Billionaire who purchased Harrods and fell out with royals after son’s loss of life
M
ohamed Al Fayed, who has died on the age of 94, was a vibrant, controversial and sometimes abrasive businessman who by no means shied away from a struggle – even taking up the royal household.
His first battle was to create a billion-pound enterprise empire in his adopted UK, together with upmarket division retailer Harrods, which led to the pint-sized Egyptian being dubbed the “Phoney Pharaoh”.
But the tycoon’s most public assault was on the House of Windsor and the Establishment over the loss of life of his son and inheritor Dodi – alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, on the planet’s most well-known automotive crash.
Alexandria-born Mr Al Fayed spent a decade after the lovers’ 1997 deaths in Paris’s Alma tunnel repeatedly claiming that they had been murdered in a plot by the safety providers and the Duke of Edinburgh.
But he was pressured to reluctantly concede defeat after a high-profile six-month inquest in 2007 and 2008.
The jury returned illegal killing verdicts on each Diana and Dodi, however pinned the blame on the drink-driving of their chauffeur Henri Paul, who additionally died within the crash.
Paul was employed by the Paris Ritz, from the place their journey had began on August 31, a resort owned by Mr Al Fayed.
At the top of the inquest, coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker brazenly voiced ideas of “closing ranks” on the resort over the query of whether or not they knew Paul was consuming on the evening of the smash.
The jury had heard allegations, strenuously denied, that key witnesses had been pressurised to again Mr Al Fayed’s theories and that there was a “conspiracy to pervert the truth” inside the Fayed organisation.
Mr Al Fayed later introduced he would settle for the decision of the inquest jury, albeit “with reservations”.
Mohamed Al Fayed was born within the Egyptian metropolis on the Mediterranean, the son of a college inspector.
He got here to London within the Sixties and set about constructing a enterprise empire.
Once there, the flamboyant and extrovert character was hardly ever out of the newspapers.
In the Eighties, he hit the headlines as he battled for management of the House of Fraser group, together with its flagship retailer Harrods, with rival tycoon “Tiny” Rowland.
Mr Al Fayed and his brother purchased a 30% stake in House Of Fraser from Mr Rowland in 1984, and took management of Harrods for £615 million the next yr.
Mr Rowland’s London and Rhodesian Mining Company (Lonrho) had tried to purchase Harrods however was overwhelmed to it by the Egyptian household.
Mr Rowland later accused Mr Al Fayed of breaking into his security deposit field at the division retailer.
The Egyptian was arrested in March 1998 together with Harrods safety director John Macnamara and 4 different retailer workers, however was by no means charged.
Mr Al Fayed later expanded his enterprise pursuits to incorporate the Paris Ritz and Fulham Football Club.
As properly because the worlds of enterprise and royalty, he grew to become embroiled in politics in 1994 when he was on the centre of the “cash-for-questions” scandal that rocked Westminster.
Mr Al Fayed claimed through the Guardian he had paid then Tory MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith hundreds of kilos to illegally desk questions within the Commons on his behalf.
Mr Smith apologised and stepped down on the 1997 election however Mr Hamilton sued Mr Al Fayed for libel, touchdown himself a seven-figure authorized invoice and eventual chapter after dropping to the businessman.
Mr Hamilton, who was later closely criticised in a Commons report into the affair, was voted out on the 1997 election and is now the chief of Ukip.
Mr Al Fayed utilized to have a British passport in 1993 however it was rejected by former Conservative Home Office minister Charles Wardle.
Later on, former Labour house secretary Jack Straw determined Mr Al Fayed had a “general defect in his character” and refused him citizenship.
Mr Straw stated he was not glad that Mr Al Fayed was of fine character as a result of he had admitted to being current when his enterprise rival Mr Rowland’s protected deposit field was opened and due to his fee to MPs.
The enterprise man additionally misplaced a High Court Battle towards John Prescott permitting him to have the ability to land his helicopter on the roof of Harrods.
Mr Al Fayed’s time because the Cottagers’ chairman was suitably tumultuous.
Fulham had been languishing in Division Two when he took over in 1997 however spending on gamers and high-profile managers together with Kevin Keegan and Roy Hodgson noticed them rise to the top-half of the Premier League within the early Noughties, peaking in qualification for the Europa League.
Off the pitch, followers had been handled to some weird spectacles, together with a 1999 go to from Mr Al Fayed’s pal Michael Jackson.
The Harrods boss and the membership confronted some ridicule when, in 2011, two years after Jackson’s loss of life, a statue of the King Of Pop was erected at its Craven Cottage floor.
When Mr Al Fayed bought the membership in 2013 it was taken down, Fulham had been later relegated.
After 26 years in cost, in 2010, Mr Al Fayed bought Harrods to the Qatari royal household for a reported £1.5 billion.
At the time, Mr Al Fayed stated issues with pension fund trustees had been behind his determination to promote the world-famous division retailer.
He stated in an interview that he grew pissed off with the trustees blocking his efforts to extract a dividend from the enterprise.
In 2018, Channel 4 News ran a documentary accusing Mr Al Fayed of grooming and sexually harassing ex-Harrods staff.
The billionaire’s relationship with the royal household was not too long ago depicted in season 5 of The Crown, the place Mr Al Fayed, performed by Salim Daw, was seen attending to know Diana.
Mr Daw was nominated for supporting actor on the Baftas for his portrayal of Mr Al Fayed.
Mr Al-Fayed was named because the fourth richest particular person in Scotland on the Sunday Times Rich List 2023 with a fortune of £1.69 billion.
Mr Al Fayed was married twice and had 5 kids.