1. Early Life and Background
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed was born on 27 January 1929, in the Roshdy neighborhood of Alexandria, then part of the Kingdom of Egypt. He was the eldest son of an Egyptian primary school teacher from Asyut. While his birth year was disputed in some accounts, a 1988 investigation by the Department of Trade confirmed his birthdate. His brothers, Ali and Salah, later became his business colleagues.
Al-Fayed's early life was characterized by humble beginnings and entrepreneurial drive. At the age of nineteen, he sold bottles of Coca-Cola on the streets of Alexandria, and by twenty-one, he was selling Singer sewing machines. In 1952, he was hired by his friend Tousson El Barrawi and the seventeen-year-old Adnan Khashoggi for their furniture import business. Al-Fayed excelled, impressing Adnan's father, Mohamed Khashoggi, who was the personal physician to the King of Saudi Arabia. In the early 1950s, Al-Fayed made his first trips to Europe, visiting France, Italy, and Switzerland.
Upon returning to Egypt, Al-Fayed confessed to his wife, Samira Khashoggi (Adnan Khashoggi's sister), that he had had an affair, leading to her demand for a divorce. He subsequently terminated his partnership with Adnan Khashoggi, secretly withdrawing £100,000 from Khashoggi's Al Nasr trading company. Khashoggi later issued a writ against Al-Fayed for the return of the money, but they eventually agreed to forgive the debt in exchange for Samira's freedom to remarry and return to Egypt.
Following President Nasser's threats to expropriate foreign businesses, Al-Fayed gained control of a small shipping company owned by Leon Carasso, who wished to emigrate. Carasso later claimed that Al-Fayed defaulted on the agreed payment for his business. Al-Fayed also acquired interests in other transport companies at favorable prices. After Nasser ordered the confiscation of Egyptian property in 1961, Al-Fayed transferred ownership of his Middle Eastern Navigation Company to Genoa, Italy.
2. International Business Ventures
Al-Fayed's entrepreneurial spirit extended globally, leading to significant projects in various countries, notably his controversial dealings in Haiti and his influential work in Dubai, including his advisory role to the Sultan of Brunei.
On 12 June 1964, Al-Fayed arrived in Haiti, then under the control of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. He entered the country on a Kuwaiti passport, introducing himself as "Sheikh Mohamed Fayed." Shortly after his arrival, Duvalier canceled a ten-year contract with a U.S. company that held a monopoly over Haiti's oil industry and signed a similar fifty-year contract with Al-Fayed. He also collaborated with geologist George de Mohrenschildt. However, Al-Fayed terminated his stay six months later when a sample of "crude oil" provided by Haitian associates proved to be low-grade molasses. Al-Fayed had promised to leverage his connections in Dubai to attract investment to the Caribbean island if he was allowed to build an oil refinery and develop the wharf at Port-au-Prince. He gained exclusive control over the collection of fees for docking, unloading, and loading at Haiti's main port, which caused resentment within the Haitian shipping industry. Duvalier "tapped" Al-Fayed for 30.00 K USD, but rather than pay, and fearing the growing anger of shipping agents, he left Haiti in December 1964. Al-Fayed later claimed the Haitian government owed him 2.00 M USD. 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 100.00 K USD of money it could ill-afford to lose." Following this, Al-Fayed moved to England, settling in central London.
In London, Al-Fayed ingratiated himself within the Arab expatriate community, where he met Iraqi businessman Salim Abu Alwan. Through Alwan, he was introduced to Mahdi Al Tajir, an adviser to Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai, where oil was soon to be discovered. Tajir informed Al-Fayed that Dubai needed to borrow £1 million to build modern harbor facilities. Al-Fayed secured a £9 million loan from Imre Rochlitz, an American lawyer. Rochlitz's Jewish ancestry caused embarrassment to Tajir and later led Rochlitz to reject Al-Fayed's offer of a formal partnership. Al-Fayed earned a £1.5 million commission from the contract for the British engineering company Costain to carry out the port work. He also assisted in securing finance for the Dubai World Trade Centre, with banker David Douglas-Home of Morgan Grenfell managing the contract. By the mid-1970s, Costain had secured over £280 million in contracts thanks to Al-Fayed and Tajir. Al-Fayed purchased 20.84% of Costain's shares and was subsequently appointed a company director. With his earnings from various projects in Dubai, Al-Fayed acquired a Rolls-Royce, a large chalet in Gstaad, and the remaining apartments of 60 Park Lane in Mayfair, where he had been living. In 1968, he established IMS (International Marine Services) in Dubai. He introduced other British companies, including Bernard Sunley & Sons and Taylor Woodrow, to the emirate for construction projects.
