Mohamed Al Fayed referred to as an ‘extraordinary tour de force’
F
ormer Harrods proprietor Mohamed Al Fayed has been described as “an extraordinary tour de force” after his demise on the age of 94.
Mr Al Fayed, who was proprietor and chairman of Fulham Football Club for 16 years, died on Wednesday. His household introduced on Friday he had “passed away peacefully of old age”.
Paying tribute, journalist and presenter Piers Morgan mentioned the Egyptian-born businessman had struggled to return to phrases with the demise of his son Dodi within the automobile crash which additionally killed Diana, Princess of Wales in Paris in August 1997.
Writing on X, previously generally known as Twitter, Mr Morgan mentioned: “An extraordinary tour de force of a man who never got over the death of his beloved son Dodi in the crash that also killed Diana.
“Mohamed wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and he was a flawed, complex character, but I liked him.”
Shahid Khan, who took over as proprietor of Fulham in 2013 after a spell which had seen the membership rise to the Premier League and attain the Europa League ultimate, paid his condolences in an announcement on the membership’s web site.
He mentioned: “The story of Fulham cannot be told without a chapter on the positive impact of Mr Al Fayed as chairman.
“I always enjoyed my time with Mr Al Fayed, who was wise, colourful and committed to Fulham, and I am forever grateful for his trust in me to succeed him as chairman.
“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 household assertion mentioned Mr Al Fayed “enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones”.
According to Sky News, a funeral was held after Friday prayers at London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park.
Mr Al Fayed, who was portrayed by Salim Daw within the fifth sequence of The Crown, repeatedly claimed his son and the late princess have been murdered in a plot by the British institution.
Born in Alexandria in Egypt, he got here to London within the Sixties taking management of Harrods in 1985 – which he offered to Qatar’s royal household for a reported £1.5 billion in 2010 – having bought the Ritz lodge in Paris in 1979.
He made his first software for British citizenship in 1993 and in 1999, weeks after his brother Ali was granted British citizenship, however was declared unfit to carry a British passport by then-home secretary Jack Straw.
Mr Al Fayed appealed towards the choice and Lords Justice Nourse, Kennedy and Rix dismissed Mr Al Fayed’s attraction that Mr Straw had been biased when he refused the citizenship software.
He had beforehand been rejected in 1993 by former residence workplace minister Charles Wardle who joined the Harrods board of administrators in 2000, a transfer which got here as a shock to some.
The Sunday Times Rich List from 2021 reported that Mohamed Al-Fayed and household have been price round £1.7 billion.