Shand Kydd rebuffs Fayed
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Your support makes all the difference.THE MOTHER of Diana, Princess of Wales, rebuffed the accusations of Mohamed Al Fayed last night in a statement following the Paris summit on the accident that killed her daughter and Dodi Fayed.
Mr Fayed launched into a highly charged tirade on the steps of the Palais de Justice in Paris on Friday in which he accused Mrs Shand Kydd of snobbery and claimed that she did not give a damn about her daughter, nor Diana about her.
In a dignified and subtle statement, Mrs Shand Kydd thanked people who had been kind and helpful to her, and went on to point out that Diana had made her wishes plain in her will, implying that her daughter must have cared about her after all and recognised her worth as a parent.
She said: "Diana's will, which has been made public, stated her wishes to me. I shall try my utmost ... to carry out her wishes and what she asked of me."
The will, which was made public in March, requested that her mother be consulted over the "upbringing, education and welfare" of Princes William and Harry.
Since his son, Dodi, and Diana were killed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel last August, Mr Fayed has become increasingly outspoken. He has aired opinions not only on the possible cause of the fatal accident but also on the supposed cover-up, the Princess's alleged final words and, it seems, any other topic he happens upon.
The past week has seen a deluge of comment from the Harrods owner, and a change of public opinion - from sympathy for his loss of Dodi to unease about his outbursts and relentless pursuit of conspiracy theories.
His views on the "plot" to kill Dodi and Diana, which many fear distresses Diana's two sons, were aired on a speculative and widely ridiculed programme on ITV. Diana: The Secrets Behind the Crash ran though many of the conspiracy theories he had previously voiced, most famously in the Mirror. He did, however, say something he had not said before: that Diana had told him personally she was going to marry his son.
The following night Dispatches on Channel 4 largely blamed the security at Mr Fayed's Ritz hotel in Paris for the fatal crash, and dismissed conspiracy theories.
The reaction to this has been vehement. "Reptile" screamed the Sun yesterday, while the Daily Mail suggested it "may be some small excuse that Fayed lost his son" and was "wrestling with his own demons".
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