Rumors Abound That Di’s in Love

LONDON —  Fuzzy pictures of Princess Diana embracing the man touted as her new boyfriend have heralded open season on her private life and prompted reams of speculation about her future.

Without attribution, the Sunday Mirror told millions of readers that Diana’s “repressed sexuality” was being healed by a love affair with film producer and playboy Dodi Fayed, who had flown to the United States to buy her an engagement ring.

“Princess Diana has finally found a man who makes her feel like a real woman,” said the paper, which reportedly paid $400,000 for the photos. Once he pops the ring on her finger, the paper speculated, Diana will move to the United States.

The photos, taken in the South of France sometime in the past 10 days by Italian photographer Mario Brenna, were so grainy, however, that it was barely possible to discern two figures. The Globe, the U.S. weekly supermarket tabloid published in Boca Raton, Fla., said Monday that it had acquired the photos and plans to run them in a special edition Friday.

Three of the pictures showed a blond woman in an embrace with a man with short black hair and wearing sunglasses. In one, she appears to be kissing him. The giveaway, if there is one, is the bathing suit--Diana has been seen wearing it before.

The Daily Telegraph concluded that the pictures were “as natural, spontaneous and affectionate and woefully out of focus as holiday pictures the world over.”

Globe Editor Tony Frost said in a news release today that the U.S. tabloid paid “more than $200,000” for the first North American rights to the set of 78 pictures.

Last week, Britain’s tabloids were full of photos of Diana and Fayed, a 41-year-old Egyptian whose father owns Harrods department store in London and the Ritz Hotel in Paris, relaxing in France. But they were only near each other on a boat.

The new photos sparked a bidding war among newspapers. The Sunday Telegraph said the photographer stood to earn about $3 million worldwide from the pictures.

Although Diana admitted having an affair in a TV interview in 1995, the photographs are the first time the public has seen the 36-year-old princess romantically involved with anyone other than heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles. They divorced last year.

Diana returned to London on Sunday from a visit to Bosnia to highlight the dangers of land mines. But it was romance, not land mines, that was making headlines.

Dame Barbara Cartland, the romance writer who is Diana’s step-grandmother, was quoted as giving her blessing to a union with Fayed.

“It’s just like one of my novels,” she said. “Diana’s so sweet and she’s been so badly treated--she deserves to find true happiness at last. . . . This Dodi sounds very good--he’s obviously a gentleman, is rich and has beautiful manners.”

Newspapers reported Diana first met Fayed almost 10 years ago when he and Charles played polo on opposing teams. Fayed has homes in London, New York, Los Angeles and Switzerland. His 1994 marriage lasted just eight months.