The Crown drops huge hint they'll cover Princess Diana's final days after all

The Crown's producers just dropped some pretty interesting news

The Crown
(Image credit: Netflix)

The Crown's upcoming season is still in production and despite not even streaming yet—season 5 is already making waves. Most recently, a very interesting casting has hinted that Princess Diana's final days will be examined in detail.


The Crown season 5 just got a hell of a lot more interesting as it's been revealed that the show's bosses have cast actors to play Princess Diana's boyfriend Dodi Fayed and his father Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Khalid Abdalla will star as Dodi. Khalid is best known for his role as Amir in The Kite Runner and also starred in the hit Amazon Prime show, Hanna. Salim Daw has been cast as Dodi’s father, billionaire, and former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed. Salim is best known for his roles in Oslo and Fauda.

Dodi was in a relationship with Diana, years after the dissolution of the Prince and Princess of Wales' unforgettable royal relationship. Dodi and Diana died tragically, alongside their driver Henri Paul, in a car crash in Paris in 1997. 

In 2005, Mohamed unveiled a statue of the couple commemorating their lives, with the title 'Innocent Victims.' It was on display at the Harrods department store in London, England, between 2005 and 2018. The work has since been returned to the Al-Fayed family, who no longer owns Harrods.

A live size sculpture of the late Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed stands at the Bronze age foundry in London, 24 August 2005. Sculpted by artist and artistic advisor to Harrods, Bill Mitchell, "Innocent Victims" is a portrayal of the late Princess of Wales dancing with her lover Dodi Al Fayed.

(Image credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

In the years since their deaths, many allegations have been made by former Harrods owner Mohamed against multiple different high-ranking individuals—including the British royal family.

These allegations have been well documented and were detailed in a 2008 inquest into Diana, Dodi, and Henri's deaths. The inquest, which found they had been unlawfully killed, partly due to the "gross negligence" of their driver, saw Dodi's father make several claims.

The Guardian reported that Mohamed alleged the couple, "were 'murdered' in a conspiracy initiated by the royal family and carried out with the involvement of Tony Blair, the security services, and others."

The publication reported that Mohamed shared his belief during the inquest that, "the royal family would never have accepted marriage between the mother of the second heir to the throne and an Egyptian Muslim."

Prince Harry referred to his mother's relationship with Dodi during his mental health series, The Me You Can't See, echoing allegations of racism within the royal family. The result of which the couple claim contributed to Meghan Markle experiencing a mental health crisis.

"She was going to end her life. It shouldn't have to get to that," he said. "Do I have any regrets? Yeah. My biggest regret is not making more of a stance earlier on in my relationship with my wife and calling out the racism when I did."

"History was repeating itself," he continued. "My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn't white and now look what's happened. You wanna talk about history repeating itself? " he proffered. "They're not gonna stop until she dies. It's incredibly triggering to potentially lose another woman in my life."

Although a sixth season is happening, the show's bosses revealed The Crown won’t continue past season 6. This means none of the family's more recent lives will be dramatized in the fictional series.

Aoife Hanna
Junior News Editor

Aoife is an Irish journalist and writer with a background in creative writing, comedy, and TV production.

Formerly woman&home's junior news editor and a contributing writer at Bustle, her words can be found in the Metro, Huffpost, Delicious, Imperica and EVOKE.

Her poetry features in the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology.

Outside of work you might bump into her at a garden center, charity shop, yoga studio, lifting heavy weights, or (most likely) supping/eating some sort of delicious drink/meal.