Diana Inquest: Jeweller Claims Dodi Spoke of Engagement
Written by Joanne Leyland
Monday, 10 December 2007
Page 1 of 3
Jeweller
Alberto Repossi has told the inquest into the deaths of Diana, Princess of
Wales and her boyfriend that Dodi Al Fayed were going to get engaged.
Giving evidence to the High Court via videolink from Paris, Mr Repossi recalled a
visit Dodi and Diana made to his store during their summer holiday in the South
of France.
Mr Repossi also owns a jewellery store across the road from The Ritz Hotel in
Paris which is owned by Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed. It was from here that
the couple set out on their fateful journey in the early hours of Sunday 31st
August 1997.
The Harrods boss has repeatedly claimed that the security forces "murdered" the
princess to stop her marrying and bearing a child with a Muslim man.
Appearing to support the suspicions of Mr Fayed, the jeweller today told the
High Court that the security forces would have been fully aware of any plans
for an engagement between Diana and her new boyfriend as the American security forces were bugging Dodi’s phone calls.
Mr Repossi claimed that Dodi told him of
his plans to wed in a telephone call he made to the jeweller to discuss
the
re-sizing of ring number 97326 which he’d ordered from one of his
stores. The ring was duly collected from the Paris store on the afternoon
before the crash in the Alma tunnel in which Diana, Dodi and their driver, Henri Paul,
lost their lives.
Whilst revealing that he had subsequently met Diana and Dodi at a hotel in St.
Tropez in the summer of 1997, Mr Repossi admitted to the court that he cannot recall the name of the
hotel.
However, a barrister acting for the inquest has quizzed Mr Repossi
about apparent discrepancies in his recollections from this time.
The jeweller was reminded of a statement which he has previously given in which he said: "I
have never claimed that either Dodi or Princess Diana had personally
told me or any of my staff that they were about to announce their
engagement."
