Al Fayed
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Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (; 27 January 192930 August 2023) was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and primary business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the
Hôtel Ritz Paris The Ritz Paris is a hotel in central Paris, overlooking the Place Vendôme in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arrondissement. A member of The Leading Hotels of the World marketing group, the Ritz Paris is ranked among the most luxur ...
,
Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...
department store and Fulham Football Club. At the time of his death in 2023, ''
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'' estimated his wealth at US$2 billion. Since his death, Al-Fayed has been accused by multiple women of
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
and
assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...
. Fayed was married to
Samira Khashoggi Samira Khashoggi (, 1935 – March 1986) was a Saudi Arabian progressive author, as well as the founder of ''Al Sharkiah'' magazine. She was the sister of the Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi. She was the first wife of Egyptian businessman Moham ...
from 1954 to 1956. They had a son, Dodi, who was in a romantic relationship with
Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...
, when they both died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Fayed falsely claimed that the crash was orchestrated by
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
on the instructions of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...
. In 2011, Fayed financially supported an unreleased documentary film '' Unlawful Killing'', that presented his version of events. From 1995 onwards, Fayed was the subject of media scrutiny and investigations into allegations of sexist and discriminatory practices he mandated at Harrods, of
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
and
assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...
. Early media scrutiny of sexual misconduct allegations against Al-Fayed was curtailed by his frequent threats of litigation. He developed a reputation for spending large sums on litigation against news organizations reporting on sexual assault allegations against him. In 2024 he became the subject of multiple posthumous accusations of
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, with over 200 women making complaints of illegal activity by September of that year.


Early life

Fayed was born on 27 January 1929 in the Roshdy neighbourhood of
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
, in the
Kingdom of Egypt The Kingdom of Egypt () was the legal form of the Egyptian state during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's reign, from the United Kingdom's recognition of Egyptian independence in 1922 until the abolition of the monarchy of Eg ...
, the eldest son of an Egyptian primary school teacher from
Asyut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut''. ( ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , while the ancient city i ...
. His year of birth has been disputed. The
Department of Trade Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in 1988 found his date of birth was 27 January 1929. His brothers Ali and Salah were his business colleagues. At the age of nineteen Al-Fayed was selling bottles of
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
on the streets of Alexandria, and sold
Singer sewing machine Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Man ...
s at the age of twenty-one. In 1952 Al-Fayed was hired by a friend, Tousson El Barrawi, and the seventeen-year-old
Adnan Khashoggi Adnan Khashoggi (; 25 July 1935 – 6 June 2017) was a Saudi businessman and arms dealer known for his business dealings, extensive geopolitical influence, and opulent lifestyle, which earned him the moniker "''The Jay Gatsby, Great Gatsby ...
for their furniture import business. Al-Fayed excelled at the business and impressed Adnan's father, Mohamed Kashoggi, the personal physician of the
King of Saudi Arabia The king of Saudi Arabia, officially the king of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (; ''Malik al-Mamlakat al-ʿArabiyat as-Suʿūdiyya''), is head of state and of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who holds absolute power. He is the head of the Saudi ...
. In the early 1950s Al-Fayed travelled to Europe for the first time, visiting France, Italy and Switzerland. Returning to Egypt, Al-Fayed confessed to his wife,
Samira Kashoggi Samira Khashoggi (, 1935 – March 1986) was a Saudi Arabian progressive author, as well as the founder of ''Al Sharkiah'' magazine. She was the sister of the Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi. She was the first wife of Egyptian businessman Moham ...
, Adnan Kashoggi's sister, that he had had an affair, and she demanded a divorce. Al-Fayed terminated his partnership with Adnan Kashoggi, and secretly withdrew £100,000 from Kashoggi's Al Nasr trading company. Kashoggi issued a writ against Al-Fayed for the return of the money, and later agreed with Al-Fayed to forgive the money and other loans and debts in return for Samira's freedom to remarry and return to Egypt. Following Egyptian President Nasser's threats to expropropriate foreign businesses, Al-Fayed was able to take control of a small shipping company, owned by Leon Carasso, who wished to emigrate. Carasso later claimed that Al-Fayed had defaulted on the agreed payment for his business. Fayed also acquired interests in other transport companies at favourable prices. After Nasser ordered the confiscation of Egyptian property in 1961, Al-Fayed transferred ownership of his Middle Eastern Navigation Company to Genoa in Italy. On 12 June 1964, Al-Fayed arrived in
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
, then under the control of
François "Papa Doc" Duvalier François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 1 ...
. Al-Fayed entered the country on a Kuwaiti passport, and introduced himself as
Sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...
Mohamed Fayed. Shortly after his arrival, Duvalier cancelled a ten-year contract with a U.S. company that gave them monopoly control over Haiti's oil industry and signed a similar contract with Al-Fayed for fifty years. Al-Fayed also worked with the geologist
George de Mohrenschildt George Sergius de Mohrenschildt (April 17, 1911 – March 29, 1977) was a Russian born American petroleum geologist, anti-communist political refugee, professor, and occasional CIA field agent. He moved to the Dallas area in October 1961, and bef ...
. He terminated his stay in Haiti six months later when a sample of "crude oil" provided by Haitian associates proved to be low-grade
molasses Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...
. Al-Fayed promised to use his connections in Dubai to help bring investment to the Caribbean island, if they allowed him to build an oil refinery, and develop the wharf at
Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
. Al-Fayed had exclusive control over the collection of fees for docking, unloading, and loading at Haiti's main port, and this caused resentment in the Haitian shipping industry. Al-Fayed was 'tapped' for $30,000 by Duvalier, but rather than pay, and fearful of the growing anger of the shipping agents, he left Haiti in December 1964. Fayed later claimed that the Haitian government owed him $2 million. The 1988 Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) report on Al-Fayed's background stated "we have no doubt at all that Mohamed Fayed perpetrated a substantial deceit on the government and people of Haiti in 1964 ... he deprived the harbor authority of over US $100,000 of money it could ill-afford to lose" Fayed then moved to England, where he lived in central London.