In 1974, Al-Fayed met Roland 'Tiny' Rowland, a British businessman and chairman of the international conglomerate Lonrho, which had extensive interests in Southern Africa. Their complex professional relationship dominated Al-Fayed's life for the next two decades, with legal repercussions extending into the late 1990s. Rowland persuaded Al-Fayed to exchange his shares in Costain for 5.5 million shares in Lonrho in March 1975. Al-Fayed used the profit from this deal to buy an additional 3 million shares in Lonrho and became a director of the company. However, Al-Fayed soon became concerned by Rowland's use of Lonrho's funds to support his lifestyle, pay large bribes in Africa, and siphon company profits into a secret Swiss bank account. The British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) began investigating Lonrho in early 1976. An alarmed Al-Fayed resigned from the company in May 1976, selling his Lonrho shares to Kuwaiti investors and repurchasing his Costain shares for £11 million. By 1977, Tajir's influence in Dubai was waning, and Al-Fayed was excluded from the commission process for a new aluminum smelter and the development of Jebel Ali, which put Costain's future profits at risk.
In 1993, Mohammed Alabbar, the director of Dubai's Department of Economic Development, visited Al-Fayed at Harrods. Alabbar, appointed by Sheikh Maktoum to eliminate the system of large commission payments from previous decades, challenged Tajir in British courts to repay alleged excessive profits from the Dubai aluminum smelter. Al-Fayed was also targeted over his management contract for the Dubai World Trade Centre. The Maktoums later terminated Al-Fayed's contract to manage the center, leading Al-Fayed to sue them for compensation estimated between £30 million and £90 million. The case went to court in October 1994. After unsuccessfully attempting to settle with the Maktoums, Al-Fayed was scheduled to testify on 17 October. However, his lawyer informed the court that morning that Al-Fayed was seriously ill with neck and back complications and could not fly to Dubai. Alabbar had secretly taped Al-Fayed on his way to Harrods that morning, and the tapes, revealing Al-Fayed's apparent lack of illness, were shown to the court the next day. Al-Fayed's lawyer then informed him of the disastrous effect his deception had on the case.
### Relationship with the Sultan of Brunei
Al-Fayed became a financial adviser to the then Sultan of Brunei, Omar Ali Saifuddien III, in 1966. He claimed to Maureen Orth that he had known Hassanal Bolkiah, who succeeded Saifuddien upon his abdication, since the sultan's childhood, and that they had met during the construction of a trade center in Brunei. Tiny Rowland, however, told DTI inspectors that Al-Fayed had claimed to have negotiated an introduction to the sultan for 500.00 K USD plus a percentage of any resulting business, through 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 authorizations from the sultan to carry out tasks for him, granting Al-Fayed access to large sums of the sultan's money. The sultan was, at that time, the richest man in the world. During this period, the bank of the three Fayed brothers, the Royal Bank of Scotland, received a transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from Switzerland into their accounts. Although RBS assumed the money belonged to the sultan, Al-Fayed informed the bank that his portfolio was separate from the sultan's. The DTI report noted, "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 purchased the Dorchester Hotel for the sultan in 1985. Al-Fayed accompanied the sultan to 10 Downing Street to visit Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in January 1985, at a time when the sterling was in decline and threatening the economy. The sultan, who had previously moved £5 billion of assets out of pounds, moved them back into sterling. Al-Fayed took credit for this and for persuading the sultan to award half a billion pounds in contracts to British defense industries.
3. Acquisition and Management of Major Businesses
Mohamed Al-Fayed's career was defined by his strategic acquisitions and transformative management of prominent luxury businesses, including the Ritz Hotel in Paris, the Harrods department store, and Fulham Football Club, alongside other diverse property investments.
### Hôtel Ritz Paris
In 1979, Al-Fayed acquired the Ritz Hotel in Paris, France, for 30.00 M USD. He undertook extensive renovations of the historic hotel. In recognition of his efforts to restore and enhance the prestigious establishment, the French government awarded him the Medaille de Paris and a title. This acquisition marked a significant step in his expansion into luxury hospitality.
### House of Fraser and Harrods
Al-Fayed's most prominent business venture was his acquisition and subsequent management of the House of Fraser group, which included the famous Harrods department store.
3.1. Acquisition and Ownership
In 1984, Mohamed Al-Fayed and his brother Ali purchased a 30 percent stake in the House of Fraser for £138 million from Tiny Rowland, the head of Lonrho. Lonrho had been attempting to gain control of House of Fraser since 1977 but had been prevented by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in a 1981 ruling. Following his initial purchase of House of Fraser shares, Al-Fayed demanded Rowland's removal from the board and cultivated a relationship with Roland Smith, the chairman of House of Fraser, who received a retroactive bonus after Al-Fayed's acquisition. John Biffen, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, ruled that Lonrho must commit to not buying any more shares in House of Fraser, a decision that reportedly infuriated Rowland. Consequently, Rowland began selling shares to Al-Fayed, whom he had met when Al-Fayed briefly served as a director of Lonrho. Rowland later commented that he knew Al-Fayed could never afford to purchase the entirety of House of Fraser.
Al-Fayed acquired the remaining 70 percent of House of Fraser in early 1985 for £615 million, igniting a bitter feud with Rowland. Donald Trelford, the former editor of The Observer, believed Rowland's vendetta against Al-Fayed was driven by outrage at being "conned" and a conviction that his shareholders had been cheated. Rowland's bitterness stemmed from his belief that Al-Fayed had lied to the British government about the sources of his wealth, alleging that Al-Fayed had used a power of attorney held for the Sultan of Brunei, then the world's richest man, to fund the purchase. Rowland also contended that the government had failed to investigate Al-Fayed's credentials and had approved the sale without referring it to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (whereas Lonrho had faced three such inquiries), and that the new trade secretary, Norman Tebbit, had prevented Lonrho from bidding while Al-Fayed's deal proceeded.
