Inside the Superyacht Princess Diana Vacationed on With Dodi Fayed – ELLE Decor

The Crowns

It was hot gossip, this adventure that the princess took abroad after having finalized her divorce from then Prince Charles less than a year beforesomething that was hinted at at the end of season 5 of The Crown as Queen Elizabeth is pressed to endorse a vacation a-sea with Fayed and her grandchildren, Prince Harry and Prince William. Diana was famously photographed sitting on the passerelle of this boat. Years later, in real life, Harry described the trip in his memoir, Spare, with fond recollection. Everything about that trip to St. Tropez was heaven, he wrote.

While the series was filmed on a lookalike super yacht in Mallorca, the real boat was equally lavish. The 208-foot ship was commissioned by Dodis father, former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, who brought on naval architect Vincenzo Ruggiero to design it in the late 1980s. It was built by Italian shipyard Codecasa and launched in 1990. The steel and aluminum super yacht boasted nine staterooms that altogether accommodate up to 18 people, in addition to a crew of 26. Amenities included a Jacuzzi, swim platform, sun deck, formal dining room, a bar, and office space. Mohamed had named the yacht Jonikal (it has subsequently been called Sokar and is currently called Bash).

Diana atop the superyacht in 1997.

Shortly after Dianas and Dodis deaths, Mohamed gave the interior a redesign by H2 Yacht Design and a refit that included extending the hull. He attempted to sell the yacht on a number of occasions, ultimately parting with it in 2014 to an anonymous buyer. The new owner carried out further work, including machinery upgrades, a repaint, and fresh teak decks. In 2021, the yacht came into the hands of Bassim Haidar, the founder of Intercomm and GMT, who gave it a further $9.7 million refit after a reported bridge deck fireand its current name Bash. Its now back to turn-key condition after an 18-month remodel completed in April 2023 by marine engineering and management company Capax and boat interior company Bobic Yacht Interiors. It features a beauty salon, massage area, high-tech gym, and a spacious main salon.

Diana aboard the Jonikal.

In May, Robb Report reported that Bash is available for charter in the Mediterranean starting at $278,000 per week, plus expenses. In June, Haidar listed Bash for $16.8 million, according to Boat International.

There was a second motor yacht named Cujo, which Diana and Fayed also took earlier that summer. It was built in Italy in 1972 for John von Neumann, who commissioned the Italian Baglietto shipyard to build the world's fastest motor yacht. She was given two 18-cylinder engines that allowed it to go as fast as 42 knots. Fayed had bought the boat from his cousin, Saudi businessman and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. In August, the Mediterranean Sea reclaimed Cujo, as the 62-foot artifact of Dianas life hit an unidentified object off Beaulieu-sur-Mer on July 29 and sprang a leak, Vanity Fair reported. The seven people on board were rescued by teams from Antibes and safely returned to shore.

Diana during her St. Tropez yacht vacation.

An imitation of Jonikal will feature in The Crown season 6, a set that was intended to visually illuminate the tension between Diana and the royal family. Dianas south of France adventure was bright and lovely pastel colors, and her world even in Kensington Palace is optimistic and warm, compared to the queens residence at Balmoral, which is very static, with gloomy light and drab colors, set decorator Alison Harvey tells ELLE DECOR.

Filming on the yacht off the island of Mallorca (a St. Tropez stand-in) required many moving parts with few do-overs. We brought in the drapes, the artwork, many furnishings, Harvey explains. Everything was set in the early 90s, so we thought hard about the colors and textures that we brought in. Harveys team had just half a day to dress the yacht, and then it was off to sea. There was no getting on or off after that, Harvey says, adding that they were subsumed by the logistics of what we had to achieve and the time we had to do it.

Netflixs The Crown depicts a reenactment of the iconic yacht shot, taken one week before Dianas, Princess of Wales, death.

However painstaking the process, the yacht scenes will offer an intriguing contextthough largely fictitiousfor the iconic photographs that exist of those final weeks leading up to Dianas death.

Assistant Digital Editor

Rachel Silva, the Assistant Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, covers design, architecture, trends, and anything to do with haute couture. She has previously written for Time, The Wall Street Journal, and Citywire.

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Inside the Superyacht Princess Diana Vacationed on With Dodi Fayed - ELLE Decor