drinking a couple of shots and driving? The state would use the method which was the most easiest to hide.
Diana also stated before he death, she feared they were out to kill her.
You don't have to support the UK government in everything Robert.
Who killed Diana is still a mystery. I don't believe in the so called official story of her dying in that accident. She could have been our bhabhi as well had she lived and married Dr Hasnat Khan as strongly rumoured by the press. Every foreign lady wants to become Pak's daughter in law it seems
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I wouldn't drive at all with even two drinks and antidepressants in me, let alone at speed through a city.
I don't believe in ideas which have no evidence to support them. I try to apply Occam's Razor.
If I was @s28's deep state and wanted to assassinate someone I would poison them with something difficult to detect. Interfering with a car is too random, not precise, the brakes and/or steering could have failed at any time and if the car had been sabotaged then why didn't the French police pick that up? Are they complicit in this alleged conspiracy?
It all gets too complex. Conspiracies don't work because someone will always talk.
shaz619
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It's his gimmick the whole pro UK government thing and going against the contrary in these sought of instances to feel smarter lol , it's not surprising that he does not favour the people's princess who genuinely cared about her countrymen.
JaDed
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Britain with so many scientific minds in the past and Diana is who they care about,the Jacky Kennedy of Uk is what she was to me without the widow tag.
Politicians,Royals,Actors,Singers,Sportsstars never understand how an average person 'connects' to them'.
Politicians,Royals,Actors,Singers,Sportsstars never understand how an average person 'connects' to them'.
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I don't believe in conspiracies either, it was all probably just a timely coincidence. It certainly saved some real headaches regarding potential embarrassment to Britain's reputation, that much should be appreciated.
Robert
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I am by nature contrarian and don't enter into groupthink.
I don't believe things unless I see evidence, not half-facts and rumour.
Where did I say I did not favour her? She was a nice lady who tried to make things better for some people such as HIV patients.
Robert
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This is a more parsimonious statement, which I agree with. It solved a problem for the Royals.
shaz619
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But then that would be hypocritical since you worship the likes of Laker , F Trueman and Typhoon Tyson; many whom deem to be myths based on groupthink rather then conclusive evidence which supports their undisputed greatness.
Personally I don't really have an opinion on her death but there's no denying she was a problem for the Royal Family. And so what if we all loved her, am not sure why people have a problem with it? that's not to say we don't respect accomplished British scientists etc it's not like we blindly worshipped a terrorist like Hitler or India's current prime minister.
Theresa May is another for that matter who mind you is't very popular; but no one points out how we are disgusted with her policy's but want to whine about our love for a very nice woman like Diana, if it bothers them that much they are welcome to leave Britain and live in counties which are a lot more media friendly I suppose wink wink.
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Robert
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[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION], the conclusive evidence is their numbers, backed up by expert opinions of the day.
On the point about accomplished British scientists I agree. People see a social media post by an anti-vaxxer with 28,674 likes, and assume that answer is correct and more authoritative than the word of people who have spend decades researching vaccines and been peer-reviewed. The internet has both enlightened us and dumbed us down.
On the point about accomplished British scientists I agree. People see a social media post by an anti-vaxxer with 28,674 likes, and assume that answer is correct and more authoritative than the word of people who have spend decades researching vaccines and been peer-reviewed. The internet has both enlightened us and dumbed us down.
James
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I think the Captain was being quite dry and sarcastic.
Sometimes circumstantial evidence is strongly suggestive.
KingKhanWC
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Mohamed Al Fayed dies as tributes paid to former owner of Harrods and Fulham FC
Egyptian billionaire and former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed was buried after Friday prayers - a day after a day after the anniversary of his son Dodi and Princess Diana's deaths, according to reports
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RIP
Reunited with his son and daughter in law.
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Mohamed Al Fayed, the Egyptian billionaire, former owner of Harrods, and father of Dodi Fayed, has died at the age of 94, according to reports.
He was buried after Friday prayers following a service at Regent’s Park Mosque in London, according to reports from Al Jazeera Egypt. It comes a day after the anniversary of the deaths of his eldest son, Dodi, and Princess Diana.
