Princess Diana said 'ghastly' Mohamed Al Fayed groped her bottom and made a sleazy sexual advance towards her, Earl Spencer has claimed.
asserted
Spencer → say → her
The late Princess of Wales told him that the billionaire Harrods owner, the father of her partner Dodi Fayed, had squeezed her buttocks.
She also claimed that Al Fayed joked that, in Egypt, a father-in-law gets to sleep with a son's new partner first.
asserted
father → tell → partner
Spencer writes that Diana was 'revolted' by Mohamed and believed he had used his friendship with her stepmother, Raine, Countess Spencer, to help engineer the romance.
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he → write → romance
After Diana and Dodi were killed in a Paris car crash in August 1997, Mohamed spent much of the rest of his life claiming the Royal Family had ordered their deaths.
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Family → kill → deaths
In his memoir Swan Song, Earl Spencer writes: 'Diana disliked Mohamed Fayed.
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Diana → write → Fayed
She told me with revulsion how, early in her romance with Dodi, Mohamed had come up to her, dropped a hand onto her buttocks and squeezed them while saying in a leery, suggestive tone: "And in Egypt, father-in-law gets first go..."
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father → tell → go
Spencer adds: 'She laughed when recounting the ghastliness of the episode, but she had been alerted to who Dodi's father really was.'
Princess Diana with Mohamed Al Fayed attending a charity dinner at Harrods in February 1996.
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Diana → add → February
Diana told her brother that Al Fayad groped her and propositioned her
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed pictured in Saint-Tropez, France, just days before they were killed in a car crash in Paris
Mohamed Al Fayed has since been accused of sexually abusing, trafficking and raping hundreds of women before his death aged 94 in 2023.
In Swan Song, Spencer says Al Fayed had now been 'proven to have been a voracious sexual predator'.
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Fayed → tell → Song
He claims that their stepmother, Raine, had 'engineered Diana's introduction to Dodi Fayed'.
Raine Spencer was given a role on Al Fayed's board at Harrods in the 1990s.
Earl Spencer wrote: 'It was through this late camaraderie that Raine engineered Diana's introduction to Dodi Fayed.
uncertain
Raine → claim → Fayed
She and my father knew Dodi's father, Mohamed.
asserted
She → know → father
'Raine had secured a senior role at Mohamed Fayed's department store, Harrods, after my father's death.
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Raine → secure → death
'The cunning Fayed was always going to exact a price for this act of patronage.
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Fayed → go → patronage
She paid it in full when introducing Dodi to her world famous stepdaughter'.
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She → pay → stepdaughter
Earl Spencer has also spoken of his regret at removing Dodi Fayed's name from his famous eulogy at Princess Diana's funeral.
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Spencer → speak → funeral
Writing in his bombshell memoir, the earl praised Dodi for being 'kind to Diana' and said the final images of the pair before the car crash in Paris that killed them showed a 'gentle playfulness'.
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that → write → playfulness
He, however, believes his sister's 'fling' with Dodi in the summer of 1997 was motivated by Diana wanting to make another suitor jealous.
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suitor → believe → 1997
Charles Spencer's defiant eulogy at his older sister's funeral was later named one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century.
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eulogy → name → century
In it, he described Diana as 'the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty', adding: 'All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity.'
There was, however, no mention in his speech of Dodi who had enjoyed a romance with Diana before their deaths.
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who → describe → deaths
In his book, Spencer discloses that he did name Dodi in an early draft – but removed the reference before delivering it.
'
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he → disclose → it
In my original eulogy draft I gave a small nod to Dodi Fayed, thanking him by name for making Diana happy in her last few weeks alive,' he said.
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he → give → weeks
Earl Spencer, William, Harry and Charles stand alongside the hearse containing the coffin of Diana during her funeral
It came after a survivor of abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed has said the compensation scheme offered by the department store company was 'an insult', 'a disgrace' and 'not taking survivors seriously'.
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scheme → stand → survivors
Harrods set up a redress scheme to offer compensation to survivors which was open from March 31 2025 to the same date this year.
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which → set → date
A Companies House document of the department store's full accounts made up to January 31 this year, published last month, showed it paid £4.1 million in compensation up to the end of January and set aside £51.8 million for future compensation claims from then.
uncertain
it → make → claims
On Monday, KP Law, which represents more than 275 survivors, said the 'true value' of its clients' compensation claims was likely double or triple the amount Harrods set aside and could total as much as £150 million.
uncertain
Harrods → represent → million
Cheska Hill-Wood told the Press Association she was abused 'almost immediately' when she started working at Harrods aged 19 in 1993.
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she → tell → 1993
She said: 'I worked for Harrods for a very short period of time, and the abuse started, the grooming shall we say, it initially started probably on the first day.
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it → say → day
This was 1993, I had just turned 19 when I started the job, and the abuse started almost immediately.
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abuse → turn → job
I know that a lot of women who worked there for a longer period of time were abused equally as quickly and repeatedly.
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who → know → time
They couldn't escape.
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They → escape → ?
I escaped.
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I → escape → ?
I'm one of the luckier ones, but many didn't.'
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many → do → ones
Ms Hill-Wood added: 'The redress scheme that Harrods had was open for one year.
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Harrods → add → year
They gave survivors a time limit.
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They → give → limit
Now, many of us have been campaigning and shouting for, as I say, nearly 40 years, and a redress scheme is slapped at us with one year.
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scheme → campaign → year
Plus, what they were offering was not taking survivors seriously.
'
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offering → offer → survivors
It was an insult, and I feel, I still think, it's disgusting.'
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it → feel → ?
About 30 survivors and supporters gathered outside Harrods in central London on Friday to mark the eve of the second anniversary of the BBC documentary which brought the abuse scandal into public view.
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which → gather → view
They were joined by Dave Robertson MP and Wendy Chamberlain MP – co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Survivors of Fayed and Harrods.
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They → join → Fayed
Some survivors at the gathering, which was organised by the Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors campaign, were carrying Harrods bags with the store's famous green logo crossed.
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logo → organise → bags
'Many of us here today, in fact, probably all of us here today, did not sign up for that redress scheme,' Ms Hill-Wood added.
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Wood → sign → scheme
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
