Businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, Father Of Princess Diana Crash Passenger Dodi Al Fayed, Dies At Age 94:
Mohamed Al-Fayed, the outspoken Egyptian tycoon who changed the fortunes of two London institutions, Harrods and Fulham Football Club, and had a war of words with Britain’s royals after his son and Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash, has died, his family said in a statement. 94 years old.
“Mrs. Mohamed Al Fayed, her children, as well as grandchildren wished to confirm that her beloved spouse, their dad, as well as their grandfather, Mohamed, died peacefully of old age upon Wednesday, August 30, 2023,” a family statement released by Fulham FC on Friday said.
Mohamed al-Fayed, an Egyptian business tycoon whose kingdom of prize homes and power in Europe as well as the Middle East was overshadowed through the 1997 Paris automobile accident that killed his oldest son Dodi and Diana, Princess of Wales, died upon Wednesday. 94 years old.
The Fulham Football Club Told Us That Mohamed Al Fayed Had Died:
The Fulham Football Club within Britain, which Mr. Fayed used to own, said in a statement on Friday that he had died. There was no mention of where he died.
After moving to the UK within the 1970s, Al-Fayed bought a number of expensive businesses that helped him get into London’s high society. He additionally owned the famous Ritz Hotel within Paris for 40 years.
But as he fought in public for British citizenship, he became a more and more controversial figure. This was especially true after Diana and Dodi Fayed died in Paris in 1997.
Al-Fayed claimed for decades that the two were killed, even though investigations proved otherwise, and he looked down on the British royal family within his later years.
Forbes Said That Fayed Had A Net Worth Of $1.8 Billion:
Al-Fayed was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1929. During his short union to Samira Khashoggi, a Saudi author as well as sister of rich arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, he had the chance to start his own business.
Forbes says that in 2021, he will have a net worth of about $1.8 billion. His business interests encompassed Punch Magazine, Kurt Geiger, the 75 Rockefeller Plaza building in Manhattan, as well as the Hyde Park Residence block of luxury flats in London.
But the main prize of his billion-dollar empire was the famous Harrods department store, which covers a full block in London’s elite Mayfair neighborhood and has been the city’s most glamorous shopping spot for decades.
Al-Fayed’s bid for the House of Fraser group, including the store, got a lot of attention. He was up against the famous British businessman Roland “Tiny” Rowland, and the two of them got into a few public fights.
Most Of Mr. Fayed’s Life And Work Were In Britain:
In the end, Al-Fayed paid $842 million to buy the group. He would often say that the famous department store was like an old wonder of the world. “Harrods was my pyramid,” he stated back in 2004.
Most of Mr. Fayed’s life was spent living and working within Britain, where for 50 years he was an outsider who was looked down upon through the establishment within a society that still had old-boy networks.
He often got into fights with the government as well as business foes over how he bought land and tried to sway members of Parliament. He pushed loudly to become a British citizen, but his requests were always turned down. He loved all the things that came with being a British gentleman.
He bought a castle within Scotland and at times wore a kilt. He also bought a popular British football team, made friends with Conservative prime ministers as well as members of parliament, sponsored the Royal Horse Show at Windsor, and tried but failed to save Punch, a satirical magazine that had been making fun of the British establishment for 150 years.
Dodi And Diana Knew Each Other, But From What Everyone Says, They Fell Within Love:
Dodi was the Saudi wealthy arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi’s Egyptian-born nephew. He was known as a playboy because he threw expensive parties, paid for movies, dated beautiful women, as well as was briefly married.
He knew Diana, but many people say that during the trip to the Mediterranean, they fell in love. As their love grew, the British press jumped on it. Everywhere the couple went, paparazzi were following them.
In the early hours of August 31, 1997, a Mercedes-Benz carrying Dodi and Diana as well as driven by Fayed’s security guard Henri Paul, who was drunk and going fast to get away from camera cars, crashed into a concrete pillar in a Paris tunnel. They were all killed.
There was a lot of disagreement about what caused the crash and what it meant. Some headlines said that a foreigner should not have been a prince’s lover.
Diana And Dodi Were Going To Get Married:
But friends stated that the couple were going to get married because the Fayed family was kind to Diana and her kids, which was different from how the British royal family treated Diana after her divorce.
As whispers and conspiracy theories spread, Mr. Fayed said that Diana and Dodi were killed by people who didn’t want them to be together.
He said that they were going to get married and that they were calling him an hour before the accident to tell him that she was pregnant. Buckingham Palace as well as the princess’s family said that his comments were mean-spirited lies.
And within 2008, a British coroner’s jury threw out all plot ideas that involved the royal family, British spy services, and other people. It said that the deaths were caused by “gross negligence” on the part of both the driver and the reporters.
In The 1960s, The Fayed Shipping Companies Made A Lot Of Money From The Oil Boom Throughout The Persian Gulf:
It also said that a French scientist discovered that Diana wasn’t pregnant. Mr. Fayed said that the decision was unfair, but he as well as his lawyers didn’t do anything else about it. “I’ve had enough,” he said to ITV News in Britain. “I’m going to let God take care of this.”
In the 1960s, when there was a lot of oil in the Persian Gulf, the Fayed shipping business did very well. They helped build the port of Dubai, the Dubai Trade Center, and various other sites in what is now the United Arab Emirates. They did this by acting as brokers between British construction companies and Gulf masters.
Within 1979, The Fayed Brothers Paid $30 Million For The Dying Ritz Hotel In Paris:
Within 1979, the Fayed brothers leased the failing Ritz Hotel in Paris for less than $30 million. They then spent $250 million over 10 years to fix it up and make it one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. Before they died in the crash, Princess Dodi and Diana Fayed ate dinner in the Imperial Suite.
In 1984 and 1985, the Fayeds made their biggest business move in Britain. They gave $840 million for House of Fraser, which owned Harrods and many other stores, and spent another $300 million to fix up the chain’s main store in London’s posh Knightsbridge neighborhood.
He told reporters, “They couldn’t believe that an Egyptian might own Harrods, so they threw mud at me.” In 2010, he sold Harrods for over two billion dollars to Qatar Holding, which is the national wealth bank of the Emirate of Qatar. He then announced his retirement.