To secure control of the House of Fraser group, the Al-Fayed brothers needed to convince the British government they possessed sufficient assets for the purchase. They fabricated a family history of inherited wealth, claiming to be from a family of wealthy cotton traders who had fled Egypt after Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power. Their bankers, Kleinwort Benson, and law firm Herbert Smith, submitted a summary of their assets, which the government accepted, estimating their wealth at "several billion dollars." A press release by Kleinwort Benson described them as an "old established Egyptian family who for more than 100 years were ship owners, land owners and industrialists in Egypt."
The 1988 DTI report, however, reached starkly different conclusions about the scale of their wealth. It stated: "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 10.00 M USD; 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)." In March 1985, the Al-Fayeds announced a formal cash offer of £615 million for House of Fraser, which Kleinwort claimed was unburdened by any borrowings. While a comprehensive account of Al-Fayed's finances in 1985 is unavailable, the DTI report claimed that by October 1984, the Al-Fayeds had at least 600.00 M USD at their disposal in the Royal Bank of Scotland and a Swiss bank. The DTI inspectors noted, "We were not told the source of any of these funds or given a credible story as to how and where they were obtained." This money was apparently used as collateral to guarantee a loan of over £400 million to purchase House of Fraser, meaning the Al-Fayeds acquired the company without using any of their own money. Al-Fayed told Maureen Orth, "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' ownership of Harrods was finalized when the British government announced it would not refer their bid to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
During the final stages of the Al-Fayeds' purchase of Harrods, Tiny Rowland wrote to Norman Tebbit, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, refuting the Al-Fayeds' account of their family's wealth. Rowland also enlisted the help of Ashraf Marwan to expose the Al-Fayeds. The Observer newspaper, owned by Rowland, was used to attack the Al-Fayeds. In response, Al-Fayed initiated libel suits against The Observer, and other newspapers critical of the Al-Fayeds were routinely threatened or issued with similar writs, effectively halting critical reporting outside of The Observer.
3.2. Management and Operations
Under Hugh Fraser, Harrods had experienced a steady decline, though it still accounted for half of the House of Fraser group's profits. Determined to revitalize Harrods, Al-Fayed hired Brian Walsh as manager of House of Fraser. Walsh's management style created internal divisions, leading to the resignation of over 200 buyers within two years. Following disagreements with Al-Fayed, Walsh was fired in October 1987. To appease staff, Al-Fayed distributed envelopes containing £2,000 in cash. After Walsh's departure, Al-Fayed moved his offices to the fifth floor of Harrods, assuming a more direct role as the store's chairman. Walsh's replacement, Michael Ellis-Jones, was fired after only eight weeks.
Christoph Bettermann became the deputy chairman of Harrods in 1990, having worked for Al-Fayed in Dubai since 1984. In April 1991, Bettermann was approached for a job in the Emirate of Sharjah. In June, he told Maureen Orth that 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 subsequently quit his job at Harrods to work for an oil company in Sharjah. Al-Fayed then wrote to the ruler of Sharjah, accusing Bettermann of stealing large sums of money. Bettermann was cleared by three courts where Al-Fayed had pressed charges.
Al-Fayed reveled in "retail theatre" during his 25 years at Harrods, often dressing as a Harrods doorman, a boy scout, or Father Christmas. Celebrities were frequently hired to open the annual Harrods sale. Harrods also sponsored the annual Royal Windsor Horse Show, a tradition since 1982. However, in 1997, Harrods' sponsorship of the horse show was terminated after Prime Minister John Major urged the show's chairman to find a new sponsor to avoid Queen Elizabeth II's association with Al-Fayed.
The artist and designer, William Mitchell, was commissioned by Al-Fayed to create an "entertaining retail environment." This initiative led to the creation of an Egyptian Hall on the ground floor of Harrods, followed by the successful 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 over £400 million in restoring Harrods, with approximately £20 million or £75 million specifically spent on the Egyptian escalator.
In 1991, the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee instructed the Governor of the Bank of England, Robin Leigh-Pemberton, to order the Fayeds to transfer control of the Harrods Bank to trustees, after finding that the Fayeds were not "fit and proper" to run the bank. Al-Fayed bought out his brother Saleh's interest in Harrods for £100 million in 1994. In the same year, before House of Fraser plc was relisted on the London Stock Exchange, Harrods was moved out of the group to remain under the private ownership of Al-Fayed and his family.
3.3. Employee Relations and Discrimination Allegations
Al-Fayed was deeply concerned about the loyalty of his staff and employed two young Greek women as spies to report on their fellow employees. The telephones of the shop workers' trade union, USDAW, were reportedly bugged. Employees were often signed to three-month contracts and frequently fired without agreed compensation, forcing them to resort to industrial tribunals. Al-Fayed also secretly listened in on his employees and recorded private conversations, including those about their sex lives.
