 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Mohamed Al-Fayed, the outspoken Egyptian tycoon who turned around the fortunes of two iconic London institutions—Harrods department store and Fulham Football Club—and waged a war of words with the British royal family after his son was killed in a car accident alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, has passed away at 94, CNN reported citing a statement from his family.
“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,” the family statement, which was released by Fulham FC on Friday, said.
After moving to the UK in the 1970s, Al-Fayed bought a number of lavish businesses and forced his way into London's high society.
He also owned the legendary Ritz Hotel in Paris for four decades.
He became a more controversial figure, nevertheless, when he publicly fought for British citizenship, and even more so after Diana and his son Dodi Fayed passed away in Paris in 1997, according to CNN.
Despite investigations showing otherwise, Al-Fayed believed for decades that the two had been killed, and in his later years, he was contemptuous of the British royal family.
Al-Fayed, born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1929, made the most of the opportunities and chances that came his way during his brief union with Saudi author Samira Khashoggi, who is also the sister of wealthy arms trader Adnan Khashoggi.
The tycoon's fractious relationship with the British elite rose to fame alongside his investments at the same time.
He publicly battled for British citizenship for many years; this fight got started when Rowland questioned him about where his money came from.
Then, in 1994, he named British legislators who had taken money from him in exchange for asking questions in Parliament on his behalf, causing a political crisis, as reported by CNN.
After his son and Diana were killed in a car accident in 1997, Al-Fayed repeatedly insulted the British royal family and became a persona non grata among some of the nation's elite.
“I live in a country where I feel sorry for the ordinary people and the masses of the people who live in this country. Their destiny and their human rights are kidnapped by gangsters and people who call themselves the establishment,” he once told CNN.
He referred to the group as a "Dracula family" at the inquest into Diana's passing.
He promised the same court he would not stop "until I die" and that he would do whatever it took to uncover the truth, even if it meant losing "everything to find the truth," a promise he made in vain for years.
The tycoon also rose to prominence in the most popular sport in the world after acquiring Fulham, the oldest football club in London, from the lower leagues of England.
Al-Fayed had six children, including Dodi and the environmentalist entrepreneur Omar Fayed, CNN reported.