2023-09-01 22:06:26
Mohammed Al-Fayed, in London, July 27, 2007. SHAUN CURRY / AFP
He had never recovered from the death of his son Dodi on August 31, 1997. Twenty-six years later, to within a day, Egyptian businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed, father of Princess Diana’s last companion , died at the age of 94.
“Ms. Mohammed Al-Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohammed, passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday, August 30, 2023”his family said in a statement released by English football club Fulham FC, which was owned by the businessman between 1997 and 2013.
“He enjoyed a long and fulfilling retirement surrounded by his loved ones. The family has asked that their privacy be respected at this time.”adds the text.
Read also: Mohammed Al-Fayed dreams of being the “king” of Scotland
He accuses the queen of having ordered the fatal accident
Mohammed Al-Fayed had been devastated by the death of his son Dodi, in a car accident in Paris with Princess Diana, twenty-six years ago. After the couple’s death, which shocked the world due to Diana’s immense popularity, he repeatedly claimed they were murdered as part of a plot by the British establishment. He accused Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, of having ordered the fatal car accident. He claimed that Diana was pregnant and planning to marry her son, and that the royal family could not tolerate the princess marrying a Muslim.
The inquest concluded that Diana and Dodi died due to the reckless driving of the driver of the car being chased by paparazzi.
The billionaire’s relationship with the British royal family was recently portrayed in season five of the series The Crown, on Netflix. We see him try to get closer to the queen, then meet Lady Di.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers “The Crown”, season 5, on Netflix: when the queen ages and the monarchy with her
Decisive meeting with Adnan Kashoggi
Born on January 27, 1929 in a modest suburb of Alexandria, Mohammed Al-Fayed was the son of a teacher. He began his professional life as a lemonade seller and then as a sewing machine marketer. It was his meeting with Adnan Kashoggi, the future Saudi arms dealer, that changed his life. Funny, charismatic, Mr. Al-Fayed seduced Mr. Kashoggi’s sister, Samira, whom he married in 1954. From this short union of four years, was born Emad Al-Din, known as “Dodi”.
His brother-in-law associates him with one of his furniture export businesses in Saudi Arabia. Back in Egypt, he founded his shipping company before becoming in 1966 the financial adviser to the Sultan of Brunei, one of the richest men in the world. Forced to leave his country after the nationalizations of Nasser, Mr. Al-Fayed moved to London in the early 1960s.
Read also: Mohammed Al-Fayed sells Harrods to Qatar, by Marc Roche
A go-between in numerous transactions, the Egyptian quickly became the head of a tidy fortune which enabled him to buy the Ritz in Paris in 1979, with his brother Ali. After a fierce battle, the duo acquired Harrods in 1985 under the nose of Tiny Rowland, another business shark, who accused them of having bought this British institution with the capital of the Sultan of Brunei. An investigation will conclude in 1990 that the Al-Fayed brothers lied about their true financial resources.
The businessman who dreamed of resting in a glass mausoleum on the roof of Harrods ended up selling the department store in Qatar in 2010. The amount, which remained secret, would be around 1.7 billion euros, or more double his initial bet.
Although he has spent a large part of his life in the United Kingdom – where he notably acquired a castle in Scotland – Mohammed Al-Fayed was refused, to his great frustration, British nationality several times. In 2000, the courts even claimed “a general character problem”. An indelible insult for those who saw themselves as lords.
But by accusing relentlessly and without proof British royalty of having ordered the fatal car accident of Diana and Dodi, he had signed his own order of banishment from the country. After thirty-five years across the Channel, he moved to Geneva for a few months and then from 2004 to Monaco, a haven of peace for big fortunes.
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