Al-Fayed was known to fire employees who did not meet his aesthetic standards, particularly those who were overweight or black. To avoid hiring black individuals, Harrods required applicants to submit photographs. Consequently, the number of black people employed by Harrods was eventually half that of other London stores. Francesca Bettermann, Harrods' former legal counsel, stated that Al-Fayed "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. According to trade union officials, between June and September 1994, 23 of the 28 staff fired were black individuals, mostly in menial jobs. In one instance, a florist was rejected for employment because she was black. The chairman of the subsequent industrial tribunal condemned Harrods' defense 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."
3.4. Royal Warrants
In August 2010, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Al-Fayed publicly announced that he had burned Harrods' royal warrants, after taking them down in 2000. Harrods had held these prestigious warrants, which signify that the store supplied goods or services to the Royal Family, since 1910. Describing the warrants as a "curse," Al-Fayed claimed that business at Harrods had tripled since their removal. The Duke of Edinburgh had removed his warrant in January 2000, and Al-Fayed subsequently removed the other warrants from Harrods in December, pending their five-yearly review. The Duke of Edinburgh had also been banned from Harrods by Al-Fayed. Footage of the burning of the warrants in 2009 was featured in the final scene of Unlawful Killing, a documentary film funded by Al-Fayed and directed by Keith Allen.
3.5. Sale of Harrods
Despite earlier denials that it was for sale, Harrods was sold to Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of the emirate of Qatar, in May 2010. The sale price was £1.5 billion. A spokesman for Al-Fayed stated that "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."
Al-Fayed later elaborated on his reasons for selling Harrods, stating that he decided to divest the business due to the difficulty in obtaining approval for his dividend from the trustee of the Harrods pension fund. He expressed frustration, saying, "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." Following the sale, Al-Fayed was appointed honorary chairman of Harrods for a period of six months.
### Fulham F.C.
Mohamed Al-Fayed's ownership of Fulham F.C. marked a significant chapter in the club's history, characterized by ambitious investments, on-field success, and notable controversies.
3.6. Ownership and Club Development
In 1997, Al-Fayed purchased the west London professional football club Fulham F.C. for £6.25 million, with the transaction facilitated by Bill Muddyman's Muddyman Group. His stated long-term ambition was for Fulham to become a Premier League side within five years. This goal was achieved ahead of schedule in the 2000-01 season, when Fulham won the First Division under manager Jean Tigana, accumulating 101 points and scoring 90 goals, earning promotion to the Premier League. By 2002, Fulham was competing in European football, winning the Intertoto Cup and participating in the UEFA Cup. The club reached the 2010 UEFA Europa League final, where they lost to Atletico Madrid, and remained in the Premier League throughout Al-Fayed's ownership, which concluded in 2013.
During his tenure, Fulham temporarily relocated from Craven Cottage while the stadium underwent upgrades to meet modern safety standards. Concerns arose that the club might 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.
3.7. Controversies and Statue
Al-Fayed's ownership of Fulham F.C. was not without controversy. In 2004, Fulham lost a legal case against former manager Jean Tigana after Al-Fayed had falsely alleged that Tigana had overpaid more than £7 million for new players and had secretly negotiated transfers. In 2009, Al-Fayed expressed support for a wage cap for footballers and criticized the management of The Football Association and the Premier League, describing them as "run by donkeys who don't understand business, who are dazzled by money."
In April 2011, Al-Fayed unveiled a statue of the American entertainer Michael Jackson at Craven Cottage. Jackson had previously attended a league game against Wigan Athletic at the stadium in 1999. Following criticism of the statue, Al-Fayed defiantly stated, "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 removed by the club's new owners in 2013. Al-Fayed controversially attributed Fulham's subsequent relegation from the Premier League to the "bad luck" brought by the statue's removal. He then donated the statue to the National Football Museum. In March 2019, the statue was removed from the museum, with a spokesperson stating that its removal had been planned for "several months" to introduce exhibits that "better represent" football. This removal followed new accusations of child sexual abuse by Jackson in the documentary Leaving Neverland.
Under Al-Fayed's ownership, Fulham F.C. was owned by Mafco Holdings, a company based in the tax haven of Bermuda and ultimately owned by Al-Fayed and his family. By 2011, Al-Fayed had provided Fulham F.C. with £187 million in interest-free loans.
3.8. Sale of Fulham F.C.
In July 2013, it was announced that Al-Fayed had sold Fulham F.C. to Pakistani American businessman Shahid Khan, who also owns the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars. The sale price was reported to be between £150 million and £200 million.
### Other Property and Investments
Beyond his major business acquisitions, Mohamed Al-Fayed held a diverse portfolio of other significant property holdings and investments.
