Di and Dodi. Dodi and Di. It's silly season in Britain, where the land of the stiff upper lip is losing it big-time over speculation about Princess Diana's love life with a multimillionaire movie producer.

Diana and Dodi Fayed, allegedly snapped in a lip-lock aboard a Mediterranean cruise, are the biggest news to hit the European isle since, well, Diana and Charles. And we know how well that one worked out.

The Brits, though, are nothing if not hardy people. And they're encouraging Di to forget about the relationship that didn't click and snap up Dodi--the sooner, the better. Or so gushes Lynda Lee-Potter, a writer for London's Daily Mail: "They are made for each other."

All right, so just who the heck is this Dodi person anyway? Allow us to explain:

� He's 41...Dark good looks...Resembles a Parisian Robert De Niro, except he's Egyptian...Son of mega-rich Mohammed Al Fayed who, as the British tabs would have us believe, plans to give the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's old Paris digs to Di and Dodi for a wedding present...Has dabbled in Hollywood, either producing or executive producing a half-dozen movies, including Chariots of Fire, Hook and The Scarlet Letter...Once dated Brooke Shields...Allegedly owes the IRS millions in unpaid taxes...Reportedly has asked Di to help him make a film about elephants.

According to Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd, Di met Dodi in 1991 during a Royal Command Performance screening of Hook in London. (See? Julia Roberts' didn't momentarily screw-up her career to play Tinkerbell for nothing.)

The pair apparently has been only been a pair (as in boyfriend-princess) for a couple weeks. But such facts, or lack thereof, have never stood in the way of a good headline in the British press. Lynda Lee-Potter, that scribe from the Daily Mail, goes so far as to argue that Dodi is the perfect match for Diana because he would not resent Di's natural gravitation toward the spotlight, as did her former hubby, reportedly. He also appears to be in love with the girl, Lee-Potter writes.

The Di-Dodi story kicked into overdrive Sunday when the Daily Mirror published those aforementioned shots of the lovey-dovey duo in an on-board clinch. Stateside readers, take heart: The good folks at the Globe have plunked down more than $200,000 to insure that those paparazzo pics get a U.S. audience. The Di-Dodi issue is due in a supermarket aisle near you on Friday.