In the summer of 1997, Princess Diana was a year out of her divorce and searching for a new chapter. Her secret relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan had recently ended.
In July, she accepted an invitation from Mohamed Al Fayed, the Egyptian-born owner of the London department store Harrods, to holiday at his villa in Saint-Tropez with her sons, William and Harry. During that trip, she spent time with his eldest son, the film producer Dodi Fayed.
After the boys returned home, Diana and Dodi grew closer. They were soon spending time together on the Fayed family yacht, the Jonikal, as it cruised the Mediterranean.
For the press, it was the story of the summer. Diana had spent years being photographed as a lonely figure, and now she was pictured relaxing in the sunshine with a new companion. Photographers hired boats and even helicopters to follow the yacht along the coast. Every new picture was sold to newspapers and magazines across the world.
The press followed everywhere. In August, a photograph taken with a long lens showed the couple embracing on the yacht. Published under headlines about a royal romance, it became one of the most famous paparazzi images of the decade and was reportedly sold for a very large sum.
To many who saw the pictures, Diana looked happier and more relaxed than she had in years. Friends later said she was enjoying the attention and affection of a man who made her laugh. There was intense speculation about whether the relationship was serious. Some reports later claimed Dodi had collected a ring in Paris, but the official inquest found no evidence that they were engaged.
On 30 August 1997, the couple flew to Paris and spent the evening at the Ritz Hotel, owned by Dodi’s father. Shortly after midnight, they left in a car driven by the hotel’s deputy head of security, Henri Paul, pursued by photographers.
Minutes later, the car crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Dodi and Henri Paul died at the scene. Diana died in hospital in the early hours of 31 August. Only the bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived.
Their summer romance had lasted only a few weeks. But the photographs from that summer remain among the last images of a princess who seemed, at last, to be finding happiness.
Decades later, the pictures from that summer still appear in documentaries and dramas, including the television series The Crown. They remind many people of how much Diana seemed to have ahead of her, and how suddenly it was all taken away.