0
0
Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, renowned for his former ownership of Harrods department store, Fulham football club, and as the father of Dodi Fayed, who tragically perished alongside Princess Diana in a 1997 car crash, passed away on Friday, September 1, in London at the age of 94.
He was laid to rest following Friday prayers, following a service at Regent’s Park Mosque in London, as reported by Al Jazeera Egypt. Ashraf Haider, a member of his family, expressed, “My wife’s grandfather, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, has passed away. We belong to God, and to Him, we shall return.”
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1929, Mohamed Al-Fayed relocated to the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s and amassed his wealth through business endeavors. In 1954, he married Samira Khashoggi and had one son, Emad, known as Dodi, though the couple divorced in 1956.
Al-Fayed is most renowned for his ownership of Harrods, a venture he acquired in 1985 and later sold to Qatar in 2010 for a staggering $2.4 billion. Additionally, he held interests in the Ritz Paris Hotel and Fulham Football Club.
In 2013, Al Fayed divested Fulham Football Club to US auto parts billionaire Shahid Khan for a reported $300 million.
Dodi, his eldest son, shared a close friendship with Princess Diana for nearly a decade before their romance blossomed during a yacht holiday in the south of France. Tragically, their lives were cut short as they met their demise side by side in a car crash in Paris.
Mohamed Al-Fayed was an outspoken critic of the British royal family, harboring strong suspicions that they played a role in the tragic deaths of his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana during the 1997 car crash.
In a candid interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Mohamed Al-Fayed asserted his belief that the couple’s demise was not accidental, stating, “I firmly believe that they were deliberately targeted because they could not come to terms with the idea that my son, Dodi, an Egyptian and a Muslim, could potentially become the stepfather of the future king.”
