Mohamed Al Fayed, billionaire and father of Princess Diana’s partner Dodi, dies aged 94

Billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, the father of Princess Diana’s late partner Dodi Al-Fayed, has died at the age of 94.

The Egyptian businessman was the owner of Hotel Ritz Paris, formerly Harrods department store and Fulham Football Club. In 2023, his wealth was estimated to be $2 billion, ranking him 1,493 in the world.

His son, Dodi Al-Fayed, was famously the partner of Diana, Princess of Wales. The pair died following a car crash in Paris in August 1997, the anniversary of which was marked yesterday.

Mr Al-Fayed was born in Roshdy, Alexandria, Egypt in 1929. He went on to marry Saudi Arabian journalist Samira Khashoggi in 1954, working for her brother Adnan Khashoggi. He later launched a shipping company in Egypt, with their son, Dodi, born one year later.

He moved to London in the Sixties, before he met the former ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum who enlisted Al-Fayed to help build up the Emirati city. Al-Fayed introduced serval British companies to the city and also became a financial advisor to the Sultan of Brunei Omar Ali Saifuddien III, in 1966.

Mr Al-Fayed bought The Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979, and Harrods in London in 1984, but he sold the latter to Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, in 2010. He was the owner of Fulham FC between 1997 to 2013.

Mr Al-Fayed had five children, with eldest being Dodi, who he shared with his first wife.

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