In 1972, Al-Fayed purchased the Balnagown estate in Easter Ross in northern Scotland. Starting from an initial 12 acre (4.8 ha), Al-Fayed expanded the estate to 65 K acre (26.30 K ha). He invested over £20 million in the property, restoring the 14th-century pink Balnagown Castle and developing a tourist accommodation business. In recognition of his "efforts to promote the area," the Highlands of Scotland tourist board awarded Al-Fayed the Freedom of the Scottish Highlands in 2002. As an Egyptian with strong links to Scotland, Al-Fayed funded a 2008 reprint of the 15th-century chronicle Scotichronicon by Walter Bower. 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. According to the chronicle, Scotland was later named in her honor, though this tale is disputed by modern historians. Al-Fayed later declared, "The Scots are originally Egyptians and that's the truth." In 2009, Al-Fayed publicly supported Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, stating to the Scots, "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."
Al-Fayed also owned 75 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, a building constructed in 1947, originally known as the Esso Building and later the Time Warner Building. It was managed and leased by RXR Realty. After the death of Wallis Simpson, Al-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 (formerly Edward VIII). Along with his valet Sydney Johnson, who had also served the Duke, Al-Fayed organized the restoration of the villa and its collections.
In London, Al-Fayed owned properties at 55 and 60 Park Lane, and a building on South Street in Mayfair. All three buildings were secretly connected to the Dorchester Hotel, which Al-Fayed had purchased for Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei. In 1995, Westminster City Council believed that Hyde Park Residences, the company letting 170 luxury flats at 55 and 60 Park Lane, had falsely reported the flats as being let on long leases to avoid paying higher business rates due on short tenancies. The council demanded an additional £1.1 million. Al-Fayed suspected 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 the police that she had stolen two floppy disks. Lewis-Glass denied the accusation and was released without charge. She later sued for wrongful dismissal and was awarded £13,500.
In the early 1970s, Al-Fayed also acquired the Castle St. Therese in the Parc de St Tropez on the French Riviera, a chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, and Barrow Green Court and farm, near Oxted, Surrey. In the case of Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom denied Al-Fayed compensation after an energy company, Star Energy, had drilled for oil under his Surrey estate. Al-Fayed had initially won a share of the oil proceeds at the High Court, but appeal judges later ruled he could only claim damages. Bocardo SA, a company owned by Al-Fayed that held his estates in Scotland and Surrey, was based in Liechtenstein.
4. Personal Life and Family
Mohamed Al-Fayed's personal life was shaped by his marriages and his children, particularly his eldest son Dodi, whose relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales, drew immense public attention.
Al-Fayed was married from 1954 to 1956 to Samira Khashoggi, the sister of Saudi Arabian arms dealer and businessman Adnan Khashoggi, with whom he also worked. Together, they had one son, Dodi. In 1985, Al-Fayed married the Finnish socialite and former model Heini Wathén. With Heini, he had four children: Omar, Camilla, Karim, and Jasmine.
Sometime in the early 1970s, Al-Fayed began using the prefix al- (الArabic) in his name, rendering it as "al-Fayed" rather than simply "Fayed." In Arabic names, al-, when used with an ancestor's name, signifies "family of" or "House of." This adoption of an aristocratic prefix led to Private Eye magazine nicknaming him the "Phoney Pharaoh." His brothers, Ali and Salah, also adopted the prefix during their acquisition of the House of Fraser in the 1980s, though both later reverted from the practice by the late 1980s. Max Hastings, the former editor of the Daily Telegraph, recounted how Al-Fayed "harried" Conrad Black, the newspaper's former owner, in pursuit of his demand to be referred to as "Al Fayed." Hastings explained that this was a long-running saga, comparing it to a socially ambitious Frenchman seeking to style himself "de Fayed" or a German "von Fayed," and stated his determination not to be threatened by such demands.
### Relationship with Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales
The relationship between Al-Fayed's son, Dodi Fayed, and Diana, Princess of Wales, became a subject of intense public and media scrutiny, culminating in their tragic deaths.
Lady Diana Spencer married Charles, Prince of Wales, then heir apparent to the British throne, in 1981, becoming Princess of Wales. 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 tournament sponsored by Harrods.
Diana and Charles divorced in 1996. In mid-1997, Al-Fayed hosted Diana and her sons, Princes William and Harry, in the south of France. For this holiday, Al-Fayed purchased a 195 ft yacht, the Jonikal (later renamed the Sokar). Dodi and Diana later embarked on a private cruise aboard the Jonikal, and paparazzi photographs of the couple embracing were widely published. Diana's friend, journalist Richard Kay, confirmed that Diana was involved in "her first serious romance" since her divorce.
Dodi and Diana took a second private cruise on the Jonikal during the third week of August 1997, returning from Sardinia to Paris on 30 August. Later that day, the couple privately dined at the Ritz Hotel after canceling a restaurant reservation due to press intrusion. They planned to spend the night at Dodi's apartment near the Arc de Triomphe. In an attempt to evade the paparazzi, a decoy car left the front of the hotel, while Diana and Dodi departed from the rear in a Mercedes-Benz S280 driven by concierge Henri Paul.
5. Death of Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales
The tragic deaths of Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris led to extensive investigations and fueled Mohamed Al-Fayed's persistent claims of a conspiracy.