Career in Dubai

Ingratiating himself in London's Arab expatriate community, Al-Fayed met an Iraqi businessman, Salim Abu Alwan, and through Alwan was introduced to
Mahdi Al Tajir Mohammed Mahdi Al Tajir () (born 26 December 1931) is a Bahrana- Emirati businessman based in the United Kingdom. He was the first United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom. Al Tajir spends much of his time at his London home or at K ...
.Bower 1998, p.27. Tajir was then an adviser to Sheikh
Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (; 11 June 1912 – 7 October 1990) was an Emirati royal, politician and a founder of the United Arab Emirates. Al Maktoum was the first vice president and second prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, a ...
of the United Arab Emirates. Rashid was the Emir of
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, and oil was soon to be discovered in Dubai, which would transform the wealth of the emirate. Tajir informed Al-Fayed that Dubai was penniless and needed to borrow £1 million to build modern harbour facilities. Al-Fayed secured a loan of £9 million from Imre Rochlitz, an American lawyer. Rochlitz's Jewish ancestry caused embarrassment to Tajir, and later caused Rochlitz to reject Al-Fayed's offer of a formal partnership. Al-Fayed earned £1.5 million commission from the contract for British engineering company Costain to carry out the work to the port. Al-Fayed also assisted in securing finance for the
Dubai World Trade Centre The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) () is a convention and exhibition centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  History The Dubai World Trade Centre was originally a single tower, constructed in 1979, and has since been expanded into a business d ...
. The banker David Douglas-Home of
Morgan Grenfell Morgan, Grenfell & Co. was a leading London-based investment bank regarded as one of the oldest and once most influential British merchant banks. It had its origins in a merchant banking business commenced by George Peabody. Junius Spencer Morga ...
was responsible for managing the contract. By the mid-1970s Costain had gained over £280 million of contracts thanks to Al-Fayed and Tajir, and Al-Fayed bought 20.84% of Costain's shares. He was later appointed a company director. With his earnings from commissions on various projects in Dubai, Al-Fayed bought a Rolls-Royce, a large chalet in
Gstaad Gstaad ( , ) is a town in the German language, German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society ...
, and the remaining apartments of 60
Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park to ...
in
Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...
, where he had been living for the past few years.Bower 1998, p.39. In 1974 Al-Fayed met Roland 'Tiny' Rowland, a British businessman with extensive interests in Southern Africa, and the chairman of international conglomerate
Lonrho Lonrho is a London-based conglomerate that was established in 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc. It is engaged in multiple business sectors in Africa, mainly agribusiness, infrastructure, transport, hospitality and support services. History Lonrho ...
. Fayed's complex professional relationship with Rowland dominated his life for the next twenty years, with legal repercussions continuing into the late 1990s. Rowland persuaded Al-Fayed to exchange his shares in Costain for 5.5 million shares in Lonrho in March 1975, and Al-Fayed used the profit from the deal to buy another 3 million shares in Lonrho and become a director of the company. Al-Fayed soon became alarmed at Rowland's use of Lonrho's money to fund his lifestyle and to pay large bribes in Africa, as well as his syphoning off company profits into a secret bank account in Switzerland. The British Department of Trade and Industry began to investigate Lonrho in early 1976, and an alarmed Al-Fayed quit the company in May 1976. He sold his Lonrho shares to Kuwaiti investors and bought back his Costain shares for £11 million. Tajir's influence in Dubai was waning by 1977, and Al-Fayed was excluded from the commission process for a new aluminium smelter, and the development of
Jebel Ali Jebel Ali () is a port town south-west of Dubai. The Jebel Ali Port is located there. Al Maktoum International Airport has been constructed just outside the port area. Jebel Ali is connected to Dubai via the UAE Exchange (formerly Jebel Al ...
, putting Costain's future profits at risk. In 1993 Al-Fayed was visited at Harrods by Mohammed Alabbar, the director of Dubai's Department of Economic Development. Alabbar had been appointed by Sheikh Maktoum to eradicate the system of large commission payments from previous decades. Tajir was challenged in the British courts to repay his alleged excessive profits earned from the construction of Dubai's aluminium smelter, and Al-Fayed was targeted over his management contract of the Dubai World Trade Centre. Al-Fayed's contract to manage the centre was later terminated by the Maktoums, and Al-Fayed sued them for compensation estimated between £30 to 90 million. The case came to court in October 1994, and after trying to unsuccessfully settle the case with the Maktoums, Al-Fayed was due to testify on 17 October. Al-Fayed's lawyer informed the court that morning that he had been taken seriously ill with neck and back complications, and could not fly to Dubai as a result. Alabbar had secretly taped Al-Fayed on his way to Harrods that morning, and the tapes were shown to the court the next day. Al-Fayed's lack of ill health was evident, and Al-Fayed was informed by his lawyer of the disastrous effect that his deception had on the case that day. In the mid-1960s, he met the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, who entrusted him with helping transform Dubai, where he set up IMS (International Marine Services) in 1968. Fayed introduced British companies including the Costain Group (of which he became a director and 30%
shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...
), Bernard Sunley & Sons, and
Taylor Woodrow Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival housebuilder George Wimpey ...
to the emirate to carry out construction work.


Relationship with the Sultan of Brunei

Al-Fayed became a financial adviser to the then
Sultan of Brunei The Sultan of Brunei is the monarchical head of state of Brunei and head of government in his capacity as prime minister of Brunei. Since independence from the British in 1984, only one sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates bac ...
Omar Ali Saifuddien III Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien (Jawi script, Jawi: ; 23 September 1914 – 7 September 1986) was the 28th Sultan of Brunei, reigning from 1950 until his abdication in 1967 to his oldest son, Hassanal Bolkiah. Over the course of his ...
in 1966. Al-Fayed told
Maureen Orth Maureen Orth (born 1943) is an American journalist, author, and a Special Correspondent for '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. She is the founder of Marina Orth Foundation, which has established a model education program in Colombia emphasizing technolog ...
that he had known
Hassanal Bolkiah Hassanal Bolkiah Muiz'zaddin Wad'daulah (born 15 July 1946) is the List of sultans of Brunei, Sultan of Brunei since 1967, and Prime Minister of Brunei, prime minister of Brunei since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...
, who succeeded Saifuddien on his abdication, since the sultan's childhood and that they had met during the building of a trade centre in Brunei. Tiny Rowland told DTI inspectors that Al-Fayed had told him that he negotiated an introduction to the sultan for $500,000 plus a percentage of any resulting business with an Indian holy man and alleged fraudster, Shri Chandra Swamiji Maharaj. Rowland later admitted this account was untrue. In mid-1984 Al-Fayed received several powers of attorney and written authorisations from the sultan to carry out tasks for him. These gave Al-Fayed access to large sums of the sultan's money. The sultan was then the richest man in the world. During this period, the bank of the three Fayed brothers, the
Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...
, received a transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from Switzerland into their accounts. RBS assumed that the money belonged to the sultan, but Al-Fayed told the bank that his portfolio was separate from the sultan's. The DTI report noted that "It may be no more than coincidence that this vast increase in disposable wealth followed quickly on the admission of Mohamed to the sultan's confidence ... It is, however, a very powerful coincidence." Using a power of attorney, Al-Fayed bought the
Dorchester Hotel The Dorchester is a five-star hotel located on Park Lane and Deanery Street in London, to the east of Hyde Park. It is one of the world's most prestigious hotels. The Dorchester opened on 18 April 1931, and it still retains its 1930s furnis ...
for the sultan in 1985. Al-Fayed accompanied the sultan to
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...
to visit Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
in January 1985, with sterling in decline and threatening the economy. The sultan, who had moved £5 billion of assets out of pounds, moved the assets back into sterling. Al-Fayed took credit for this and for persuading the sultan to give half a billion pounds of contracts to British defence industries.


Rowland and later business career

Fayed briefly joined the board of the mining conglomerate
Lonrho Lonrho is a London-based conglomerate that was established in 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc. It is engaged in multiple business sectors in Africa, mainly agribusiness, infrastructure, transport, hospitality and support services. History Lonrho ...
in 1975 but left after a disagreement. In 1979 he bought the Ritz hotel in Paris, France, for US$30 million. In 1984 Fayed and his brothers purchased a 30% stake in
House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...
, a group that included the London store of
Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...
, from Tiny Rowland. In 1985, he and his brothers bought the remaining 70% of House of Fraser for £615 million. Rowland claimed that the Fayed brothers lied about their background and wealth, and he put pressure on the government to investigate them. A DTI inquiry into the Fayeds was launched. The DTI's subsequent report was critical, but no action was taken against the Fayeds, and while many believed the contents of the report, others felt it was politically motivated. Rowland described his relationship with the Fayed family in his book ''A Hero from Zero''. In 1998 Rowland, who died that year, accused Fayed of stealing papers and jewels from his Harrods
safe deposit box A safe deposit box, sometimes referred to as a safety deposit box, is an individually secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions. S ...
. Fayed was arrested, along with the director of Harrods security, John MacNamara, and four other employees, but the charges were dropped. Sensitive documents were stolen, along with jewellery, rare stamps and a gold cigarette case, among other items. Fayed settled the dispute with a payment to Rowland's widow; he also sued the Metropolitan Police for false arrest in 2002, but lost the case. In 1994 House of Fraser went public, but Fayed retained ownership of Harrods. He unsuccessfully applied for
British citizenship The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...
twice, in 1994 and 1999. It has been suggested that his feud with Rowland contributed to the first refusal. In 1996 Al-Fayed bought the rights to the historic British humorous magazine '' Punch'', and it was relaunched later that year, at a cost of £3 million, under new editor Peter McKay.John Morrish, Paul Bradshaw, ''Magazine Editing: In Print and Online''. Routledge, 2012. (p. ƒƒ32). ''Punch'' had previously been published from 1841 to 1992. The relaunch was not successful, with ''Punch'' failing to match its satirical competitor, ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...
''. ''Punch'' folded for a second time in 2002. In January 1997 Al-Fayed established a new political organisation, The People's Trust, to promote a crusade against a "culture of violence". The establishment of The People's Trust followed Al-Fayed's support for anti-abortion candidates and the Christian Democrat, the newspaper of the Movement for Christian Democracy. The People's Trust planned to write to all candidates in the
1997 United Kingdom general election The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a Landslide victory, la ...
in order to identify a group of MPs who put "their consciences, their constituents and their country at the heart of their politics, rather than their party" The People's Trust was dissolved in September 1998 after failing to file its accounts. After '' Vanity Fair'' published
Maureen Orth Maureen Orth (born 1943) is an American journalist, author, and a Special Correspondent for '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. She is the founder of Marina Orth Foundation, which has established a model education program in Colombia emphasizing technolog ...
's article "
Holy War at Harrods "Holy War at Harrods" is a 1995 magazine article by Maureen Orth that was published in ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair''. The article was about businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed and detailed his career and his management of the London department ...
", Al-Fayed sued the American magazine for libel in September 1995 but withdrew his suit in 1997. Al-Fayed invited
Tom Bower Thomas Michael Bower (born 28 September 1946) is a British writer and former BBC journalist and television producer. He is known for his investigative journalism and for his unauthorised biographies, often of business tycoons and newspaper pr ...
to write his biography in 1996. Bower's biography, '' Fayed: The Unauthorized Biography'' was published in 1998. Al-Fayed announced his intention to sue, but withdrew his suit. Orth and Bower were both attempted victims of entrapment by Al-Fayed, with Al-Fayed's staff offering allegedly stolen documents to the writers.


