Mohamed Al Fayed, former owner of Harrods and Fulham football club, dies at age 94
Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi died alongside Princess Diana in a 1997 car crash, was also the former owner of Harrods.
Mohamed Al Fayed – the former owner of Harrods department store who rose from a humble background in Egypt to the heights of British society, and whose son Dodi died alongside Princess Diana in the 1990s – has died.
The Egyptian-born businessman, 94, became a friend to royals and high society in both Britain and France. He used his fortune to buy well-known brands, ranging from Harrods to the Ritz hotel in Paris. He also owned the Fulham soccer club in London, which he sold in 2013, three years after selling Harrods.
“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,” his family said in a statement released by Fulham FC.
His son, Dodi Al Fayed, was Princess Diana’s boyfriend for a few months after her divorce from then Prince Charles, who has since become King Charles. Dodi and Diana died together in a car in a Paris tunnel in 1997 after being chased by paparazzi. For years Al Fayed claimed that his son had been murdered by the British establishment because of his relationship with Princess Diana. The elder Al Fayed was never granted a British passport.
The Egyptian became a household name in the UK because of his lavish investments and rags to riches story. Born in Alexandria, Al-Fayed started out selling lemonade. Then, after WWII, he and his brothers set up a shipping company operating in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. He later bought, and renovated, the Ritz hotel in Paris. In the 1980s following a bitter takeover battle he purchased Harrods, a storied department store in London’s upscale Knightsbridge neighbourhood, where he was known to regularly walk the shop’s aisles and installed a statue of himself in the men’s department.
The sharp-elbowed businessman was also famed for investments in a number of more esoteric projects. In the late 1980s he bought and renovated the last home of the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated as King Edward VIII, in the Bois de Boulogne. He also bought a 40,000-acre (16,000ha) estate in Scotland and turned it into a tourist resort.
Al Fayed also acquired Fulham, then a team languishing in England’s third-tier football league, in 1997 and got it promoted to the top flight Premier League for the first time in its history four years later. He also oversaw the construction of a statue of Michael Jackson outside the ground to “honour his friendship with the legendary performer.” It was later removed by the club.
On its website, Fulham paid tribute to its former owner. “I join our supporters around the world in celebrating the memory of Mohamed Al Fayed, whose legacy will always be at the heart of our tradition at Fulham Football Club,” the club’s current owner Shahid Khan, said in a statement.
Al Fayed’s investment marked the beginning of what would soon become a trend of wealthy foreigners, including Arabs, spending billions to buy leading English soccer clubs. Manchester City, which has won three consecutive titles, is owned by a private-equity firm from the United Arab Emirates, Aston Villa is owned by Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, and Newcastle United is owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The Egyptian eventually sold Harrods in 2010 and moved out of the limelight, living in his home in southern England with his wife, Heini.
Dow Jones Newswires
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