### The Fatal Car Crash
Approximately five minutes after leaving the Ritz, the Mercedes-Benz carrying Dodi Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales, crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. Dodi Fayed and the driver, Henri Paul, were killed instantly. Diana died later in hospital from her injuries. The sole survivor of the crash was British bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who sustained a serious head injury. Mohamed Al-Fayed arrived in Paris the following day to view Dodi's body, which was subsequently returned to the United Kingdom for an Islamic funeral.
### Conspiracy Theories and Investigations
From February 1998, Mohamed Al-Fayed consistently maintained that the car crash was the result of a conspiracy. He later contended that the crash was orchestrated by MI6 on the instructions of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His claims were dismissed by a French judicial investigation, but Al-Fayed appealed the verdict.
The British Operation Paget, a Metropolitan Police inquiry that concluded in 2006, also found no evidence of a conspiracy, dismissing all 175 "conspiracy claims" made by Al-Fayed. An inquest into the deaths of Diana and Dodi, headed by Lord Justice Scott Baker, began at the Royal Courts of Justice, London, on 2 October 2007, and lasted for six months, continuing an original inquest that had started in 2004. At the Scott Baker inquest, Al-Fayed accused the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, Lady Sarah McCorquodale (Diana's sister), and numerous others of plotting to kill the Princess of Wales. He claimed their motive was their inability to tolerate the idea of the Princess marrying a Muslim.
Al-Fayed first claimed that the Princess was pregnant to the Daily Express in May 2001, asserting that he was the only person she had told. According to Al-Fayed, witnesses at the inquest who testified that the Princess was not pregnant, and could not have been, were part of the conspiracy. Al-Fayed's testimony at the inquest was widely criticized in the press as farcical. Members of the British Government's Intelligence and Security Committee accused Al-Fayed of turning the inquest into a "circus" and called for its premature conclusion. Lawyers representing Al-Fayed later conceded 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. They also 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. Furthermore, they acknowledged 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. A few days before Al-Fayed's appearance, John MacNamara, a former senior detective at Scotland Yard 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, beyond the assertions Al-Fayed had made to him. His admissions also pertained to the lack of evidence for Al-Fayed's claims of the Princess's pregnancy and the couple's engagement.
The jury's verdict, delivered on 7 April 2008, concluded that Diana and Dodi were "unlawfully killed" due to the grossly negligent driving of Henri Paul, who was drunk, and the pursuing vehicles. Following the Baker inquest, Al-Fayed stated that he was abandoning his conspiracy campaign and would accept the jury's verdict. Journalist Dominic Lawson wrote in The Independent in 2008 that Al-Fayed sought to concoct "a conspiracy to cover up the true circumstances" of fatalities caused by the crash, which involved "an intoxicated and over-excited driver (an employee of Mohamed Fayed's Paris Ritz)." Lawson further noted that Al-Fayed "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 that presented his version of events. However, the film was not formally released due to the potential for libel suits.
6. Origins of Wealth and Business Controversies
Mohamed Al-Fayed's business career was frequently scrutinized regarding the origins of his wealth and allegations of questionable practices, leading to extensive investigations and legal disputes.
### DTI Reports and Investigations
From 1985 until 1987, Tiny Rowland spearheaded a worldwide investigation into Al-Fayed and his acquisition of Harrods. This operation, reportedly costing many millions of pounds, employed accountants, solicitors, private detectives, and freelance journalists, exceeding the scope of any typical newspaper inquiry. Illicit bugging devices were allegedly used, and some funds were purportedly spent on bribes to officials to unearth incriminating documents in Egypt, Haiti, Dubai, Brunei, France, and Switzerland. These documents allegedly aimed to prove fraudulent dealings by Al-Fayed and demonstrate his humble origins and limited net worth.
The findings of Rowland's investigations were provided to The Observer newspaper, 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 (DTI) was delivered in July 1988, but the DTI initially 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 bring the DTI inspectors' findings into the public arena, aiding The Observers libel defense, with the aim of pressuring the government to release the official report. Lawyers from the DTI obtained a court injunction and ordered all copies of The Observers version of the report to be handed over or pulped. The report was officially published in 1990.
The DTI report concluded 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." This report contrasted sharply with a 1976 DTI report that had strongly criticized Rowland and the Lonrho group, which Prime Minister Edward Heath had famously described as "an unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism." In 1993, the European Court of Human Rights dismissed a case brought by Al-Fayed and his brothers against the British Government, in which they had accused the DTI report of misrepresentation, arguing that it had ruined their reputation and was not subject to appeal.
### Legal Disputes and "Cash-for-Questions"
Mohamed Al-Fayed was involved in numerous legal disputes and controversies, most notably the "cash-for-questions" affair. In 1994, Al-Fayed publicly revealed the names of Members of Parliament (MPs) whom he had paid to ask questions in Parliament on his behalf, but who had failed to declare these fees. This scandal, known as the cash-for-questions affair, led to the disgrace and departure from government of Conservative MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith, and prompted the establishment of a Committee on Standards in Public Life to prevent future corruption. Al-Fayed also disclosed that cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken had stayed for free at the Ritz Hotel in Paris concurrently with a group of Saudi arms dealers, which contributed to Aitken's unsuccessful libel case and subsequent imprisonment for perjury. During this period, Al-Fayed's spokesman was Michael Cole, a former BBC journalist.