Al Shorouk newspaper reported that Ashraf Haider, a member of his family, wrote: "My wife’s grandfather, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, has died. We belong to God and to Him we shall return."
In the 1990s, Al Fayed was one of the richest people in the world, with an impressive list of businesses and property to his name. As the owner of luxury department store Harrods and his involvement with high-profile charities brought him into the same circles as the royal family, including Princess Diana.
His eldest son, Dodi, was friends with the royal for about a decade before romance blossomed during a yacht holiday in the south of France. However they were denied the opportunity to spend their lives together, dying side-by-side in a car crash in Paris.
Following the news of his passing, we look back at Al Fayed's life, and his rise to glory.
In the past few decades, Mr Al Fayed sold off several of his high-profile businesses. Back in 2010, he sold Harrods to Qatar for a staggering $2.4billion. While he said he would never part ways with his beloved department store, it was a row over dividends and pension funds which finally showed him it was time to say goodbye.
Speaking to the Evening Standard at the time, he said: "Of course it makes me sad ... you can go ask everyone, people don't want me to go. But first of all I can't take this. I am 77 years old, right. I have children, I have grandchildren, you know ... I have done it. And time for me now to rest. And enjoy."
Three years later, in 2013, he also said goodbye to Fulham Football Club, which he sold to billionaire Shahid Khan for $300m. However he remained the proud owner of the famous Ritz Paris Hotel, regarded by many as the most beautiful in the world. In 2016 it underwent a massive refurbishment.
Earlier this year, his wealth was estimated at $2billion (roughly £1.58million), ranking at number 1,493 globally. And in May last year, Forbes listed his wealth at $1.9billion - which is about £1.6billion.
Bond with Princess Diana
While it's unknown where they first met, Princess Diana and Al Fayed's circles would have crossed regularly as he sponsored many of the charities she was involved with. Their unlikely friendship features heavily in season five of The Crown, showing Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, growing closer to the royals.
In the summer of 1997, the year after Charles and Diana were finally able to officially divorce following their five year separation, Al Fayed invited Diana and her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to join his family on his yacht in the south of France.
The 208ft superyacht was the perfect setting for family time, with photos from the time showing the loving mum playing with her sons on the deck. The boat, which has now changed hands, has nine staterooms and can hold 18 people as well as a crew of 26. Dripping in luxury, it boasted a jacuzzi, office, formal dining room and a swim platform.
And it was during this trip that Diana grew close to Al Fayed's oldest son, 42-year-old film producer Dodi. Pictures of the couple cuddling and kissing on the top deck went around the world, while Diana was photographed sunbathing, jumping into a speedboat and sitting on the stern in a contemplative mood.
They were among the last pictures of the Princess, who told her friend Rosa Monckton in a phone call from the yacht that her time there was "bliss”.
Grieving son's death
Speaking on the 20th anniversary of the crash, a friend told The Sun that Dodi's apartment remains the same as it did at the time of his death.
They told the newspaper: "He often spends hours on end sitting with Dodi. After 20 years he still misses him terribly. And when he is in London he will take time out to visit Dodi’s apartment. Not one thing inside has changed since Dodi died. He will not allow anyone to move anything.
"The apartment is cleaned but it is still exactly the same as when Dodi and Diana used to spend time there."
Daily Mirror
He was buried after Friday prayers following a service at Regent’s Park Mosque in London, according to reports from Al Jazeera Egypt. It comes a day after the anniversary of the deaths of his eldest son, Dodi, and Princess Diana.
Al Shorouk newspaper reported that Ashraf Haider, a member of his family, wrote: "My wife’s grandfather, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, has died. We belong to God and to Him we shall return."
In the 1990s, Al Fayed was one of the richest people in the world, with an impressive list of businesses and property to his name. As the owner of luxury department store Harrods and his involvement with high-profile charities brought him into the same circles as the royal family, including Princess Diana.
His eldest son, Dodi, was friends with the royal for about a decade before romance blossomed during a yacht holiday in the south of France. However they were denied the opportunity to spend their lives together, dying side-by-side in a car crash in Paris.
Following the news of his passing, we look back at Al Fayed's life, and his rise to glory.
