Al-Fayeds face questions on safety risks

As the world's mourning continues, the grief of Mr Mohamed al-Fayed over the death of his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana, has …

As the world's mourning continues, the grief of Mr Mohamed al-Fayed over the death of his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana, has been compounded by the disclosure that the driver of the car in which they died was more than three times over the French legal alcohol limit.

British commentators have been at pains to include tributes to Mr Dodi al-Fayed in their editions. But some observers will no doubt argue that this new twist to the accident will reopen the debate over Diana's choice of companion and, critically, heighten the British establishment's less-than-favourable view of the al-Fayed family.

Difficult questions were being asked last night as to how the al-Fayed-owned Ritz Hotel in Paris could have placed the pair in such a compromising position. A spokesman for the al-Fayeds was questioned on British television and asked if the Ritz Hotel had risked the couple's safety by allowing them to get into a car with a man who had been drinking.

Mr Michael Cole condemned drink-driving "in the strongest terms" but said the al-Fayeds' decision to pursue a private prosecution against the photographers chasing Diana and Mr al-Fayed in Paris would not be dropped.

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The news can only have deepened the grief of Mr Dodi al-Fayed's father, who was "deeply unsettled" by the report, at a time when he has described the souls of Diana and his son as living "together in paradise."

It was clear last month, when Diana was photographed on the al-Fayed yacht, that some British columnists were less than happy with the idea of a relationship with Mr al-Fayed. Photographs of Mr Mohamed al-Fayed with his arm around Diana's waist provoked comment that he was a shady character who should not have dared touch the Queen of Hearts.

It went unnoticed that Mr al-Fayed and his family were long-standing friends of Diana and her father, the late Earl Spencer. And also ignored was the fact that Diana's father had instructed Mr Mohamed al-Fayed to watch over his daughter after his death. The implied criticism of Diana suggested that sections of the British press could not entertain the idea that Mr Mohamed al-Fayed might one day be step-grandfather to the future King of England.

Diana was urged to show "a little more self-control" in conducting her romance with Mr Dodi al-Fayed only last week. She was the mother of two young boys, the Daily Mail pleaded, "and she ought to have more decorum and sense". How could Diana let her children see photographs of her "having a sexual life? The sight of a paunchy playboy groping a scantily-dressed Diana must appall and humiliate Prince William".

But the focus has turned once more on Mr Mohamed al-Fayed, who has had an awkward and less than satisfactory relationship with the British establishment since he bought Harrods department store in London in the 1980s.

Long before he was criticised for his affection towards Diana this summer, he was embroiled in the cash for questions affair that ruined the reputations of several Tory MPs. He donated £1 million to a campaign to drive the sleaze out of Tory government; he was a close friend of the British royal family. But to several commentators he remained an outsider.

Harrods department store will be closed until 2 p.m. on Saturday as a mark of respect for Diana, Mr al-Fayed and their driver.

While many questions about the three deaths have yet to be answered, the British public at least took Mr al-Fayed to their hearts for making Diana smile again. A card placed in the street outside Harrods said: "Thank you Dodi for making Diana smile."