Cash-for-questions

In 1994, in what became known as the
cash-for-questions affair The cash-for-questions affair was a political scandal of the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It began in October 1994 when ''The Guardian'' newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, ...
, Fayed revealed the names of MPs he had paid to ask questions in
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
on his behalf, but who had failed to declare their fees. It saw
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith leave the government in disgrace, and a
Committee on Standards in Public Life The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister on ethical standard ...
established to prevent such corruption occurring again. Fayed also revealed that cabinet minister
Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving until 1997), and wa ...
stayed for free at the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the same time as a group of Saudi arms dealers, leading to Aitken's unsuccessful libel case and later imprisonment for
perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...
. During this period, Al-Fayed's spokesman was Michael Cole, a former
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
journalist. Hamilton lost a libel action against Al-Fayed in December 1999 and an appeal against the verdict in December 2000. The former MP has always denied that he was paid by Al-Fayed for asking questions in Parliament. Hamilton's libel action related to a
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
'' Dispatches'' documentary broadcast on 16 January 1997 in which Al-Fayed stated that the MP had received up to £110,000 in cash and other gratuities for asking parliamentary questions. Hamilton's basis for his appeal was that the original verdict was invalid because Al-Fayed had paid £10,000 for documents stolen from the dustbins of Hamilton's legal representatives by Benjamin Pell. In 2003 Fayed moved from
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
to Switzerland, alleging a breach in an agreement with the British tax authority. In 2005, he moved back to Britain, saying that he "regards Britain as home". He moored a yacht called the ''
Sokar Sokar (; also spelled Seker, and in Ancient Greek language, Greek, Sokaris or Socharis) is a hawk or falcon god of the Memphis, Egypt, Memphite necropolis in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was known as a patron of the living, as well as a go ...
'' in
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
prior to selling it in 2014.


House of Fraser group and Harrods

In 1984, Al-Fayed and his brother Ali, purchased a 30 per cent stake for £138 million in the
House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...
, a group that included the
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
department store
Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...
, from Tiny Rowland, the head of Lonrho. Lonrho had been pursuing control of the House of Fraser since 1977, and had been prevented from acquiring the company by the
Monopolies and Mergers Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under UK competition law, competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competiti ...
in a 1981 ruling, although its purchase of ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' was approved. After his purchase of the House of Fraser shares, Al-Fayed demanded that Rowland leave the board of House of Fraser, and courted the chairman of House of Fraser, Roland Smith, who received a retroactive bonus once Al-Fayed had acquired the company. The
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumb ...
,
John Biffen William John Biffen, Baron Biffen, (3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of parliament from 1961 to 1997, and served in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet; he then served in the House of ...
, ruled that Lonrho must give an undertaking not to buy any more shares in the House of Fraser, a ruling that left Roland "incandescent". Following the ruling Rowland began to sell shares to Al-Fayed, whom he had met while Al-Fayed was briefly a director of Lonrho. Rowland later said that "I knew that Tootsie (as Rowland called Al-Fayed) could never afford to purchase the whole of House of Fraser." Al-Fayed bought the remaining 70 per cent of the House of Fraser in early 1985 for £615 million, sparking a bitter feud between him and Rowland. The former editor of ''The Observer'', Donald Trelford, believes that Rowland was "...certainly motivated in his vendetta against Al-Fayed by outrage at having been conned. But he was also convinced that his shareholders had been cheated." Rowland felt his shareholders had been cheated as he believed Al-Fayed had used a power of attorney that he held for the
Sultan of Brunei The Sultan of Brunei is the monarchical head of state of Brunei and head of government in his capacity as prime minister of Brunei. Since independence from the British in 1984, only one sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates bac ...
, then the richest man in the world, to fund the purchase. Rowland's bitterness also came from his belief that Al-Fayed had lied to the British government about the sources of his wealth, and that the government had failed to investigate Al-Fayed's credentials and had approved the sale without a reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (while Lonrho had faced three inquiries under the commission), and that the new trade secretary,
Norman Tebbit Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, (born 29 March 1931) is a British retired politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1 ...
, had prevented Lonrho from bidding while Al-Fayed's deal went through.


Origins of wealth

To take control of the House of Fraser group, the Al-Fayed brothers had to convince the British government that they possessed sufficient assets to securely purchase the group. The Al-Fayeds invented a spurious family history of old money for themselves. Represented by the investment bankers
Kleinwort Benson Kleinwort Benson was a leading investment bank that offered a wide range of financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Two families, the Kleinworts and the Bensons, founded two different merchant banks in ...
and the law firm
Herbert Smith Herbert Smith LLP was a multinational law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm was founded in the City of London in 1882 by Norman Herbert Smith and merged with the Australian law firm Freehills on 1 October 2012, forming Herb ...
, the Al-Fayeds' bankers submitted to the government a one and a half page summary of their assets, which the government accepted. The Al-Fayed brothers claimed they were from a family of wealthy cotton traders. Their wealth was estimated by their bankers, Kleinwort Benson, to total "several billion dollars". A press release by Kleinwort Benson stated that the Al-Fayeds were an "old established Egyptian family who for more than 100 years were ship owners, land owners and industrialists in Egypt." The report said that they were raised in Britain and fled Egypt following the rise to power of
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
. The DTI report came to very different conclusions about the scale of their wealth, stating that;

If people had known, for instance, that they only owned one luxury hotel; that their interests in oil exploration consortia were of no current value; that their banking interests consisted of less than 5 percent of the issued share capital of a bank and were worth less than $10 million; that they had no current interests in construction projects: that far from being 'leading shipowners in the liner trade' they only owned two roll-on roll-off 1600 ton cargo ferries; if all these facts had been known people would have been less disposed to believe that the Al-Fayeds really owned the money they were using to buy HOF (House of Fraser)

''1988 DTI report into the background of the Fayed brothers''

In March 1985 the Al-Fayeds announced a formal cash offer for House of Fraser of £615 million, which Kleinwort claimed was untethered by any borrowings. There has not yet been a comprehensive account of Al-Fayeds finances in 1985, but the DTI report claimed that by October 1984 the Al-Fayeds had at least $600 million in the Royal Bank of Scotland and in a Swiss bank at their disposal. "We were not told the source of any of these funds or given a credible story as to how and where they were obtained", said the DTI inspectors. The money the Al-Fayeds claimed as their own was apparently used as collateral in order to guarantee a loan of more than £400 million to buy House of Fraser. Al-Fayed told
Maureen Orth Maureen Orth (born 1943) is an American journalist, author, and a Special Correspondent for '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. She is the founder of Marina Orth Foundation, which has established a model education program in Colombia emphasizing technolog ...
in an interview that "If you have a company with tremendous assets like Harrods...you have no problem. You don't need to use cash." The first loan, from a Swiss bank, was replaced with another loan secured by House of Fraser shares, the Al-Fayeds had acquired the House of Fraser with none of their own money used to purchase it. The Al-Fayeds ownership of Harrods was complete when the British government issued a press release announcing that it would not refer the Al-Fayeds' bid to the
Monopolies and Mergers Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under UK competition law, competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competiti ...
. During the final stages of the Al-Fayeds purchase of Harrods,
Tiny Rowland Roland Walter "Tiny" Rowland (; 27 November 1917 – 25 July 1998) was a British businessman, corporate raider and the chief executive of the Lonrho conglomerate from 1962 to 1993. He gained fame from a number of high-profile takeover bids, in p ...
wrote to the
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumb ...
,
Norman Tebbit Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, (born 29 March 1931) is a British retired politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment (1981–1 ...
, repudiating the Al-Fayeds story of the origin of their families wealth. Rowland also enlisted the help of Ashraf Marwan, to aid him in his exposing of the Al-Fayeds. ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' newspaper, owned by Rowland, was used to attack the Al-Fayeds. Al-Fayed issued a libel suit against ''The Observer'', and other newspapers critical of the Al-Fayeds were routinely threatened or issued with similar writs. All critical reporting of the Al-Fayeds outside of the ''Observer'' was virtually stopped.