In the past few decades, Mr Al Fayed sold off several of his high-profile businesses. Back in 2010, he sold Harrods to Qatar for a staggering $2.4billion. While he said he would never part ways with his beloved department store, it was a row over dividends and pension funds which finally showed him it was time to say goodbye.
Speaking to the Evening Standard at the time, he said: "Of course it makes me sad ... you can go ask everyone, people don't want me to go. But first of all I can't take this. I am 77 years old, right. I have children, I have grandchildren, you know ... I have done it. And time for me now to rest. And enjoy."
Three years later, in 2013, he also said goodbye to Fulham Football Club, which he sold to billionaire Shahid Khan for $300m. However he remained the proud owner of the famous Ritz Paris Hotel, regarded by many as the most beautiful in the world. In 2016 it underwent a massive refurbishment.
Earlier this year, his wealth was estimated at $2billion (roughly £1.58million), ranking at number 1,493 globally. And in May last year, Forbes listed his wealth at $1.9billion - which is about £1.6billion.
Bond with Princess Diana
While it's unknown where they first met, Princess Diana and Al Fayed's circles would have crossed regularly as he sponsored many of the charities she was involved with. Their unlikely friendship features heavily in season five of The Crown, showing Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, growing closer to the royals.
In the summer of 1997, the year after Charles and Diana were finally able to officially divorce following their five year separation, Al Fayed invited Diana and her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to join his family on his yacht in the south of France.
The 208ft superyacht was the perfect setting for family time, with photos from the time showing the loving mum playing with her sons on the deck. The boat, which has now changed hands, has nine staterooms and can hold 18 people as well as a crew of 26. Dripping in luxury, it boasted a jacuzzi, office, formal dining room and a swim platform.
And it was during this trip that Diana grew close to Al Fayed's oldest son, 42-year-old film producer Dodi. Pictures of the couple cuddling and kissing on the top deck went around the world, while Diana was photographed sunbathing, jumping into a speedboat and sitting on the stern in a contemplative mood.
They were among the last pictures of the Princess, who told her friend Rosa Monckton in a phone call from the yacht that her time there was "bliss”.
Grieving son's death
Speaking on the 20th anniversary of the crash, a friend told The Sun that Dodi's apartment remains the same as it did at the time of his death.
They told the newspaper: "He often spends hours on end sitting with Dodi. After 20 years he still misses him terribly. And when he is in London he will take time out to visit Dodi’s apartment. Not one thing inside has changed since Dodi died. He will not allow anyone to move anything.
"The apartment is cleaned but it is still exactly the same as when Dodi and Diana used to spend time there."
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Diana's brother says her press attention more dangerous than Kate scrutiny
Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, has told the BBC that press attention suffered by his sister was "more dangerous" than the scrutiny surrounding the current Princess of Wales.But, in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he also said he worries about "what happened to the truth", amid conspiracy theories about Catherine.
He also told me this week about violence he and his sister suffered at home. As children, he and his sister Diana were punished by a nanny in "painful" ways, he said.
He has just written a book, A Very Private School, about the shocking levels of violence and sexual abuse that he suffered as a young boy when he was sent to boarding school at the age of eight.
Earl Spencer, one of the most prominent aristocrats in the country, said "damaging violence to children" affects them, whatever family they are born into.
He is perhaps best known for his criticism of the press after his sister's death in 1997, when he gave a controversial speech at her funeral, promising to protect William and Harry from the kind of intrusion their mother received.
The earl is loathe now to talk specifically about the pressures on his two nephews and the rift between them. But after weeks of speculation online about the health of the current Princess of Wales, I asked if he thought today's pressures were more potent.
He told me the situation had been more risky for Diana, saying, "I think it was more dangerous back in the day."
Diana died when her car crashed as it entered an underground tunnel in Paris while it was being pursued by photographers.
"I think, if I look back to '97 and Diana's death, I think that was so shocking too - the circumstances of her death were so shocking, that it did make the industry that supports the paparazzi really consider more carefully what it could and couldn't do," he said.
"Not because they had a moral judgement, but because it was unacceptable to the public."
