Mohamed Al Fayed has died: What was his relationship with Lady Di?

Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of the Harrods department store who died on August 30 at the age of 94 in Great Britain, was a controversial Egyptian millionaire obsessed with linking the British secret services to the deaths of his son Dodi and Princess Diana. from Wales in 1997.

Al Fayed – father of five – died a day before his birthday 26th anniversary of Dodi’s death and Diana in a car accident in Paris, a tragedy she could never get over.

In a statement released to the media on Friday, her family said: “Mrs. Mohamed Alfayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, father and grandfather Mohamed passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. He enjoyed a long and fulfilling retirement surrounded by his loved ones.”

With a combative but relatable character, Al Fayed was an ambitious and popular figure, always determined to rub shoulders with high society and the political class, who never accepted him without giving him the British citizenship he so desperately sought.

His big step was to create a business empire in the United Kingdom, the country he comes from. adoption from the 70sincluding the legendary Harrods, which earned him the nickname “Pharaoh”, and he also took over the Ritz hotel in Paris.

After the death of his son, Al Fayed repeated this for a decade dody and diana They were killed in a conspiracy by the secret services and the then Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth II’s husband.

However, he was forced to admit defeat after an official investigation concluded in 2008 that what happened in Paris on August 31, 1997 was an accident.

In the tragedy on the Alma de Paris bridge, the driver Herni Paul was also killed, who was driving under the influence of alcohol when the three of them left the Paris hotel Ritz at high speed in a car while being chased by “paparazzi” motorcycles.

Born on January 27, 1929 in Alexandria, alfayed The son of a school inspector, he came to London in the late 1960s to build his business empire.

In the 1980s he became famous for seeking control of the House of Fraser group, including its flagship store Harrods, with rival tycoon “Tiny” Rowland.

Al Fayed bought a stake in the group House of Fraser to Rowland in 1984. and took control of Harrods in 1985 for £615m (€713m).

Al Fayed later expanded his business interests to include the Paris Ritz and English football club Fulham.

In addition to the business world, Al Fayed made donations to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, and became politically involved in 1994, when he was at the center of the “question money” scandal in the British Parliament.

Al Fayed stated through the newspaper The guard who paid then Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith thousands of pounds for illegally tabling questions in the House of Commons on his behalf.

In addition, Al Fayed applied for British citizenship in 1993 but was rejected by the then Conservative executive, but this was not denied by the Labor government that followed.

After 26 years in office, in 2010 Al Fayed sold Harrods the royal family of Qatar.