The self-made Egyptian a billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, who owned the Harrods department store and spread the debunked rumor that the British royal family was responsible for the deaths of his son and Princess Diana, has passed away, according to his relatives.
Al-Fayed, an Egyptian born in Alexandria in 1929, made the most of the business 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. Al-Fayed was never accepted in Britain, even though he controlled establishment emblems like Harrods, Fulham, and the Ritz hotel in Paris.
He developed a rift with the British government over its unwillingness to grant him citizenship in the nation he had called home for decades and frequently threatened to emigrate to France, which had bestowed upon him the Legion of Honor, the country’s highest civilian honor.
Al-Fayed, who could be endearing, authoritarian, vengeful, and occasionally wildly loud, spent ten years attempting to prove Diana and his son Dodi were killed when their car crashed in a Paris tunnel in 1997 as they attempted to elude paparazzi photographers on motorcycles.
After moving to the UK in the 1970s, Al-Fayed pushed his way into London’s high society by acquiring a number of opulent venues. He also owned the legendary Ritz Hotel in Paris for four decades.
But he emerged as a more divisive character during his public battle for British citizenship, and this only got worse after Diana and his son Dodi Fayed passed away in Paris in 1997. Despite investigations showing otherwise, Al-Fayed maintained the duo were murdered for decades and, in his later years, had contempt for the British royal family.