Following weeks of conspiracy theories about his nephew's wife, Catherine, Spencer added: "I do worry about what happened to the truth."
Earl Spencer, Diana's younger brother, told me at length about the regular beatings and grooming he says he experienced as a child at the hands of staff at Maidwell School.
He has alleged in his book that a female member of staff groomed and abused him and other young boys in their dormitory, and also that the school's then headmaster, John Porch, inflicted "brutal beatings".
Maidwell School said in a statement: "It is sobering to read about the experiences Charles Spencer and some of his fellow alumni had at the school, and we are sorry that was their experience.
"It is difficult to read about practices which were, sadly, sometimes believed to be normal and acceptable at that time. Within education today, almost every facet of school life has evolved significantly since the 1970s. At the heart of the changes is the safeguarding of children, and promotion of their welfare."
In our interview, Earl Spencer also revealed he and his sisters suffered violent punishments at home as young children.
He said one of the nannies that looked after him and Diana, named in his book as Nanny Forster, "used to crack our heads together, if we were both found to have done something naughty, obviously without my father's knowledge, but it really hurt".
"It wasn't a tap on the wrist," he said, "it was a cracking crunch, you know, and I remember it still."
Spencer told me he doesn't blame his parents, who "did their best, like 98% of parents do". But his treatment highlighted the "disconnect" between parents and children in some aristocratic families, he said.
Another nanny, who looked after his older sisters, but not Diana, used laxatives to punish them, he told the BBC.
"A different nanny was punishing them by ladling laxatives down them, and my parents couldn't work out why they were constantly ill."
Diana's brother says her press attention more dangerous than Kate scrutiny
Earl Spencer also tells Laura Kuenssberg about the violent punishments he and his sister suffered at the hands of a nanny.
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Mohamed Al Fayed accused of multiple rapes by staff
Five women say they were raped by former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed when they worked at the luxury London department store.
The BBC has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex-employees who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them - including rape.
The documentary and podcast - Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods - gathered evidence that, during Fayed’s ownership, Harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up abuse allegations.
Harrods’ current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations and that his victims had been failed - for which the store sincerely apologised.
“The spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark,” says barrister Bruce Drummond, from a legal team representing a number of the women.
“I made it obvious that I didn't want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over,” says one of the women, who says Fayed raped her at his Park Lane apartment.
Another woman says she was a teenager when he raped her at the Mayfair address.
“Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever,” she says, adding that all the staff at Harrods were his “playthings”.
“We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. If he said ‘jump’ employees would ask ‘how high’.”
Fayed faced sexual assault claims while he was alive, but these allegations are of unprecedented scale and seriousness. The BBC believes many more women may have been assaulted.
'Fayed was vile'
Fayed's entrepreneurial career began on the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, where he hawked fizzy drinks to passers-by. But it was his marriage to the sister of a millionaire Saudi arms dealer that helped him forge new connections and build a business empire.
He moved to the UK in 1974 and was already a well-known public figure when he took over Harrods in 1985. In the 1990s and 2000s, he would regularly appear as a guest on prime-time TV chat and entertainment shows.
Meanwhile, Fayed - whose son Dodi was killed in a car crash alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 - has become known to a new generation through the two most recent Netflix series of The Crown.
But the women we have spoken to say his portrayal as pleasant and gregarious was far from the truth.
“He was vile,” says one of the women, Sophia, who worked as his personal assistant from 1988 to 1991. She says he tried to rape her more than once.
“That makes me angry, people shouldn't remember him like that. It's not how he was.”
Some of the women waived, or partially waived, their right to anonymity to be filmed - and the BBC agreed not to use surnames. Others chose to remain anonymous. Put together, their testimonies reveal a pattern of predatory behaviour and sexual abuse by Fayed.
The Harrods owner would regularly tour the department store's vast sales floors and identify young female assistants he found attractive, who would then be promoted to work in his offices upstairs - former staff, male and female, told us.
The assaults would be carried out in Harrods’ offices, in Fayed's London apartment, or on foreign trips - often in Paris at the Ritz hotel, which he also owned, or his nearby Villa Windsor property.
At Harrods, other former staff members told us it was clear what was happening.
