When Tony Blair and his family join Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Princes William and Harry for a private commemoration at Balmoral today, many hundreds of miles away in a fashionable department store in London another man will pay his own private tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, and his son, Dodi Fayed.
Mohamed al-Fayed, the man who for a brief moment after the death of Diana and Dodi was accepted by the royal family and joined them in their mourning, will spend the day in his office at Harrods as tourists crowd around a display window bearing the images of his beloved son and Diana.
The day will mark not only the first anniversary of the death of Diana and Dodi, whose fledgling relationship, he claimed shortly after the crash, was destined for marriage, but to some degree a turning point in Mohamed al-Fayed's behaviour.
In the immediate aftermath of the Paris crash he appeared a broken, grieving man. If all attention was focused on Diana, Mohamed al-Fayed's dignified and sombre appearance in Westminster Abbey dabbing lightly at his tears briefly reminded us that this man and his family had also suffered a heartbreaking loss. It seemed that after years of knocking on the door of the establishment, the loss of his son had pushed the door slightly ajar.
He was allowed in despite his ostentatious displays of wealth, the yachts, private helicopters and villas. But it was tragic irony that it should be as a result of his son's relationship with Diana.
In the end Mohamed al-Fayed's ownership of Harrods, the royal family's patronage of the store and his sponsorship of the Windsor Horse Show failed to impress the establishment. He was still the deceitful Egyptian described in a British government report, and they delighted in denying him British citizenship.
Mohamed al-Fayed's venomous attacks came quickly. Everybody was a target, and he went straight to the heart of the royal family. Prince Charles, Earl Spencer, even Diana's mother, Shand Kydd, felt the sting of his rebuke. The men acting as Diana's bodyguards on the night of the crash, his employees, have also been criticised. Only last week in the US edition of Time magazine he accused Trevor Rees-Jones and Kes Wingfield of unprofessional and incompetent conduct. It was perhaps his lowest moment. Racist and conspiracy theories lie at the core of Mohamed al-Fayed's anger. His obsession with the purpose behind the deaths of Diana and Dodi has led him to the conclusion that the establishment would never accept an Egyptian Muslim as stepfather to the future king of England. MI6 or some other agency, he believes, murdered his son to prevent him marrying Diana.
In the agonising days after their deaths Mohamed al-Fayed concluded that his loss had taken second place. It came to a head earlier this year when he was disgusted to discover that his son did not warrant a footnote in Earl Spencer's Althorp memorial to Diana and he realised he would never, could never, be acceptable to the establishment he craved to join.
Furthermore he has steadfastly refused to accept that his employee Henri Paul, who was driving the Mercedes in which Diana and Dodi died and who was also killed in the crash, was legally drunk at the time of the accident. To the disappointment of the royal family and the Spencers he has sought to lay the blame elsewhere. In doing so his theories about MI6 plots have fashioned a public image of a sad and obsessive man.
The result is that his public statements are treated with mild amusement, and the royal family and the Spencers have shunned him. One of Mohamed al-Fayed's most difficult days came earlier this year when he travelled to Paris to give evidence in Judge Herve Stephan's investigation of the crash. Mrs Shand Kydd refused to acknowledge him in court and he reacted by launching a vengeful tirade against her.
"She lost her daughter and I lost my son. She's a snob. She's not a good mother either. If you leave your child when she is six years old, how can you call yourself a mother? She thinks she's related to the Queen Mother, and this is a kind of snobbery. I don't give a damn about her."
As the first anniversary of Diana's death drew closer, and with his relationship with the royal family and the Spencers irrevocably damaged, Mohamed al-Fayed tried to form one with her sons. Here at least he has had some success. Presents have been sent to the boys and accepted, despite his claim that stories planted in the press suggested his interest in the princes embarrassed them.
Given his outbursts and conspiracy theories, it is unsurprising that Mohamed al-Fayed should have taken up a position far removed from that of the royal family and the Spencers. He may have gained limited support for his conspiracy theories among a sceptical public, but racist plots and persecution are silently ignored by the establishment and have merely served to compound the perception of him as a ridiculous figure.
But whatever else is said about Mohamed al-Fayed he will not be ignored. As one observer pointed out: "Because of Diana and Dodi, his position has changed. People may not like him any more than they used to, but he can no longer be ignored. He has become one of the pivotal figures in British public life."