1988 DTI Report

From 1985 until 1987 Rowland led a worldwide investigation into Al-Fayed and his acquisition of Harrods. He employed accountants and solicitors, private detectives and freelance journalists in an operation, said to cost many millions of pounds, that was beyond the scope of any newspaper inquiry. Illicit bugging devices were used and some of the money went in bribes to officials to unearth incriminating documents in Egypt, Haiti, Dubai, Brunei, France and Switzerland, allegedly proving fraudulent dealings by Al-Fayed and showing his humble origins and limited net worth. The results of Rowland's investigations into the Al-Fayeds were given to the Sunday newspaper ''The Observer'', owned by Lonrho. ''The Observer'' campaigned for an inquiry into the House of Fraser purchase, and an inquiry by inspectors from the Department of Trade and Industry was delivered in July 1988, but the DTI declined to publish it. Rowland obtained a copy in 1989, and the report was published in a special free sixteen page edition of ''The Observer'' on a Thursday morning. Publishing the report helped put the DTI inspectors' findings into the public arena, helping ''The Observer''s libel defence, with the aim of pressuring the government into releasing the report. Lawyers from the DTI produced a court injunction and ordered all copies of ''The Observer''s version of the report to be handed over or pulped. The report was officially published in 1990. The DTI report said that the Al-Fayed brothers had 'dishonestly represented their origins, their wealth, their business interests and their resources to the Secretary of State, to the Office of Fair Trading, to the House of Fraser board and shareholders, and their own advisers' Rowland and the Lohnro group had previously been strongly criticised by a 1976 DTI report, and had been described by Prime Minister Edward Heath as "an unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism". In 1993 the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
dismissed a case brought by Al-Fayed and his brothers against the British Government, which had accused them of misrepresentation in the DTI report. They contended that the report had ruined their reputation and was not subject to appeal.


Ownership of Harrods

Harrods had entered a steady decline under Hugh Fraser, yet still accounted for half of the House of Fraser group's profits. Determined to restore Harrods' fortunes, Al-Fayed hired Brian Walsh as manager of House of Fraser. Walsh created divisions in the company, and more than 200 buyers resigned in the next two years. Following arguments with Al-Fayed, Walsh was fired in October 1987. To calm staff, Al-Fayed distributed envelopes containing £2,000 in cash. Following Walsh's departure, Al-Fayed moved his offices onto the fifth floor of Harrods, and took a more hands-on role as chairman of the store. Walsh was replaced by Michael Ellis-Jones, who was fired after eight weeks. Christoph Bettermann became the deputy chairman of Harrods in 1990, after having worked for Al-Fayed in Dubai since 1984. Bettermann was approached to work in the
Emirate of Sharjah The Emirate of Sharjah (; ') is one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates, which covers and has a population of over 1,400,000 (2015). It comprises the capital city of Sharjah, after which it is named, and other minor towns and exclave ...
, in April 1991, and in June, Bettermann told
Maureen Orth Maureen Orth (born 1943) is an American journalist, author, and a Special Correspondent for '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. She is the founder of Marina Orth Foundation, which has established a model education program in Colombia emphasizing technolog ...
, Al-Fayed "showed me a written transcript of a phone conversation between the headhunter and me. He accused me of breaking our trust by talking to these people. I told him, 'If you don't trust me, I resign. I cannot trust you if you bugged my phone.'" Bettermann quit his job at Harrods and went to work for an oil company in Sharjah. Al-Fayed wrote to the ruler of Sharjah, and accused Bettermann of stealing large sums of money. Bettermann was cleared by three courts in which Fayed had pressed charges. Al-Fayed delighted in retail theatre, and during his 25 years at Harrods dressed as a Harrods doorman, a boy scout and Father Christmas over the years. Celebrities were also hired to open the annual Harrods sale, and Harrods sponsored the annual Royal Windsor Horse Show as it had done since 1982. In 1997 Harrods' sponsorship of the horse show was terminated after Prime Minister
John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...
had urged the chairman of the show to find a new sponsor to save Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
from association with Al-Fayed. The artist and designer, William Mitchell, was hired by Al-Fayed to create an 'entertaining retail environment'; this resulted in the creation of an Egyptian Hall on the ground floor of Harrods and, following its success, the Egyptian Escalators, which replaced the store's central lifts. Mitchell also designed memorials for Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales at Harrods. Al-Fayed claimed to have invested more than £400 million restoring Harrods, with £20 million or £75 million being spent on the Egyptian escalator. In 1991 the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee told the
Governor of the Bank of England The governor of the Bank of England is the most senior position in the Bank of England. It is nominally a civil service post, but the appointment tends to be from within the bank, with the incumbent choosing and mentoring a successor. The governor ...
, Robin Leigh-Pemberton to order the Fayeds to transfer control of the Harrods Bank to trustees, after they found that the Fayeds were not "fit and proper" to run the bank. Al-Fayed bought his brother, Saleh, out of his interest in Harrods for £100 million in 1994. In 1994, before
House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...
plc was relisted on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
, Harrods was moved out of the group so that it could remain under the private ownership of Al-Fayed and his family.


Employee relations

Al-Fayed was concerned by the loyalty of his staff, and employed two young Greek women as spies, to report on their fellow employees.Bower 1998, p. 200. The telephones of the shop workers' trade union,
USDAW The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of over 360,000 members. Usdaw members work in a variety of occupations and industries including: shopworkers, factory and warehouse wor ...
were bugged. Employees were signed to three-month contracts, and were often fired without agreed compensation, and forced to go to an industrial tribunal. Al-Fayed also listened in to his employees, and secretly recorded conversations about their sex lives.Bower 1998, p. 236. Al-Fayed would customarily fire employees who offended his idea of aesthetics, being most offended by overweight staff or black people. To avoid hiring black people, Harrods required applicants to submit photographs.Bower 1998, p.202. The number of black people employed by Harrods was eventually half the number employed by other London stores. Francesca Bettermann, Harrods former legal counsel, said of Al-Fayed "He likes a pretty face. He wouldn't hire someone who was ugly. He liked them light-skinned, well educated, English, and young...I remember there was something on the application form that said, 'Your colour, race' I said, 'You're not allowed to put that on the form,' and he said, 'Well, make sure they put proper photos in, then.'" In 1994 Harrods settled five racial-discrimination cases brought against the company, and, according to trade union officials, between June and September 1994, 23 of the 28 staff fired were black people, who had held mostly menial jobs. A florist was rejected for employment by Harrods because she was black. The chairman of the subsequent industrial tribunal condemned Harrods's defence as 'malicious and dishonest', stating 'there was an act of blatant racial discrimination...by a very senior personnel officer working in a very large organisation...there was lying and deceit on the part of Harrods personnel to conceal the act of discrimination. There was dishonest testimony by Harrods personnel'.