“We all watched each other walk through that door thinking, ‘you poor girl, it's you today’ and feeling utterly powerless to stop it,” Alice, not her real name, says.
'He raped me'
Rachel, not her real name, worked as a personal assistant in Harrods in the 1990s.
One night after work, she says she was called to his luxury apartment, in a large block on Park Lane overlooking London's Hyde Park. The building was protected by security staff and had an on-site office staffed by Harrods employees.
Rachel says Fayed asked her to sit on his bed and then put his hand on her leg, making it clear what he wanted.
“I remember feeling his body on me, the weight of him. Just hearing him make these noises. And… just going somewhere else in my head.
“He raped me.”
The BBC has spoken to 13 women who say Fayed sexually assaulted them at 60 Park Lane. Four of them, including Rachel, say they were raped.
Sophia, who says she was sexually assaulted, described the whole situation as an inescapable nightmare.
“I couldn't leave. I didn’t have a [family] home to go back to, I had to pay rent,” she says. “I knew I had to go through this and I didn’t want to. It was horrible and my head was scrambled.”
Gemma, who worked as one of Fayed’s personal assistants between 2007-09, says his behaviour became more frightening during work trips abroad.
She says it culminated in her being raped at Villa Windsor in Paris's Bois de Boulogne - a former home, post-abdication, of King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson.
Gemma says she woke up startled in her bedroom. Fayed was next to her bed wearing just a silk dressing gown. He then tried to get into bed with her.
“I told him, ‘no, I don't want you to’. And he proceeded to just keep trying to get in the bed, at which point he was kind of on top of me and really couldn't move anywhere.
“I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself on me.”
She says after Fayed raped her she cried, while he got up and told her aggressively to wash herself with Dettol.
“Obviously he wanted me to erase any trace of him being anywhere near me,” she explains.
Eight other women have also told us they were sexually assaulted by Fayed at his properties in Paris. Five women described the assaults as an attempted rape.
'Open secret'
“The abuse of women, I was aware of it when I was on the shop floor," says Tony Leeming, a Harrods department manager from 1994 to 2004. It “wasn't even a secret”, recalls Mr Leeming, who says he did not know about more serious allegations of assault or rape.
"And I think if I knew, everybody knew. Anyone who says they didn't are lying, I'm sorry".
Mr Leeming's testimony is backed up by former members of Fayed's security team.
“We were aware that he had this very strong interest in young girls,” says Eamon Coyle, who joined Harrods in 1979 as a store detective, then became deputy director of security from 1989-95.
Meanwhile Steve, who does not want us to use his surname, worked for the billionaire between 1994-95. He told us that security staff “did know that certain things were happening to certain female employees at Harrods and Park Lane”.
Many of the women told us that when they began working directly for Fayed they underwent medicals - including invasive sexual health tests carried out by doctors.
This was presented as a perk, the women told us, but many did not see their own results - even though they were sent to Fayed.
“There is no benefit to anybody knowing what my sexual health is, unless you're planning to sleep with somebody, which I find quite chilling now,” says Katherine, who was an executive assistant in 2005.
'Culture of fear'
All the women we spoke to described having felt intimidated at work - which had made it difficult for them to speak out.
Sarah, not her real name, explained: “There was most definitely a culture of fear across the whole store - from the lowliest of the low, to the most senior person.”
Others told us they believed the phones in Harrods had been tapped - and that women had been scared of talking to each other about Fayed’s abuse, fearing they were being filmed by hidden cameras.
The ex-deputy director of security, Eamon Coyle, confirmed this - explaining how part of his job was to listen to tapes of recorded calls. Cameras that could record had also been installed throughout the store, he said, including in the executive suites.
“He [Fayed] bugged everybody that he wanted to bug.”
Harrods told the BBC in a statement these had been the actions of an individual “intent on abusing his power” which it condemned in the strongest terms.
It said: “The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”
There were a number of attempts to expose Fayed before his death - notably by Vanity Fair in 1995 - with an article alleging racism, staff surveillance and sexual misconduct. This sparked a libel lawsuit.
Mohamed Al Fayed later agreed to drop the case as long as all the further evidence the magazine had gathered of his sexual misconduct in preparation for a trial was locked away. Fayed’s settlement was negotiated by a senior Harrods executive.
