Joan Collins Was Totally Shocked When Her Friend Dodi Fayed Started Dating Princess Diana

Over the course of her long careers as an actor and author, Joan Collins has formed connections with people in the entertainment industry as well as the royals. When it comes to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's relationship, Collins was surprised about their romance. Given her individual encounters with Diana and Fayed, Collins didn't perceive a lot of common ground between them. 

Looking back at her meetings with Diana, "she was always exceedingly charming, very down-to-earth, very real, not at all stuffy," Collins wrote in People. The actor met Diana in the 1980s, while she was playing her iconic role as Alexis on "Dynasty." At the time, the princess was sometimes dubbed "Dynasty Di" because her sartorial choices were similar to Alexis' go-to gowns. However, unlike her character Alexis, Collins thought of Diana as shy. She also vividly remembers Diana's discomfort with paparazzi. While Collins was confident she'd get acclimated to the attention, Diana was unsure.

Collins and Fayed had longstanding ties, and the two often saw each other at a nightclub called Tramp. Located in London, Tramp was a frequent hotspot for celebrities and members of the royal family. Later, Fayed and Diana went there on dates. In addition, Collins also got to know Fayed when Ron Kass, the third of Joan Collins' husbands, invited the film producer to be their houseguest. Then, in 1997, when Collins and Fayed were chatting on a flight, she was baffled when he revealed he was seeking a new girlfriend, who turned out to be Diana. 

According to Joan Collins, when Fayed began his romance with Diana during the summer of 1997, he already had a girlfriend. Before Diana, Fayed had been in a purportedly serious relationship with Kelly Fisher, an American model. Fisher alleged that she and Fayed had been engaged. While Diana was staying on Fayed's father's yacht near St. Tropez, Fisher claimed she was on a neighboring yacht, and that Fayed was still involved with her. 

That same summer, Collins was also on a different yacht in the same vicinity. The actor wanted to get together with Fayed and Diana, but when one of the people in their group tried to issue a dinner invitation, they were rebuffed "by three security guards, brandishing Uzi guns and telling him to 'go away,'" Collins explained to the Daily Mail. Even before his relationship with Diana, Fayed had been concerned about security and employed multiple bodyguards and backup personnel. 

Although she was astonished by Diana and Fayed's relationship, Collins was supportive of the match. She surmised that Diana's romance with Fayed might prove helpful as she moved forward after her divorce from King Charles. About a week before Diana and Fayed's deaths, Collins heard an anecdote about their visit to a St. Tropez restaurant with William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry. "They were laughing and dancing around, like any young family," Collins informed The Guardian. "Hearing how happy she'd been made it all the more tragic."

Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana first saw each other in 1986 when their families' teams faced off in polo. Then, in 1992, Fayed was smitten when he saw Diana at the London premiere of "Hook," a film he produced. "He had admired and revered her from afar," "Hook" screenwriter Jim Hart told Vanity Fair. "He talked about her, what a great lady she was."

Five years later, Diana was divorced and had recently broken up with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan. When Fayed's father invited her to be a guest on his yacht, Fayed and Diana's romance began. Unlike the princess' dislike of constant attention from paparazzi, Fayed wasn't dismayed by intrusive media coverage. In fact, one of Fayed's friends noted that he aspired to be famous. 

Given that Diana and Fayed had such a brief relationship before their tragic deaths, Joan Collins was unsure if their contentment as a couple would have endured.  In contrast, Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, believed the princess dated Fayed specifically to get over her breakup with Khan and that she didn't intend on a serious relationship. In addition, Diana had also learned about Kelly Fisher's claim about being engaged to Fayed as well as other allegations of Fayed using drugs and having money difficulties. According to author Judy Wade (per People), this information might have led Diana to conclude that a long-term commitment to Fayed wouldn't have worked for her or her children.