Royal warrants

In August 2010, in a letter to the ''
Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...
'', Al-Fayed revealed that he had burnt Harrods's royal warrants, after taking them down in 2000. Harrods had held the Royal warrants since 1910. Describing the warrants as a "curse", Al-Fayed claimed that business had tripled since their removal. The
Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...
removed his warrant in January 2000, and the other warrants were removed from Harrods by Al-Fayed in December, pending their five-yearly review. The Duke of Edinburgh had been banned from Harrods by Al-Fayed. Film of the burning of the warrants in 2009 was shown in the final scene of ''Unlawful Killing'', a film funded by Al-Fayed and directed by Keith Allen.


Sale of Harrods

After denials that it was for sale, Harrods was sold to Qatar Holdings, the
sovereign wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as ...
of the emirate of
Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
in May 2010. A spokesman for Al-Fayed said "in reaching the decision to retire, (Al-Fayed) wished to ensure that the legacy and traditions that he has built up in Harrods would be continued." Harrods was sold for £1.5 billion. Al-Fayed later said that he decided to sell Harrods following the difficulty in getting his
dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...
approved by the trustee of the Harrods pension fund. Fayed said "I'm here every day, I can't take my profit because I have to take a permission of those bloody idiots...I say is this right? Is this logic? Somebody like me? I run a business and I need to take bloody fucking trustee's permission to take my profit". Al-Fayed was appointed honorary chairman of Harrods, for six months.


Scotland real estate

In 1972 Fayed purchased the Balnagown estate in
Easter Ross Easter Ross () is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland. The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scotti ...
in northern Scotland. From an initial , Al-Fayed went on to build the estate up to . He invested more than £20 million in the estate, restored the 14th-century pink
Balnagown Castle Balnagown Castle (also Balnagowan)(Ross Castle) is beside the village of Kildary in Easter Ross, part of the Highland area of Scotland. There has been a castle on the site since the 14th century, although the present building was remodelled in ...
, and created a tourist accommodation business. The Highlands of Scotland tourist board awarded Al-Fayed the Freedom of the
Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...
in 2002, in recognition of his "efforts to promote the area". As an Egyptian with links to Scotland, Al-Fayed funded a 2008 reprint of the 15th-century chronicle ''
Scotichronicon The ''Scotichronicon'' is a 15th-century chronicle by the Scottish historian Walter Bower. It is a continuation of historian-priest John of Fordun's earlier work '' Chronica Gentis Scotorum'' beginning with the founding of Ireland and thereby ...
'' by
Walter Bower Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotl ...
. The ''Scotichronicon'' describes how Scota, a daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh, fled her family and landed in Scotland, bringing with her the
Stone of Scone The Stone of Scone (; , meaning Stone of Destiny, also called clach-na-cinneamhuinn; ) is an oblong block of red sandstone that was used in the coronation of Scottish monarchs until the 13th century, and thereafter in the coronation of Englis ...
. According to the chronicle, Scotland was later named in her honour. The tale is disputed by modern historians. Al-Fayed later declared that "The Scots are originally Egyptians and that's the truth." In 2009 Al-Fayed revealed that he was a supporter of
Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...
from the United Kingdom, announcing to the Scots that "It's time for you to waken up and detach yourselves from the English and their terrible politicians...whatever help is needed for Scotland to regain its independence, I will provide it...when you Scots regain your freedom, I am ready to be your president."


Charity

Fayed set up the Al Fayed Charitable Foundation in 1987 aiming to help children with life-limiting conditions and children living in poverty. The charity works mainly with charities and hospices for disabled and neglected children in the UK, Thailand, and Mongolia. It works with charities including Francis House Hospice in Manchester,
Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...
, and ChildLine. In September 1997, West Heath School in
Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...
, Kent, United Kingdom, was placed into receivership. West Heath was the former school of
Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...
. Al-Fayed bought the school for £2.5 million in May 1998 and it became the new premises for the Beth Marie Centre for Traumatised Children, which had previously been based in Sevenoaks. The school reopened as The New School at West Heath in September 1998. In 2011 Mohamed Al-Fayed's daughter Camilla, who had worked as an ambassador for the charity for eight years, opened the newly refurbished Zoe's Place baby hospice in
West Derby West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...
, Liverpool.


Fulham F.C.

Al-Fayed bought west London professional football club
Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of English football league system, English football. They have played home games at Craven ...
for £6.75 million in 1997. The purchase was made via Bill Muddyman's Muddyman Group. His long-term aim was that Fulham would become a
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
side within five years. In the 2000–01 season, Fulham won the First Division under manager
Jean Tigana Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former football player and manager. A central midfielder, he was renowned as one of the best midfielders in the world during the 1980s. He spent his entire playing career in France, and made 5 ...
, winning 101 points and scoring 90 goals, and were promoted to the Premier League. This meant that Al-Fayed had achieved his Premier League aim a year ahead of schedule. By 2002, Fulham were competing in European football, winning the
Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...
and participating in the
UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
. Fulham reached the 2010 UEFA Europa League final, which they lost to Atletico Madrid, and continued to play in the Premier League throughout Al-Fayed's tenure as owner, which ended in 2013. Fulham temporarily left
Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...
while it was being upgraded to meet modern safety standards. There were fears that the club would not return to the Cottage after it was revealed that Al-Fayed had sold the first right to build on the ground to a property development firm. Fulham lost a legal case against former manager Tigana in 2004 after Al-Fayed had wrongly alleged that Tigana had overpaid more than £7m for new players and had negotiated transfers in secret. In 2009, Al-Fayed said that he was in favour of a wage cap for footballers, and criticised the management of
The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
and
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
as "run by donkeys who don't understand business, who are dazzled by money." A statue of the American entertainer
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
was unveiled by Al-Fayed in April 2011 at Craven Cottage. In 1999 Jackson had attended a league game against
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...
at the stadium. Following criticism of the statue, Al-Fayed said "If some stupid fans don't understand and appreciate such a gift this guy gave to the world they can go to hell. I don't want them to be fans." The statue was taken down by the club's new owners in 2013; Al-Fayed blamed the club's subsequent relegation from the Premier League on the 'bad luck' brought by its removal. Al-Fayed then donated the statue to the
National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of Football in England, football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of association football, football ...
. In March 2019, the statue was removed from the museum, with a spokesperson saying it had been planned for "several months" to introduce exhibits that "better represent" football; the removal followed accusations of child sexual abuse by Jackson in the documentary ''
Leaving Neverland ''Leaving Neverland'' is a 2019 documentary television film directed and produced by Dan Reed. The documentary focuses on two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who allege they were sexually abused as children by the American singer Mich ...
''. Under Al-Fayed Fulham F.C. was owned by Mafco Holdings, based in the
tax haven A tax haven is a term, often used pejoratively, to describe a place with very low tax rates for Domicile (law), non-domiciled investors, even if the official rates may be higher. In some older definitions, a tax haven also offers Bank secrecy, ...
of
Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...
and in turn owned by Al-Fayed and his family. By 2011, Al-Fayed had lent Fulham F.C. £187 million in interest free loans. In July 2013, it was announced that Al-Fayed had sold the club to Pakistani American businessman
Shahid Khan Shahid Rafiq "Shad" Khan (; born July 18, 1950)" ...
, who owns the
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
's
Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...
.


Business interests

Al-Fayed's business interests included: * Balnagowan Castle & Estates,
Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...
*
75 Rockefeller Plaza 75 Rockefeller Plaza is a skyscraper on the north side of 51st Street in New York City, originally built as a northern extension of Rockefeller Center. History In July 1944, the Rockefellers began planning a new 16-story tower to house the Sta ...
, New York City – built in 1947, originally the Esso Building, later the Time Warner Building; owned by Al-Fayed and managed and leased by
RXR Realty RXR Realty is a vertically integrated real estate and infrastructure owner, investor, operator, and developer headquartered in New York City. The firm’s portfolio of commercial, residential, multifamily, infrastructure, and logistics projects i ...
His major business purchases included: * House of Fraser Group, including
Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...
(1985, £615 million; sold 2010, £1.5 billion) * Fulham Football Club (1997, £30 million; sold 2013 for between £150 and £200 million) * After the death of
Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer and then Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986) was an American socialite and the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII). Their intentio ...
, Fayed took over the lease of the Villa Windsor in Paris, the former home of the Duchess of Windsor and her husband, the Duke of Windsor, previously
Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...
. Together with his valet Sydney Johnson, who had also been valet to the Duke, he organised the restoration of the villa and its collections.