In 1997, ITV’s The Big Story reported further serious allegations including sexual harassment and groping - which is classed as sexual assault.
One of the women in the BBC investigation, Ellie, not her real name, was 15 in 2008 when she reported an assault to the police - an allegation that made headlines - but did not result in any charge.
In 2017, Channel 4’s Dispatches broadcast allegations of groping, assault and harassment, with one woman waiving her right to anonymity for the first time. It gave some women the courage to come forward - and was followed by a 2018 investigation on Channel 4 News.
But it is only now, with Mohamed Al Fayed having died last year, that many of the women have felt able to speak publicly about rape and attempted rape.
Cash and NDAs
The BBC documentary reveals that, as part of Gemma's settlement in 2009, she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), a legally-binding contract which ensures information remains confidential.
She says after she was raped, she contacted a lawyer who told Harrods she was leaving her job on the grounds of sexual harassment. Gemma says she did not feel able, at that time, to disclose the full extent and seriousness of Fayed's assaults.
Harrods agreed she could leave and it would pay a sum of money in exchange for her shredding all evidence and signing an NDA. Gemma says a member of Harrods’ HR team was present as the shredding took place.
The BBC has heard that women were threatened and intimidated by Harrods' then-director of security, John Macnamara, to stop them speaking out.
Fourteen of the women we spoke to recently brought civil claims against Harrods for damages. The shop's current owners, who are not asking women to sign NDAs, started settling these in July 2023.
It took Sophia and Harrods five years to reach an agreement. In her case, the store expressed regret but did not admit liability. Many more women are now considering legal action against Harrods.
The barristers representing some of the women we spoke to - Bruce Drummond and Dean Armstrong KC - argue the store was responsible for an unsafe system of work.
“Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. Without question, the company failed these ladies,” says Mr Drummond.
“That’s why we step in. Because they just did nothing to actually prevent this. They did the opposite. They enabled it.”
Mr Armstrong adds: “We say there have been clearly attempts by the senior people at Harrods to sweep this under the carpet.”
Many more women are now considering legal action against Harrods.
Barrister Maria Mulla - who is also on the legal team representing some of the women - says clients are coming forward now, because previously they have been “absolutely petrified” to speak out.
“They want to be part of this movement of holding people accountable for what has happened to them, and trying to make sure these things don't happen again in the future for their own children and for their children.”
Harrods told the BBC: “Since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible. This process is still available for any current or former Harrods employees.
“While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future.”
The Ritz hotel in Paris said it “strongly condemns all forms of behaviour that do not align with the values of the establishment”.
When Fayed died, unconfirmed reports estimated his worth in excess of £1bn. But money is not the motivation for the women to speak out, they say.
“I’ve spent so many years being quiet and silent, not speaking up,” says Gemma, “and I hope talking about it now helps. We can all start feeling better and healing from it.”
BBC
Five women say they were raped by former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed when they worked at the luxury London department store.
The BBC has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex-employees who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them - including rape.
The documentary and podcast - Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods - gathered evidence that, during Fayed’s ownership, Harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up abuse allegations.
Harrods’ current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations and that his victims had been failed - for which the store sincerely apologised.
“The spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark,” says barrister Bruce Drummond, from a legal team representing a number of the women.
“I made it obvious that I didn't want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over,” says one of the women, who says Fayed raped her at his Park Lane apartment.
Another woman says she was a teenager when he raped her at the Mayfair address.
“Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever,” she says, adding that all the staff at Harrods were his “playthings”.
“We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. If he said ‘jump’ employees would ask ‘how high’.”
Fayed faced sexual assault claims while he was alive, but these allegations are of unprecedented scale and seriousness. The BBC believes many more women may have been assaulted.
'Fayed was vile'
Fayed's entrepreneurial career began on the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, where he hawked fizzy drinks to passers-by. But it was his marriage to the sister of a millionaire Saudi arms dealer that helped him forge new connections and build a business empire.
He moved to the UK in 1974 and was already a well-known public figure when he took over Harrods in 1985. In the 1990s and 2000s, he would regularly appear as a guest on prime-time TV chat and entertainment shows.
