Egypt-born billionaire businessman, Mohamed al-Fayed, whose son was killed in a car crash with the United Kingdom’s Princess Diana, has died aged 94, his family said in a statement.
Al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods department store in London and previous owner of the Fulham Football Club, was devastated by the death of son Dodi Fayed in the car crash in Paris with Diana in 1997.
Since the incident, Al-Fayed was convinced Dodi and Diana were killed in a conspiracy masterminded by Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
He maintained the royal family arranged the accident because they did not like Diana dating an Egyptian. Al-Fayed claimed that Diana was pregnant and planning to marry Dodi and that the royal family could not countenance the princess marrying a Muslim.
In 2008, Al-Fayed had told an inquest the list of alleged conspirators included Philip, two former London police chiefs and the CIA.
The inquest concluded that Diana and Dodi died because of the reckless actions of their driver – an employee of the Ritz hotel owned by Al-Fayed and paparazzi chasing the couple. Separate inquiries in the UK and France also concluded there was no conspiracy.
The son of a school inspector, al-Fayed was born on January 27, 1929, in Alexandria, Egypt. After early investments in shipping in Italy and the Middle East, he moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s and started building an empire.
Al-Fayed first hit the headlines in the 1980s when he battled with rival tycoon “Tiny” Rowland for control of the House of Fraser group, which included Harrods in London’s Knightsbridge neighbourhood.
Al-Fayed was also a key player in the “cash for questions” scandal that roiled UK politics in the 1990s.
