ormer Harrods proprietor Mohamed Al Fayed has been described as “an extraordinary tour de force” after his loss of life 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 stated the Egyptian-born businessman had struggled to return to phrases with the loss of life of his son Dodi within the automotive crash which additionally killed Diana, Princess of Wales in Paris in August 1997.

Writing on X, previously referred to as Twitter, Mr Morgan stated: “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.”

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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 last, paid his condolences in a press release on the membership’s web site.

He stated: “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 stated 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.

Lord Alan Sugar paid tribute, writing: “A real character. I also liked him, we met a few times.

“He turned up at my wife’s 50th birthday held at the Ritz in Paris. My father in law didn’t know who he was, I introduced him as the bloke who has the big corner shop in Knights bridge. R.I.P.”

Mr Al Fayed, who was portrayed by Salim Daw within the fifth sequence of The Crown, repeatedly claimed his son and the late princess had been murdered in a plot by the British institution.

Born in Alexandria in Egypt, he got here to London within the Nineteen Sixties taking management of Harrods in 1985 – which he offered to Qatar’s royal household for a reported £1.5 billion in 2010. He had bought the Ritz resort in Paris in 1979.

Mr Al Fayed made his first utility for British citizenship in 1993, and once more in 1999, weeks after it was granted to his brother Ali, however was declared unfit to carry a British passport by then-home secretary Jack Straw.

The businessman appealed in opposition to the choice however Lords Justice Nourse, Kennedy and Rix dismissed his declare that Mr Straw had been biased when he refused the appliance.

He had beforehand been rejected in 1993 by former house workplace minister Charles Wardle who joined the Harrods board of administrators in 2000, a transfer which got here as a shock to some.

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen poked enjoyable on the dispute on his satirical comedy sequence, Da Ali G Show, when he was joined by Mr Al Fayed in 2000.

Cohen, because the Ali G character, stated that the businessman not with the ability to rap was “an obstacle” to him getting a British passport and they also rapped a tune collectively that referenced the Harrods proprietor.

The 2021 Sunday Times Rich List reported that Mohamed Al-Fayed and household had been value round £1.7 billion.