Meanwhile, Fayed - whose son Dodi was killed in a car crash alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 - has become known to a new generation through the two most recent Netflix series of The Crown.
But the women we have spoken to say his portrayal as pleasant and gregarious was far from the truth.
“He was vile,” says one of the women, Sophia, who worked as his personal assistant from 1988 to 1991. She says he tried to rape her more than once.
“That makes me angry, people shouldn't remember him like that. It's not how he was.”
Some of the women waived, or partially waived, their right to anonymity to be filmed - and the BBC agreed not to use surnames. Others chose to remain anonymous. Put together, their testimonies reveal a pattern of predatory behaviour and sexual abuse by Fayed.
The Harrods owner would regularly tour the department store's vast sales floors and identify young female assistants he found attractive, who would then be promoted to work in his offices upstairs - former staff, male and female, told us.
The assaults would be carried out in Harrods’ offices, in Fayed's London apartment, or on foreign trips - often in Paris at the Ritz hotel, which he also owned, or his nearby Villa Windsor property.
At Harrods, other former staff members told us it was clear what was happening.
“We all watched each other walk through that door thinking, ‘you poor girl, it's you today’ and feeling utterly powerless to stop it,” Alice, not her real name, says.
'He raped me'
Rachel, not her real name, worked as a personal assistant in Harrods in the 1990s.
One night after work, she says she was called to his luxury apartment, in a large block on Park Lane overlooking London's Hyde Park. The building was protected by security staff and had an on-site office staffed by Harrods employees.
Rachel says Fayed asked her to sit on his bed and then put his hand on her leg, making it clear what he wanted.
“I remember feeling his body on me, the weight of him. Just hearing him make these noises. And… just going somewhere else in my head.
“He raped me.”
The BBC has spoken to 13 women who say Fayed sexually assaulted them at 60 Park Lane. Four of them, including Rachel, say they were raped.
Sophia, who says she was sexually assaulted, described the whole situation as an inescapable nightmare.
“I couldn't leave. I didn’t have a [family] home to go back to, I had to pay rent,” she says. “I knew I had to go through this and I didn’t want to. It was horrible and my head was scrambled.”
Gemma, who worked as one of Fayed’s personal assistants between 2007-09, says his behaviour became more frightening during work trips abroad.
She says it culminated in her being raped at Villa Windsor in Paris's Bois de Boulogne - a former home, post-abdication, of King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson.
Gemma says she woke up startled in her bedroom. Fayed was next to her bed wearing just a silk dressing gown. He then tried to get into bed with her.
“I told him, ‘no, I don't want you to’. And he proceeded to just keep trying to get in the bed, at which point he was kind of on top of me and really couldn't move anywhere.
“I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself on me.”
She says after Fayed raped her she cried, while he got up and told her aggressively to wash herself with Dettol.
“Obviously he wanted me to erase any trace of him being anywhere near me,” she explains.
Eight other women have also told us they were sexually assaulted by Fayed at his properties in Paris. Five women described the assaults as an attempted rape.
'Open secret'
“The abuse of women, I was aware of it when I was on the shop floor," says Tony Leeming, a Harrods department manager from 1994 to 2004. It “wasn't even a secret”, recalls Mr Leeming, who says he did not know about more serious allegations of assault or rape.
"And I think if I knew, everybody knew. Anyone who says they didn't are lying, I'm sorry".
Mr Leeming's testimony is backed up by former members of Fayed's security team.
“We were aware that he had this very strong interest in young girls,” says Eamon Coyle, who joined Harrods in 1979 as a store detective, then became deputy director of security from 1989-95.
Meanwhile Steve, who does not want us to use his surname, worked for the billionaire between 1994-95. He told us that security staff “did know that certain things were happening to certain female employees at Harrods and Park Lane”.
Many of the women told us that when they began working directly for Fayed they underwent medicals - including invasive sexual health tests carried out by doctors.
This was presented as a perk, the women told us, but many did not see their own results - even though they were sent to Fayed.