Media interests

In 1996 Al-Fayed established Liberty Publishing, with the goal of the company stated as "to launch and acquire or take strategic interests in significant media businesses". The chairman of Liberty Publishing was
Stewart Steven Stewart Gustav Steven (born Stefan Gustaf Cohen; 30 September 1935 – 19 January 2004) was a British newspaper editor and journalist who grew circulation but whose career was marked by three major errors. Biography Born in Hamburg to Jewis ...
, the former editor of the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'', with John Dux the chief executive, a former managing director of
News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
. Al-Fayed had failed in bids to buy the newspaper ''
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...
'' from
Lonrho Lonrho is a London-based conglomerate that was established in 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc. It is engaged in multiple business sectors in Africa, mainly agribusiness, infrastructure, transport, hospitality and support services. History Lonrho ...
in 1986 and from
News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
in 1995. Al-Fayed believed that the British government had put pressure on
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
, CEO of News International not to sell the newspaper to him.Bower 1998, p. 374.
Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire ...
was recruited by Liberty Publishing, and helped agree a £4 million takeover of
London News Radio LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed Commercial broadc ...
. The takeover later collapsed. Steven dined with Hugo Young, chairman of the
Scott Trust The Scott Trust Limited is the British limited company that owns Guardian Media Group and thus ''The Guardian'' as well as various other media businesses in the UK. It was created to acquire ''The Guardian'' in 1936, and reorganised as a limited ...
at the
Garrick Club The Garrick Club is a private members' club in London, founded in 1831 as a club for "actors and men of refinement to meet on equal terms". It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world. Its 1,500 members include many actors, writers, ...
, and offered a cheque for £17 million from Al-Fayed for ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' newspaper. Young declined this offer, and another of £25 million.Bower 1998, p. 376. A women-only radio station, Viva Radio, was bought for £3 million in May 1996. Viva Radio was renamed Liberty Radio, and broadcast commentaries of
Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of English football league system, English football. They have played home games at Craven ...
's home and away games. The station was sold to UCKG in 2000. Due to debts of £6.5 million, Liberty Publishing was wound down by Al-Fayed's brother, Ali, in 1996. Steven, Dux and Mike Hollingsworth were fired, but Andrew Neil was retained as a consultant.


Property

Al-Fayed owned 55 and 60
Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park to ...
, and a building on South Street,
Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...
. All three buildings were secretly connected to the
Dorchester Hotel The Dorchester is a five-star hotel located on Park Lane and Deanery Street in London, to the east of Hyde Park. It is one of the world's most prestigious hotels. The Dorchester opened on 18 April 1931, and it still retains its 1930s furnis ...
, which Al-Fayed purchased for
Hassanal Bolkiah Hassanal Bolkiah Muiz'zaddin Wad'daulah (born 15 July 1946) is the List of sultans of Brunei, Sultan of Brunei since 1967, and Prime Minister of Brunei, prime minister of Brunei since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...
, the
Sultan of Brunei The Sultan of Brunei is the monarchical head of state of Brunei and head of government in his capacity as prime minister of Brunei. Since independence from the British in 1984, only one sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates bac ...
. In 1995
Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. Full council meetings ...
believed that Hyde Park Residences, the company letting 170 luxury flats at 55 and 60 Park Lane, had been wrongly reporting the flats as let on long leases to avoid paying higher business rates due on short tenancies.Bower 1998, p.368. The council demanded an additional £1.1 million, and Al-Fayed believed that the letting agent, Sandra Lewis-Glass had betrayed his confidence to the council. After bugging Lewis-Glass's telephone calls and placing her under surveillance, John McNamara, the head of Al-Fayed's security and a former Metropolitan Police officer, alleged to police that she had stolen two floppy disks worth 80 pence. Denying the accusation, Lewis-Glass was released without charge, and later sued for wrongful dismissal, winning £13,500. In the early 1970s Al-Fayed purchased the Castle St. Therese in the Parc de St Tropez on the
French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...
,Bower 1998, p.43. a chalet in
Gstaad Gstaad ( , ) is a town in the German language, German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society ...
, Switzerland, and Barrow Green Court and farm, near
Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge District, Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is at the foot of the North Downs, south-east of Croydon, west of Sevenoaks, and north of East Grinstead. Oxted is a commuter town and Ox ...
, Surrey. In '' Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK'' the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...
denied Al-Fayed compensation after an energy company, Star Energy, had drilled for oil under his Surrey estate. Al-Fayed originally won a share of the oil proceeds at the High Court, but was later told by appeal judges he could only claim damages. Bocardo SA was a company owned by Al-Fayed that owned his estates in Scotland and Surrey; it was based in
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...
.


Personal life

Fayed was married from 1954 to 1956 to
Samira Khashoggi Samira Khashoggi (, 1935 – March 1986) was a Saudi Arabian progressive author, as well as the founder of ''Al Sharkiah'' magazine. She was the sister of the Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi. She was the first wife of Egyptian businessman Moham ...
. He worked with his brother-in-law, Saudi Arabian arms dealer and businessman
Adnan Khashoggi Adnan Khashoggi (; 25 July 1935 – 6 June 2017) was a Saudi businessman and arms dealer known for his business dealings, extensive geopolitical influence, and opulent lifestyle, which earned him the moniker "''The Jay Gatsby, Great Gatsby ...
. In 1985, Fayed married the Finnish socialite and former model
Heini Wathén Heini Wathén-Fayed (' Wathén; born 24 February 1955) is a Finnish socialite and former model. She is the widow of Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. She was an officer for The Ritz Hotel, London. Modeling career Heini Wathén signed wit ...
, with whom he had four children, including Omar. Sometime in the early 1970s, he began using the prefix ''al-'' () in his name, rendering his name in English as "al-Fayed" rather than simply "Fayed". In Arabic names, the word ''al-'', in conjunction with the name of an ancestor, means ''family of'' or ''House of''. This aristocratic prefix led to ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...
'' magazine nicknaming him the "Phoney Pharaoh". His brothers Ali and Salah followed suit at the time of their acquisition of the
House of Fraser House of Fraser (rebranding to Frasers) is a British department store chain with 23 locations across the United Kingdom and 2 in Ireland, part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it ...
in the 1980s, though by the late 1980s, both had backtracked on the practice.
Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...
, the former editor of the ''
Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...
'', wrote that Al-Fayed had "harried"
Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-British writer and former politician, Publishing, newspaper publisher, Investor, financier, and Fraudster, convicted fraudster. Black's father was businessma ...
, the former owner of the ''Daily Telegraph'', "in pursuit of his demand to be referred to in our newspaper as "Al Fayed". I sent the chairman a note, explaining that this was a long-running saga: "The Fayeds have been seeking for years to call themselves Al Fayed, just as a socially ambitious Frenchman might seek to style himself de Fayed, or a German von Fayed ... At one level, it is harmless if the Fayeds wish to call themselves kings of Sheba, but I always feel determined to demonstrate that we will not be threatened."


Death of Dodi Fayed


Background and relationship with Princess Diana

Lady Diana Spencer Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...
married
Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
, Prince of Wales, then
heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...
to the
British throne The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British cons ...
in 1981, becoming
Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (; ) is a title used since the 14th century by the wife of the Prince of Wales. The Princess is the apparent future queen consort, as "Prince of Wales" is a title reserved by custom for the heir apparent to the Monarchy of the ...
. She was an international celebrity and a frequent visitor to Harrods in the 1980s. Al-Fayed and Dodi first met Diana and Charles in July 1986 when they were introduced at a
polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...
tournament sponsored by Harrods. Diana and Charles divorced in 1996. She was hosted by Al-Fayed in the
south of France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
in mid-1997, with her sons, Princes
William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
and Harry. For the holiday, Fayed bought a 195 ft yacht, the '' Jonikal'' (later renamed the ''Sokar''). Dodi and Diana later began a private cruise on the ''Jonikal'' and paparazzi photographs of the couple in an embrace were published. Diana's friend, the journalist Richard Kay, confirmed that Diana was involved in "her first serious romance" since her divorce. Dodi and Diana went on a second private cruise on the ''Jonikal'' in the third week of August, and returned from
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
to Paris on 30 August. Later that day, the couple privately dined at the Ritz, after the behaviour of the press caused them to cancel a restaurant reservation. They planned to spend the night at Dodi's apartment near the
Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...
. In an attempt to deceive the
paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...
, a decoy car left the front of the hotel, while Diana and Dodi departed from the rear of the hotel in a Mercedes-Benz S280 driven by concierge Henri Paul. Five minutes later, the car crashed in the
Pont de l'Alma Pont, meaning "bridge" in French, may refer to: Places France * Pont, Côte-d'Or, in the Côte-d'Or ''département'' * Pont-Bellanger, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-d'Ouilly, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-Farcy, in the Cal ...
tunnel. Dodi and Paul were killed; Diana died later in hospital. British bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who sustained a serious head injury, was the sole survivor of the crash. Fayed arrived in Paris a day later and viewed Dodi's body, which was returned to the United Kingdom for an
Islamic funeral Islamic funerals () follow fairly specific rites, though they are subject to regional interpretation and variation in custom. In all cases, however, sharia (Islamic religious law) calls for burial of the body as soon as possible. The deceased is ...
.