Hamilton lost a libel action against Al-Fayed in December 1999 and an appeal against the verdict in December 2000. Hamilton consistently denied being paid by Al-Fayed for asking questions in Parliament. His libel action stemmed from a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary broadcast on 16 January 1997, in which Al-Fayed asserted that the MP had received up to £110,000 in cash and other gratuities for parliamentary questions. Hamilton's basis for his appeal was that the original verdict was invalid because Al-Fayed had paid £10,000 for documents allegedly stolen from the dustbins of Hamilton's legal representatives by Benjamin Pell.
In 2003, Al-Fayed moved from Surrey to Switzerland, citing a breach in an agreement with the British tax authority. However, he returned to Britain in 2005, stating that he "regards Britain as home." He previously moored a yacht named the Sokar in Monaco before selling it in 2014. In the legal case Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom denied Al-Fayed compensation after an energy company, Star Energy, had drilled for oil under his Surrey estate. Al-Fayed had initially won a share of the oil proceeds at the High Court but was later informed by appeal judges that he could only claim damages. Bocardo SA, the company owned by Al-Fayed that held his estates in Scotland and Surrey, was based in Liechtenstein.
7. Nationality and Citizenship
Mohamed Al-Fayed's nationality and his repeated, unsuccessful attempts to obtain British citizenship were a recurring theme throughout his public life.
Al-Fayed was born an Egyptian citizen. He entered Haiti on a Kuwaiti passport and departed Haiti with a Haitian diplomatic passport, which he used to enter the United Kingdom in 1964. In 1970, Al-Fayed informed Mahdi Al Tajir that his and his brothers' Haitian diplomatic passports had expired, and their Egyptian passports made it difficult for them to obtain visas in many countries. Tajir subsequently secured Emirati passports for Al-Fayed, though not Emirati nationality. On these new passport documents, Al-Fayed had his date of birth changed from 1929 to 1933, making himself four years younger. His two brothers similarly reduced their ages by ten years on their new passports.
In 1993, the rulers of Dubai, the Al Maktoum family, refused to renew the Fayeds' passports, causing them to revert to traveling on their original Egyptian passports. Mohamed and Ali Al-Fayed then applied for British citizenship in early 1993. Ali's application was supported by Gordon Reece and Peter Hordern, while Mohamed's was backed by Lord Bramall and Jeffrey Archer. The Al-Fayed brothers' application for British citizenship was rejected in December 1993, on the grounds that the DTI report disqualified them from citizenship. Michael Howard, the Conservative Home Secretary, requested a review of the decision, fearing renewed embarrassment over his connections with alleged fraudster Harry Landy, which had surfaced during the DTI investigation. The application was rejected again in February 1995. However, in 1996, the High Court declared that the Home Secretary could not deny the Al-Fayeds' citizenship requests without explanation. The Home Office later abandoned its appeal to the House of Lords against the High Court's decision.
In 1997, Jack Straw, the Home Secretary in the new Labour government, reconsidered the Al-Fayeds' citizenship request but ultimately rejected Mohamed Al-Fayed's application in May 1999. Ali Al-Fayed, however, had his request for citizenship granted in March 1999. The rejection of Mohamed Al-Fayed's application was attributed to his admission that he had bribed politicians and his involvement in breaking into safety deposit boxes in Harrods. Al-Fayed described the decision as "perverse" and claimed he was a victim of the British establishment and "zombie" politicians. It has been suggested that his ongoing feud with Tiny Rowland contributed to the initial refusal of his citizenship application.
8. Allegations of Sexual Misconduct and Discrimination
Mohamed Al-Fayed faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and discriminatory practices throughout his career, which gained widespread attention and led to investigations and compensation claims following his death.
### Early Allegations and Media Scrutiny
Early reports and allegations of sexual misconduct and discriminatory practices by Mohamed Al-Fayed emerged from former employees. Young women applying for employment at Harrods were reportedly subjected to HIV tests and gynaecological examinations, and were then selected to spend weekends with Al-Fayed in Paris.
In "Holy War at Harrods", a 1995 profile of Al-Fayed for Vanity Fair, journalist Maureen Orth detailed accounts from former employees who stated that "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 for libel, resulting in a settlement where no damages were paid, but the magazine was required to place all evidence in locked storage. Vanity Fair chose to settle in part out of sympathy for Princess Diana's fatal car crash.
In December 1997, the ITV current affairs program The Big Story broadcast testimonies from former Harrods employees who recounted similar patterns of routine sexual harassment by Al-Fayed. In October 2008, Al-Fayed was interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan Police following an allegation of sexual assault against a 15-year-old schoolgirl. However, the case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service due to conflicting statements, concluding there was no realistic chance of conviction.
A December 2017 episode of Channel 4's Dispatches program alleged that Al-Fayed sexually harassed three female Harrods employees and attempted to "groom" them. One of the employees was 17 years old at the time; Cheska Hill-Wood waived her right to anonymity to be interviewed for the program. The program alleged that Al-Fayed targeted young employees over a 13-year period.
