Oh, that girl.
The royal family is informed that Diana spent a weekend in Paris with Dodi. Mohamed Fayed arranges to have taken photographs of Diana and Dodi kissing, leading to a bidding war by the newspapers. The Queen and Diana are warned about the photographs. Diana says farewell to William and Harry, who are going to Balmoral Castle to spend time with Prince Charles, and travels to Bosnia to support the Landmine Survivors Network charity. However, her work is overshadowed by the publication of the photographs. Charles persuades a reluctant William and Harry to be photographed spending time together at Balmoral. The Queen discusses Diana's erratic behaviour with Philip. Diana retreats to the South of France with Dodi.
Tropes:
- Amicable Exes: In their final conversation together (which, like many of the private conversations in this show, probably never happened in Real Life), Charles and Diana mutually promise to be "brilliant" at co-parenting, and he compliments her on the work she's done on raising awareness of landmines.
- Artistic Licence – History: A few examples.
- Although Diana did visit Bosnia in August 1997, some liberties are taken — her famous walk through a minefield in protective equipment, re-enacted here, actually took place in Angola in January of that year.
- It has never been proved that Mohamed Fayed commissioned Mario Brenna to take those photographs of Diana and Dodi kissing on the yacht, although by all accounts he was quite happy with the fact that they were taken. Mario Brenna, meanwhile, has described this particular plotline "absurd
and completely invented", and said that no one leaked information about the yacht's whereabouts to him, he just was in the right place at the right time. Tellingly, Fayed died several months before this episode was broadcast, thus avoiding the prospect of a libel suit. - While it's not known exactly who took the the photos of Princes Charles, William and Harry at Balmoral (and there may have been more than one photographer involved), it definitely wasn't Duncan Muir as he's a rare (for this show) fictional character. In any case, photo-shoots like this were not as out-of-character for members of the royal family as the show portrays; they routinely happened during the summer holidays at Balmoral, and still do.
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Diana tell a journalist that Charles didn't want to take the boys because Camilla was staying at Highgrove? Mark Boland, Charles's PR advisor, reckons she did although we don't see her do this; she alludes to it when talking to Dodi, and that's it.
- Audience Surrogate: Prince Philip, of all people, becomes one of these with his two-word response to the news that Diana and Dodi took a helicopter to Derbyshire to consult with a psychic.Philip: Spare me!
- Brutal Honesty: Queen Elizabeth bluntly says she would feel sorry for Diana if she wasn't being such a headache.
- Canon Foreigner: Duncan Muir is fictional.
- The Chessmaster: Mohamed Fayed clearly has an ulterior motive for encouraging his son Dodi to court Diana — he wants to use the relationship as leverage in his dealings with the British government (particularly, his ongoing application for British citizenship). The officials at the Palace seem to be aware of what he's up to, although they probably don't realise how far he's prepared to go (for which, see below under Manipulative Bastard).
- Double Standard: The whole crux of the episode. A private intimate photo of Dodi and Diana is plastered in the newspapers, and somehow Diana is seen as trashy. Whereas a staged photo op of Charles with his sons presents him as a wholesome good father.
- Establishing Character Moment: Mario Brenna abandons a celebrity couple smiling for the cameras and goes a block or so away, illegally enters someone else's property, and uses a long-range lens to take photos of the couple arguing in private. This makes it clear that Brenna will do anything to get the photos we wants.
- Everyone Has Standards: Being Charles's PR advisor, Mark Boland doesn't have much time for Diana but is nevertheless sympathetic to her plight at the press conference in Bosnia, where no-one wants to talk about her landmine charity. In the next scene, William and Harry agree to the photo-shoot that Boland suggested on one condition — that they don't have to wear kilts.
- Kid Has a Point: William, who's picked up on the fact that his mother is being courted by some millionaire playboy who's appeared from out of nowhere with a massive yacht and has been trying a little bit too hard to impress everyone, tells her that he thinks Dodi is "weird".
- Manipulative Bastard: Mohamed Fayed, already The Chessmaster, crosses into this territory when he asks the staff on the yacht if Diana and Dodi are doing it, and then hires the most ruthless press photographer he can find to take intimate photos of them.
- Nice Guy: Duncan Muir, the sedate Scottish photographer who stands in contrast to the ruthless paparazzi embodied by Mario Brenna. An ardent admirer of the Queen, his "we'll all miss her terribly when she's gone" remark serves as the show's acknowledgment of the Queen's passing in 2022 (the year before this episode was broadcast). Commissioned to take photos of Charles and the boys at Balmoral, Duncan seems to realise that they don't really want to be there and encourages them to have some fun; as a result, they unwind a bit an seem to be enjoying themselves.
- Paparazzi: One of them, Mario Brenna, describes the lengths he goes to to get his photos (and is seen trespassing in order to get embarrassing shots of an unnamed celebrity). He is later hired by Mohamed Fayed to take photos of Diana and Dodi making out on the yacht.
- Pungeon Master: William and Harry seem to be fond of making jokes about sheep on account of their father liking to walk around with a shepherd's crook while he's wearing a kilt at Balmoral.
- Scatterbrained Senior: When the royal family is shown their new website, the Queen Mother has to be told that "logging on" has nothing to do with timber.