Conspiracy theories

From February 1998, Al-Fayed maintained that the crash was a result of a conspiracy, and later contended that the crash was orchestrated by
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
on the instructions of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...
. His claims were dismissed by a French judicial investigation, but Fayed appealed the verdict. The British
Operation Paget Operation Paget was the British Metropolitan Police inquiry established in 2004 to investigate the conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris in 1997. The inquiry's first report with the findings of t ...
, a Metropolitan police inquiry that concluded in 2006, also found no evidence of a conspiracy. To Operation Paget, Al-Fayed made 175 "conspiracy claims". An inquest headed by Lord Justice Scott Baker into the deaths of Diana and Dodi began at the
Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...
, London, on 2 October 2007 and lasted for six months. It was a continuation of the original inquest that had begun in 2004. At the Scott Baker inquest, Fayed accused the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales,
Lady Sarah McCorquodale Lady Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia McCorquodale (''née'' Spencer; born 19 March 1955) is one of the two older sisters of Diana, Princess of Wales, the other being Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes. For a short period of time, she dated Prince Charles ...
, her sister, and numerous others, of plotting to kill the Princess of Wales. Their motive, he claimed, was that they could not tolerate the idea of the Princess marrying a
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
. Al-Fayed first claimed that the Princess was pregnant to the ''
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' in May 2001, and that he was the only person who had been told. Witnesses at the inquest who said the Princess was not pregnant, and could not have been, were part of the conspiracy according to Al-Fayed. Fayed's testimony at the inquest was roundly condemned in the press as farcical. Members of the British Government's
Intelligence and Security Committee The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) is a statutory joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, appointed to oversee the work of the UK intelligence community. The committee was established in 1994 by the ...
accused Fayed of turning the inquest into a 'circus' and called for it to be ended prematurely. Lawyers representing Al-Fayed later accepted at the inquest that there was no direct evidence that either the Duke of Edinburgh or MI6 were involved in any murder conspiracy involving Diana or Dodi. A few days before Al-Fayed's appearance, John MacNamara, a former senior detective at
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
and Al-Fayed's investigator for five years from 1997, was forced to admit on 14 February 2008 that he had no evidence to suggest foul play, except for the assertions Al-Fayed had made to him. His admissions also related to the lack of evidence for Al-Fayed's claims of the Princess's pregnancy and the couple's engagement. The jury verdict, given on 7 April 2008, was that Diana and Dodi were " unlawfully killed" through the grossly negligent driving of Henri Paul, who was
drunk Alcohol intoxication, commonly described in higher doses as drunkenness or inebriation, and known in overdose as alcohol poisoning, is the behavior and physical effects caused by recent consumption of alcohol. The technical term ''intoxication ...
, and the pursuing vehicles. Al-Fayed's lawyers accepted that there was no evidence to support the assertion that Diana was illegally embalmed to conceal pregnancy, or that a pregnancy could be confirmed by any medical evidence. They also accepted that there was no evidence to support the assertion that the French emergency and medical services had played any role in a conspiracy to harm Diana. Following the Baker inquest, Al-Fayed said that he was abandoning his conspiracy campaign, and would accept the jury's verdict. Journalist
Dominic Lawson Dominic Ralph Campden Lawson (born 17 December 1956) is a British journalist. Background Lawson was born to a Jewish family, the elder son of Conservative politician Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby and his first wife, socialite Vanessa Sa ...
wrote in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' in 2008 that Al-Fayed sought to concoct "a conspiracy to cover up the true circumstances" of fatalities caused by the crash "involving an intoxicated and over-excited driver (an employee of Mohamed Fayed's Paris Ritz)". He "had remarkable success in persuading elements of the tabloid press, notably the ''Daily Express'', to give the conspiracy a fair wind." Al-Fayed financially supported '' Unlawful Killing'' (2011), a documentary film presenting his version of events. It was not formally released because of the potential for libel suits.


Nationality

Al-Fayed was born an Egyptian citizen, entered
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
on a Kuwaiti passport, and left Haiti with a Haitian
diplomatic passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's Identity (social science), identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign ...
with which he entered the United Kingdom in 1964. In 1970 Al-Fayed informed
Mahdi Al Tajir Mohammed Mahdi Al Tajir () (born 26 December 1931) is a Bahrana- Emirati businessman based in the United Kingdom. He was the first United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United Kingdom. Al Tajir spends much of his time at his London home or at K ...
that he and his brothers' Haitian diplomatic passports had expired, and their Egyptian passports made it difficult for them to obtain visas in many countries.Bower 1998, p.40. Tajir secured Emirati passports for Al-Fayed, but not Emirati nationality. On the passport documents Al-Fayed had his date of birth changed from 1929 to 1933, making himself four years younger. His two brothers reduced their ages by ten years on their new passports. The rulers of Dubai, the
Al Maktoum The House of Maktoum ( ') is the ruling royal family of the Emirate of Dubai, and one of the six ruling families of the United Arab Emirates. The family is a branch of the Bani Yas clan (a lineage the family shares with the Al Nahyan dynas ...
family, had refused to renew the Fayeds' passports in 1993, and so they reverted to travelling on their original Egyptian passports. Mohamed and Ali Al-Fayed applied for
British citizenship The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...
in early 1993. Ali's application was supported by Gordon Reece and Peter Hordern, and Mohamed's by Lord Bramall and
Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist and former politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth (Lincolnshire) from 1969 to 1974, but did not seek re-election after a fina ...
. The Al-Fayed brothers' application for British citizenship was rejected in December 1993, on the basis that the DTI report disqualified them from citizenship.Bower 1998, p.330.
Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposi ...
, the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
home secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
, asked for the decision to be reviewed, fearing renewed embarrassment over his connections with alleged fraudster Harry Landy, which surfaced during the DTI investigation. The application was rejected again in February 1995, and in 1996 the High court declared that the home secretary could not deny, without explanation, the Al-Fayeds' citizenship requests. The
Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
later abandoned its appeal to the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
against the High Court's decision. In 1997,
Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretar ...
, the home secretary in the new Labour government, reconsidered the Al-Fayeds' citizenship request, but rejected Mohamed Al-Fayed's request in May 1999. Ali Al-Fayed had had his request for citizenship granted in March 1999. The rejection was attributed to Al-Fayed's admitting that he bribed politicians and his breaking in to safety deposit boxes in Harrods. Al-Fayed described the decision as "perverse" and said he was a victim of the British establishment and "zombie" politicians.


Death

Al-Fayed died in London on 30 August 2023, at the age of 94. His cause of death was listed as
old age Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...
and was announced on 1 September. He was buried that day at Barrow Green Court alongside Dodi, after a funeral service during
Friday prayer Friday prayer, or congregational prayer (), is the meeting together of Muslims for communal prayer and service at midday every Friday. In Islam, the day itself is called ''Yawm al-Jum'ah'' (shortened to ''Jum'ah''), which translated from Arabic me ...
s at
London Central Mosque The London Central Mosque (also known as the Regent's Park Mosque) is an Islamic place of worship located on the edge of Regent's Park in central London. Design and location It was designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd, completed in 1977, and ...
.


