This post (The Crown season 6 episode 2 recap) contains spoilers.
Princess Diana waves goodbye to her sons, who set off for Balmoral with their father, while she returns to Saint-Tropez with Dodi.
However, it's not long before their romantic hideaway is exposed and the media storm surrounding the new couple turns into a feeding frenzy.
Here's our recap of what happened in The Crown season 6 episode 2...
'I’m a proud Elizabethan'
The episode opens with veteran Italian photographer, Mario Brenna, introducing us to the world of the paparazzi and explaining how he goes above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to getting the best shot of celebrities behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, back in Scotland fellow photographer Duncan Muir explains how he plies a slightly less exotic trade following the Queen around to various royal appointments and snapping away during sanctioned photo shoots.
While Brenna admits harboring ambitions to one day be as famous as the people he photographs, Duncan seems to want nothing more from life and is full of effusive praise for the Queen, whom he’s proud to say often recognizes him.
Whether these scenes were written before Her Majesty passed away last year is unclear, but there is a knowing eulogic quality to his words. “I think she unites a divided nation… I think we’ll miss her terribly when she’s gone,” he says, before joking that he loves her more than he loves his wife. At least we think he’s joking. "I’m a proud Elizabethan" he says.
'Item 12...'
Meanwhile the royal family’s entourage of press officers, private secretaries and general flunkies are having a meeting, with "Item 12" — or Diana — one of the hottest topics on the table. News has arrived that she’s enjoyed a secret weekend away with Dodi Al-Fayed, which they all agree is “cause for concern”.
It seems they believe Mohamed Al-Fayed has encouraged the match as a way of getting the British citizenship she’s so actively seeking. After all, if the mother of the future King is dating his son, surely he deserves at least a British passport. The royal blob doesn’t agree.
'One room, one bed..'
With Dodi and Diana back in Saint-Tropez, Mohamed Al-Fayed is keen to know how the lovebirds are getting on and quizzes the maid on whether they have consummated their relationship yet or not. The maid confirms the couple are indeed sleeping together. Either way, it’s safe to say that Dodi’s wedding to Kelly Fisher, which is due to happen any day now, is probably off.
The news is manna from heaven for Al-Fayed senior and he immediately makes a call to hire a top-notch photographer to capture the moment he has worked so hard to engineer. Whether Mohammed Al-Fayed employed such Machiavellian tactics or had such a burning desire to set his son up with Diana is up for debate, but it’s certainly an interesting plot arc from Peter Morgan and his team of writers. If true, it would also mean that Dodi’s father helped create the storm that killed his own son.
As they chillax and canoodle on Jonikal, Diana and ‘Dodi Dodi’ discuss her upcoming trip to Bosnia, a country blighted by landmines following the war in the early-1990s. It’s a cause that’s very close to her heart and she explains that everyone who survives stepping on a landmine has the date it happened etched on their memory forever. She jokes that her date is 29th July 1981.
However, while they’re chillaxing, Mario Brenna is stealthily creeping up on them in a specially hired boat and captures some priceless photos of them kissing on one of Jonikal’s upper decks. They are photos that will change the game for everyone.
When the images are published in the coming days, Diana and Dodi are horrified. “I thought you said no one knew where we were” says the former royal while wearing a Duran Duran t-shirt.
As the bombshell ripples out to the Palace, we hear that The Sunday Mirror paid £250,000 for the photos, while The Sun and The Daily Mail paid £100,000 simply for the right to reproduce the photos of the couple kissing.
'Hug?'
Back in Britain, Diana is spending a final afternoon with her boys before they head off to Balmoral with their father. We know it will be the last time Princes William and Harry ever see their mother and the producers expertly squeeze every last drop of meaning from the scene.
The boys are clearly looking forward to their time in Scotland and hurry to meet their father, yet Diana asks William to come back for a hug, which he duly does. She holds him close in a long embrace and we’re totally not crying, you are.
Later on she and Charles share what could well be their last conversation, with the Prince requesting they keep things civil in the years ahead. “We weren’t brilliant at being married, but can we be brilliant at this?” he asks. “Let’s be brilliant at divorce.” Diana replies that she’s doing “the brave smile of the runner-up, not the winner.”
'The tabloid Princess v the broadsheet Prince..'
In the days to come, Diana heads to Bosnia to meet landmines victims, walk amongst the minefields and generally raise the profile of the charity that helps de-mine these war-torn areas.
However at the press conference following her visit all the press want to talk about is her new boyfriend. It’s exactly the kind of thing that Diana didn’t want to happen and she has her precious ‘Moo Moo’ to blame for it all. Later on we see her bite her finger in a disturbing throwback to the mental health issues she faced during the darkest days of her marriage to Charles.
Back in Britain, the royal family pore over the coverage, including an 11 page spread in The Sunday Mirror, which comes with 78 photos. “One would almost feel sorry for her if one wasn’t so cross with her,” says the Queen.
Indeed it never rains but it pours for the world’s hottest couple, as news arrives that Kelly Fisher is suing Dodi for breach of contract, after he cancelled their wedding just days before they were supposed to tie the knot.
Charles is immensely displeased with all the coverage, especially after their earlier conversation, but his press officer thinks it could be the perfect opportunity to show the contrast between him and his ex-wife. While Diana is swanning about on a stolen weekend, he should portray himself as a stable family man. “Saint-Tropez v Scotland.. tabloid Princess v the broadsheet Prince.” he offers.
It’s decided the Prince will have a photoshoot with the boys and Charles’ right-hand man knows just the chap to call. Step forward Duncan Muir and before you can say "blue Volvo estate", he’s packing up his gear and heading for Balmoral. Prince William and Harry mock their dad’s "Little Bo Peep look", but agree to take part, providing they don’t have to wear kilts (who can blame them). So Duncan picks a scenic spot by a river to shoot the photo. It’s a great shot and makes the front page of a few royalist papers, but no one’s paying a quarter of a million pounds for it.
As the summer goes on, every one of Diana’s movements are tracked by the tabloids and the Queen tells her husband about a recent episode in which she used the Harrods’ helicopter to travel 160 miles to Derbyshire to visit a psychic. “Spare me!!!” says Prince Philip, describing her behavior as erratic and reckless.
Yet the final scene of the episode is the most poignant, as Diana is seen on the diving board of Jonikal wearing an aquamarine swimsuit. It’s not an exact replica of the iconic photo captured just days before Diana was killed, but it’s clear to see what the director is alluding to...
