New Delhi: Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of the famed Harrods department store in London and the self-made Egyptian billionaire whose son was killed in a car crash with Princess Diana, has died, his family said Friday. He was 94.
New Delhi: Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of the famed Harrods department store in London and the self-made Egyptian billionaire whose son was killed in a car crash with Princess Diana, has died, his family said Friday. He was 94.
Al Fayed, who also once owned Fulham Football Club, was devastated by the death of son Dodi Fayed in a car crash with Princess Diana in Paris 26 years earlier. He was Born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, al-Fayed began his career selling fizzy drinks and then worked as a sewing-machine salesman.
He spent the rest of his life mourning the loss and fighting the British establishment, which he blamed for his death. He built his family’s fortune in real estate, shipping and construction, first in the Middle East and then in Europe.
In a statement released by the Fulham club, his family said, “Mrs. Mohamed Al Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday August 30, 2023.″ His family said, a day before the 26th anniversary of Dodi and Diana’s death. “He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones.″
While al-Fayed was known for self-invention, exaggeration, and boasting, he was also a central figure in key moments in Britain’s recent history. Al Fayed was convinced that Dodi and Diana were killed in a conspiracy masterminded by Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. He maintained the royal family arranged the accident because they did not like Diana dating an Egyptian.
Al Fayed applied for British citizenship, but his application was rejected in both 1995 and 1998. His rancorous takeover of Harrods in 1985 sparked one of Britain’s most bitter business feuds. In 1994, he caused a scandal with the disclosure that he had paid politicians to ask questions on his behalf in Parliament.
Like many billionaires, al-Fayed spurned convention. He once said he wanted to be mummified in a golden sarcophagus in a glass pyramid on the roof of Harrods. At the store, where he instituted a dress code — even for customers — which he enforced in person, he installed a kitsch bronze memorial statue of Diana and Dodi dancing beneath the wings of an albatross.
As the owner of Fulham, he erected a larger-than-life, sequined statue of Michael Jackson outside the ground even though the singer only attended one match. When people complained, he said, “If some stupid fans don’t understand or appreciate such a gift, they can go to hell.”