In popular culture

Al-Fayed was portrayed by Salim Daw in seasons 5 and 6 of ''
The Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
''. Al-Fayed appeared on an episode of ''
Da Ali G Show ''Da Ali G Show'' is a British satirical sketch comedy television series created by and starring British comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen. In the series, Baron Cohen plays three unorthodox journalists: faux-streetwise poseur Ali G, Kazakh ...
'' in 2000, and the ''
Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...
'' in 2007. Al-Fayed appeared on the 2011 edition of British ''
Celebrity Big Brother ''Celebrity Big Brother'' or ''Big Brother VIP'' is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, t ...
'', and set the housemates a task based on dressing up as ancient Egyptian
mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...
. In the 2007 BBC sitcom ''
Gavin & Stacey ''Gavin & Stacey'' is a British sitcom created, written by and starring James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one from Billericay in Essex, and the other from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. Mathew Horne and ...
'',
Nessa Nessa Diab, known mononymous person, mononymously as Nessa, is an American radio personality, radio and TV personality and television presenter, television host. Early life and education Nessa was born to Egyptians, Egyptian parents. She has t ...
recounts having a sexual relationship with Al-Fayed.


Sexual misconduct allegations

Al-Fayed has been accused by multiple women of
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
and
assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...
. Young women applying for employment at Harrods were often subjected to
HIV test HIV tests are used to detect the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes HIV/AIDS, in serum, saliva, or urine. Such tests may detect antibodies, antigens, or RNA. AIDS diagnosis AIDS is diagnosed separate ...
s and
gynaecological Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...
examinations. They were then selected to spend the weekend with Al-Fayed in Paris.


Early allegations

In "
Holy War at Harrods "Holy War at Harrods" is a 1995 magazine article by Maureen Orth that was published in ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair''. The article was about businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed and detailed his career and his management of the London department ...
", a 1995 profile of Al-Fayed for '' Vanity Fair'',
Maureen Orth Maureen Orth (born 1943) is an American journalist, author, and a Special Correspondent for '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. She is the founder of Marina Orth Foundation, which has established a model education program in Colombia emphasizing technolog ...
described how, according to former employees, "Fayed regularly walked the store on the lookout for young, attractive women to work in his office. Those who rebuffed him would often be subjected to crude, humiliating comments about their appearance or dress... A dozen ex-employees I spoke with said that Fayed would chase secretaries around the office and sometimes try to stuff money down women's blouses". Al-Fayed sued ''Vanity Fair'', resulting in a settlement with no damages paid, but requiring ''Vanity Fair'' to place all evidence in locked storage. ''Vanity Fair'' chose to settle in part out of sympathy for Princess Diana's fatal crash. In December 1997, the ITV current affairs programme ''The Big Story'' broadcast testimonies from former Harrods employees who spoke of how Al-Fayed routinely sexually harassed women in similar ways. Al-Fayed was interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan Police after an allegation of sexual assault against a 15-year-old schoolgirl in October 2008. The case was dropped by the
Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...
when they found there was no realistic chance of conviction due to conflicting statements. A December 2017 episode of Channel 4's '' Dispatches'' programme alleged that Al-Fayed sexually harassed three female Harrods employees, and attempted to "groom" them. One of the employees was aged 17 at the time. Cheska Hill-Wood waived her right to anonymity to be interviewed for the programme. The programme alleged Al-Fayed targeted young employees over a 13-year period. Early media scrutiny of sexual misconduct allegations against Al-Fayed was curtailed by his frequent threats of litigation. Al-Fayed developed a reputation for spending large sums on litigation against media outlets reporting on sexual assault allegations against him. The lack of scrutiny was also attributed to the actions of Al-Fayed's security chief, John MacNamara, who allegedly threatened and surveilled potential witnesses and victims.


Sexual misconduct scandal

In September 2024,
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
reported that more than 20 women who had worked at Harrods have alleged that Al-Fayed sexually assaulted them; five of these women accused him of raping them. Former manager of the women's club
Fulham L.F.C. Fulham FC Women, previously known as Fulham LFC, WFC Fulham and Fulham FC Foundation Ladies, is a women's association football, women's football club based in London, England. The team were dissolved as of 16 May 2006, but were later re-establishe ...
, Gaute Haugenes said in September 2024 that to protect players from Al-Fayed they were not allowed to be left alone with him. He also said that members of staff were aware that he "liked young, blonde girls". A documentary, ''Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods'' was broadcast on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
which featured interviews with the women and explored evidence of the failure by Harrods to properly investigate the claims and the potential "cover-up" of abuse allegations. On 21 September 2024, Dean Armstrong KC, a barrister representing alleged victims, said his team had 37 clients, but that he had been contacted by 150 individuals with claims about Al-Fayed. In September 2024, it has been reported that Kristina Svensson, who worked at Ritz hotel, will be the first victim to file a complaint against Mohamed Al Fayed in France, while previously the focus was on London. On 26 September 2024, the Metropolitan Police said they would be exploring to see if anyone else should be pursued for criminal offences following the allegations made against Al-Fayed. On the same day, Harrods's managing director, Michael Ward, said Al Fayed "presided over a toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct". By 26 September it was thought that around 200 women, who previously worked for Al Fayed, had spoken to investigators with claims of rape and sexual assault. In addition to reported sexual assault issues at Harrods, on 26 September sexual assault allegations were also made relating to Al-Fayed's ownership of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013. On 27 September lawyers representing those making allegations against Al-Fayed said they were working with 60 women. On 11 October the Metropolitan Police revealed that 40 new allegations, from 40 different people, including sexual assault and rape, had been made against Al-Fayed, covering a period between 1979 and 2013. On 18 October, former Fulham Ladies F.C. captain
Ronnie Gibbons Ronnie Suzanne Gibbons (born 16 January 1980) is a former professional footballer. She played as a right-back for Fulham Ladies and the Republic of Ireland national team. Club career Gibbons joined Fulham as a 13-year-old and became captain at ...
said that she had been groped twice by Al Fayed and that he had forcefully tried to kiss her in his private office at the Harrods store in 2000, when she was 20 years old. By 21 October, Harrods announced that they were in the process of settling more than 250 claims for compensation brought by women who had alleged sexual misconduct by Al Fayed. By 31 October, 400 alleged victims or witnesses had presented themselves to lawyers concerning allegations of sexual misconduct. It was described, at the time, by a lawyer representing the Justice for Harrods Survivors group as "the worst case of corporate abuse of women the world has ever seen". Some women claimed that they had been sexually abused by both Al Fayed and his brother Salah, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2010. In November 2024, it was found that the Metropolitan Police were told about allegations of sexual assault against Al Fayed ten years earlier than it had acknowledged. The Met had claimed that it first received such allegations in 2005. However, in 1995, the Met had received such allegations from Samantha Ramsay, who is now deceased. The BBC reported that "Samantha's family say the Met dismissed her claims. They believe that multiple women could have been saved from sexual abuse if the force had acted." The Met claimed that there was no history of Samantha's allegations on their computer system, "but that in 1995 some reports were paper-based and might not have been transferred." Ramsay's sister, Emma, recalled the police as having said at the time: "We've added it to a pile of other female names that we've got that have made the same complaint against Mohamed Al Fayed." The Metropolitan Police has said it is investigating more than five people it believes may have assisted or enabled Al Fayed's sexual offences. By the end of November 2024, the inquiry was looking into alleged offences between 1977 and 2014 with the youngest victim aged 13.


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External links

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archived
on
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in 2014)
Al-Fayed Charitable Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fayed, Mohamed 1929 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Egyptian businesspeople 21st-century Egyptian businesspeople Businesspeople from London Egyptian billionaires Egyptian conspiracy theorists Egyptian emigrants to England Egyptian emigrants to Switzerland Egyptian expatriates in Monaco Egyptian football chairmen and investors Egyptian rapists El Fayed family Expatriates in Haiti Fulham F.C. directors and chairmen Harrods Hoteliers House of Fraser Rape in England Sexual abuse cover-ups Sex crimes in the United Kingdom Sex scandals in the United Kingdom Sexual harassment in the United Kingdom Violence against women in England