Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has died aged 94. His son Dodi was killed alongside Princess Diana 26 years ago. Photo / Getty Images
Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has died aged 94. His son Dodi was killed alongside Princess Diana 26 years ago. Photo / Getty Images
Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has died aged 94, almost 26 years to the day after the death of his son Dodi in a car crash alongside Diana, Princess of Wales.
In a statement released by Fulham FC, of which he was also a former owner, 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.
“He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones. The family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time.”
Shahid Khan, who succeeded Al Fayed as owner of the club, said: “On behalf of everyone at Fulham Football Club, I send my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mohamed Al Fayed upon the news of his passing at age 94.”
Born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, Al Fayed began his career selling fizzy drinks and then worked as a sewing-machine salesman. He built his family’s fortune in real estate, shipping and construction, first in the Middle East and then in Europe.
In the years after the death of his son Dodi, a film producer, alongside Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Al Fayed repeatedly claimed they were murdered in a plot by the British establishment.
A photo of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed (both partially visible in the back seat), bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones and driver Henri Paul shortly before the crash which killed Diana, Fayed and Paul on August 31, 1997. Photo / Getty Images
The billionaire’s relationship with the royal family was recently depicted in season five of The Crown, where Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, was seen getting to know Diana.
Al Fayed had taken control of Harrods in 1985 and he had also bought the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979. He owned Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013.
His rancorous takeover of Harrods sparked one of Britain’s most bitter business feuds, while 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, he instituted a dress code – even for customers – which he enforced in person. He also installed a kitsch bronze memorial statue of Diana and Dodi dancing beneath the wings of an albatross.
Diana, 36, and 42-year-old Ehmad Al Fayed, nicknamed Dodi, were killed in a car crash in the Pont d'Alma underpass in Paris. Photo / Getty Images
As the owner of Fulham, he erected a larger-than-life, sequined statue of Michael Jackson outside the ground, even though the singer attended only one match. When people complained, he said: “If some stupid fans don’t understand or appreciate such a gift, they can go to hell.”
Much of Al Fayed’s past remained murky – even his date of birth. He said he was born in then British-ruled Egypt in 1933. However, a British government inquiry into the Harrods takeover said he was born Mohamed Fayed in 1929.
He became a resident in Britain in 1974 and added the “Al” to his name. Casting this as self-aggrandisement, the satirical magazine Private Eye nicknamed him the “Phoney Pharaoh”.
In 1985, he and his brothers beat businessman Roland “Tiny” Rowland in a fight to buy Harrods. Al Fayed hoped that buying the store would win him acceptance in British society. Instead, it led to a series of bitter confrontations.
Rowland took the brothers to a Department of Trade inquiry, claiming they had misrepresented their wealth.
The inquiry cast doubt on their origins as part of a wealthy business family, past business connections, and their independent financial resources.
After a quarter of a century of ownership, Al Fayed sold Harrods to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund in 2010.