“There is no benefit to anybody knowing what my sexual health is, unless you're planning to sleep with somebody, which I find quite chilling now,” says Katherine, who was an executive assistant in 2005.
'Culture of fear'
All the women we spoke to described having felt intimidated at work - which had made it difficult for them to speak out.
Sarah, not her real name, explained: “There was most definitely a culture of fear across the whole store - from the lowliest of the low, to the most senior person.”
Others told us they believed the phones in Harrods had been tapped - and that women had been scared of talking to each other about Fayed’s abuse, fearing they were being filmed by hidden cameras.
The ex-deputy director of security, Eamon Coyle, confirmed this - explaining how part of his job was to listen to tapes of recorded calls. Cameras that could record had also been installed throughout the store, he said, including in the executive suites.
“He [Fayed] bugged everybody that he wanted to bug.”
Harrods told the BBC in a statement these had been the actions of an individual “intent on abusing his power” which it condemned in the strongest terms.
It said: “The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”
There were a number of attempts to expose Fayed before his death - notably by Vanity Fair in 1995 - with an article alleging racism, staff surveillance and sexual misconduct. This sparked a libel lawsuit.
Mohamed Al Fayed later agreed to drop the case as long as all the further evidence the magazine had gathered of his sexual misconduct in preparation for a trial was locked away. Fayed’s settlement was negotiated by a senior Harrods executive.
In 1997, ITV’s The Big Story reported further serious allegations including sexual harassment and groping - which is classed as sexual assault.
One of the women in the BBC investigation, Ellie, not her real name, was 15 in 2008 when she reported an assault to the police - an allegation that made headlines - but did not result in any charge.
In 2017, Channel 4’s Dispatches broadcast allegations of groping, assault and harassment, with one woman waiving her right to anonymity for the first time. It gave some women the courage to come forward - and was followed by a 2018 investigation on Channel 4 News.
But it is only now, with Mohamed Al Fayed having died last year, that many of the women have felt able to speak publicly about rape and attempted rape.
Cash and NDAs
The BBC documentary reveals that, as part of Gemma's settlement in 2009, she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), a legally-binding contract which ensures information remains confidential.
She says after she was raped, she contacted a lawyer who told Harrods she was leaving her job on the grounds of sexual harassment. Gemma says she did not feel able, at that time, to disclose the full extent and seriousness of Fayed's assaults.
Harrods agreed she could leave and it would pay a sum of money in exchange for her shredding all evidence and signing an NDA. Gemma says a member of Harrods’ HR team was present as the shredding took place.
The BBC has heard that women were threatened and intimidated by Harrods' then-director of security, John Macnamara, to stop them speaking out.
Fourteen of the women we spoke to recently brought civil claims against Harrods for damages. The shop's current owners, who are not asking women to sign NDAs, started settling these in July 2023.
It took Sophia and Harrods five years to reach an agreement. In her case, the store expressed regret but did not admit liability. Many more women are now considering legal action against Harrods.
The barristers representing some of the women we spoke to - Bruce Drummond and Dean Armstrong KC - argue the store was responsible for an unsafe system of work.
“Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. Without question, the company failed these ladies,” says Mr Drummond.
“That’s why we step in. Because they just did nothing to actually prevent this. They did the opposite. They enabled it.”
Mr Armstrong adds: “We say there have been clearly attempts by the senior people at Harrods to sweep this under the carpet.”
Many more women are now considering legal action against Harrods.
Barrister Maria Mulla - who is also on the legal team representing some of the women - says clients are coming forward now, because previously they have been “absolutely petrified” to speak out.
“They want to be part of this movement of holding people accountable for what has happened to them, and trying to make sure these things don't happen again in the future for their own children and for their children.”
Harrods told the BBC: “Since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible. This process is still available for any current or former Harrods employees.
“While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future.”
The Ritz hotel in Paris said it “strongly condemns all forms of behaviour that do not align with the values of the establishment”.
When Fayed died, unconfirmed reports estimated his worth in excess of £1bn. But money is not the motivation for the women to speak out, they say.
“I’ve spent so many years being quiet and silent, not speaking up,” says Gemma, “and I hope talking about it now helps. We can all start feeling better and healing from it.”
BBC
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