The former owner of London’s luxury department store Harrods and football club Fulham FC, Mohamed Al Fayed, is dead. The Egyptian businessman and billionaire died at the age of 94, as the London football club announced on its website on Friday evening.
Mohamed Al Fayed died peacefully on Wednesday, according to a family statement distributed by the football club. “He had a long and fulfilling retirement surrounded by his family,” it said.
never got over his son’s death
In Germany, Al Fayed was also known for his eldest son Dodi Al Fayed’s connection to the late Princess Diana. The two died on August 31, 1997 in a car accident in Paris. Mohamed Al Fayed’s empire also included the Paris Hotel Ritz, from which Diana and Dodi set off on their last journey.
Mohamed Al Fayed never got over his son’s death. From the start, the entrepreneur had repeatedly expressed his belief that his son and Diana had been murdered with the involvement of British intelligence. In his opinion, the then Prince Consort Philip, the husband of British Queen Elizabeth II, was behind the alleged plans.
Football club pays tribute to former owner
Mohamed Al Fayed was born in Egypt. Since the 1960s, however, he has mainly been active as an entrepreneur in Great Britain. Al Fayed bought Fulham FC in 1997. The club was promoted to the Premier League in 2001. In 2013, Al Fayed sold the club to Pakistani entrepreneur Shahid Khan.
The football club paid tribute to its former owner on its website: “Everyone associated with Fulham owes a debt of gratitude to Mohamed for what he has done for our club. Our thoughts are with his family and friends now at this dark time.”
Al Fayed is survived by his wife Heini Wathen and their four children. His son Dodi came from his first marriage to Samira Khashoggi.
