Mohamed Al-Fayed, former Fulham FC owner, dies aged 94

“He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones. The family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time.” 

Sky News reported a funeral was held for Mr Al Fayed after Friday prayers at London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park.

In the years after the death of his son Dodi Fayed, an Egyptian film producer, alongside Britain's Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Mr Al Fayed repeatedly claimed they were murdered in a plot by the British establishment.

The billionaire’s relationship with the British royal family was recently depicted in season five of The Crown, where Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, was seen getting to know Diana.

The businessman was born in Alexandria in Egypt and came to London in the 1960s where he set about building his empire.

Mr Al Fayed had taken control of Harrods in 1985 and he had also purchased the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979; and was known for being the owner of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013.

In 2010, he decided to sell Harrods to Qatar’s royal family for a reported £1.5 billion and three years later he sold Fulham FC, to Shahid Khan, owner of American football team Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mr Al Fayed had once shown the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson around Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage in 1999.

The Sunday Times UK Rich List from 2021 reported that Mohamed Al-Fayed and family were worth around £1.7 billion.