After becoming self-sufficient through his hard work, Egyptian businessman Muhammad Al-Fayed, who became a billionaire, has died.
According to his family, he also bought Britain’s most expensive Herd’s department store.
According to the British news agency Reuters, Mohammed al-Fayed promoted the discredited conspiracy theory that the royal family had a hand in the deaths of his son Dodi al-Fayed and British Princess Diana.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Al Fayed began his career selling beverages and later worked as a sewing machine salesman. He made money in real estate, shipping and construction, first in the Middle East and then in Europe.
Although Al Fayed owned properties in Paris such as Herds, Fulham Football Club and the Ritz Hotel, he was always a foreigner in Britain, tolerated but not accepted.
Despite living in the UK for decades, he was angry with the British government for not granting him citizenship. He often threatened to move to France, which awarded him its highest civilian award, the Legion of Honor.
Al Fayed, who could be charming, autocratic, vindictive and sometimes outspoken, spent 10 years trying to prove that Diana and her son Dodi were murdered in a Paris tunnel in 1997. While they were trying to avoid photographers on motorcycles.
He claimed that Princess Diana was the mother of Doudi’s child, but his claim could not be confirmed during the inquest into the princess’s death.
They accused the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, of ordering British security services to kill Diana so she could not marry a Muslim and give birth to their child. can
Diana in Paris on November 14, 1992 (AFP)
Al Fayed died on Wednesday, a day before the 26th anniversary of Dodi and Diana’s death, his family said.
“Mohammed Al Fayed’s widow, his children and grandchildren confirm that their beloved husband, their father and grandfather Al Fayed passed away peacefully in old age,” the family said in a statement. They got along.’
Although Al Fayed was known for his inventiveness, exaggeration and braggadocio, he was also a central figure in key moments in recent British history.
When Mohammed Al Fayed bought Heards in 1985, one of Britain’s most bitter business disputes took hold. In 1994 he sparked a scandal with the revelation that he had paid politicians to ask questions on his behalf in Parliament.
Like many billionaires, Al Fayed rejected tradition. He once said he wanted to be mummified in a gold coffin in a glass pyramid on the roof of Herds.
At Herds where they introduced custom clothing even for customers. They created sculptures of Dodi and Princess Diana dancing under the wings of an albatross.
As the owner of the English football club Fulham, he installed a life-size statue of the American pop singer Michael Jackson, although Michael Jackson attended only one match in the UK. When people complained, Al Fayed said, “If some stupid fans don’t understand or appreciate such a gift, then they should go to hell.”
Herds shopping
Al Fayed has had a dark past for the most part. Even their date of birth. He said he was born in 1933 in then British-ruled Egypt. However, an investigation into the purchase of the Heards by the British government revealed that he was born in 1929.
Mohamed Al Fayed unveils a statue of Michael Jackson before an English Premier League soccer match at Craven Cottage, London on April 3, 2011 (AFP/Glyn Kirk)
Al Fayed settled in the UK in 1974, adding ‘Al’ to his name. The satirical magazine Private Eye labeled him a ‘fake pharaoh’, describing his act as a self-aggrandisement attempt.
In 1985, Muhammad Al-Fayed and his brothers beat businessman Roland in business and bought Herd’s Store from him, which is one of the most famous stores in the world.
Al Fayed hoped that buying the store would gain him acceptance in British society, but instead a series of bitter disputes began.
Roland took Al Fayed and his brothers to the Department of Trade Inquiry and claimed that Al Fayed had misrepresented his wealth.
The investigation led to suspicions about his being part of a wealthy business family, his past business connections and his possession of independent financial resources.
Al Fayed sold the store to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund in 2010 after owning Herd’s for 25 years.
In 1995, the government rejected al-Fayed’s application for British citizenship, which he said was based on racism.
Diana and Dodi
That summer, Al Fayed’s son Dodi and Princess Diana began an affair.
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Diana divorced Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne.
Dodi and Diana were photographed by British newspapers while on holiday on a yacht in the south of France.
After traveling to Paris, the couple died when their Mercedes car was driven at high speed by drivers who had been drinking.
The drivers were trying to avoid pursuing photographers. Meanwhile, the vehicle crashed into a concrete pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
Overwhelmed by grief and a deep sense of injustice, Al Fayed spent millions of pounds on legal battles to ensure an investigation into the crash.
But the jury said the couple were wrongfully killed as a result of their driver’s driving style.
At the time, al-Fayed said he accepted the verdict and abandoned legal efforts to prove he was murdered.
“I am leaving everything else to God to take my revenge,” he said.