Early media scrutiny of sexual misconduct allegations against Al-Fayed was often curtailed by his frequent threats of litigation. He developed a reputation for spending large sums on legal action against news organizations 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.
### Widespread Allegations and Investigations
In September 2024, BBC News reported that more than 20 women who had worked at Harrods alleged that Al-Fayed sexually assaulted them, with five of these women accusing him of raping them. Former manager of the women's club Fulham L.F.C., Gaute Haugenes, stated in September 2024 that to protect players from Al-Fayed, they were not allowed to be left alone with him. He also noted that staff members were aware that he "liked young, blonde girls." A documentary titled Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods was broadcast on BBC Two, featuring interviews with the women and exploring evidence of Harrods' failure 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, announced that his team had 37 clients and had been contacted by 150 individuals with claims about Al-Fayed. In September 2024, Kristina Svensson, who worked at the Ritz Hotel, was reported to be the first victim to file a complaint against Mohamed Al-Fayed in France, shifting some focus from London.
On 26 September 2024, the Metropolitan Police stated they would explore whether anyone else should be pursued for criminal offenses following the allegations against Al-Fayed. On the same day, Harrods' managing director, Michael Ward, publicly stated that Al-Fayed "presided over a toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct." By 26 September, it was estimated that around 200 women who had previously worked for Al-Fayed had spoken to investigators with claims of rape and sexual assault.
8.1. Harrods Specific Allegations
The majority of the widespread allegations of sexual misconduct and discrimination have focused on women who worked at Harrods. These claims include instances of sexual assault and rape, with former employees detailing a pattern of abuse and a culture of secrecy and intimidation that allegedly enabled Al-Fayed's behavior within the department store. By 21 October 2024, Harrods announced that it was 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. A lawyer representing the Justice for Harrods Survivors group described it as "the worst case of corporate abuse of women the world has ever seen." Some women claimed they had been sexually abused by both Al-Fayed and his brother Salah, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2010.
8.2. Fulham F.C. Specific Allegations
In addition to the issues reported at Harrods, sexual assault allegations were also made relating to Al-Fayed's ownership of Fulham F.C. between 1997 and 2013. On 18 October 2024, former Fulham Ladies F.C. captain Ronnie Gibbons stated 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.
On 11 October 2024, the Metropolitan Police revealed that 40 new allegations, including sexual assault and rape, had been made against Al-Fayed by 40 different individuals, covering a period between 1979 and 2013. In November 2024, it was discovered that the Metropolitan Police had been informed about allegations of sexual assault against Al-Fayed ten years earlier than they had previously acknowledged. The Met had claimed that it first received such allegations in 2005. However, in 1995, the Met had received similar allegations from Samantha Ramsay, who is now deceased. Ramsay's family stated that the Met dismissed her claims and believed that multiple women could have been spared from sexual abuse if the force had acted. The Met claimed that there was no record of Samantha's allegations on their computer system, but noted that in 1995 some reports were paper-based and might not have been transferred. Ramsay's sister, Emma, recalled the police saying 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." By the end of November 2024, the inquiry was investigating alleged offenses between 1977 and 2014, with the youngest victim being 13 years old. The Metropolitan Police has stated it is investigating more than five individuals it believes may have assisted or enabled Al-Fayed's sexual offenses.
9. Media Interests
Mohamed Al-Fayed ventured into the media industry, establishing publishing companies and attempting to acquire prominent newspapers and radio stations.
In 1996, Al-Fayed established Liberty Publishing, with the stated goal of the company being "to launch and acquire or take strategic interests in significant media businesses." The chairman of Liberty Publishing was Stewart Steven, the former editor of the Evening Standard, with John Dux, a former managing director of News International, serving as chief executive. Al-Fayed had previously made unsuccessful bids to purchase the newspaper Today from Lonrho in 1986 and from News International in 1995. Al-Fayed believed that the British government had pressured Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News International, not to sell the newspaper to him. Andrew Neil was recruited by Liberty Publishing and helped negotiate a £4 million takeover of London News Radio, though this takeover later collapsed.
Steven dined with Hugo Young, chairman of the Scott Trust, at the Garrick Club and offered a cheque for £17 million from Al-Fayed for The Observer newspaper. Young declined this offer, as well as a subsequent offer of £25 million. In May 1996, a women-only radio station, Viva Radio, was purchased for £3 million. Viva Radio was later renamed Liberty Radio and broadcast commentaries of Fulham F.C.'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.
In 1996, Al-Fayed also acquired the rights to the historic British humorous magazine Punch. The magazine was relaunched later that year at a cost of £3 million, under new editor Peter McKay. Punch had previously been published from 1841 to 1992. However, the relaunch was not successful, with Punch failing to compete effectively with its satirical rival, Private Eye. Punch ultimately ceased publication for a second time in 2002.
In January 1997, Al-Fayed established a new political organization called The People's Trust, aiming 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 to identify a group of MPs who would prioritize "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's article "Holy War at Harrods" in September 1995, Al-Fayed sued the American magazine for libel but withdrew his suit in 1997. In 1996, Al-Fayed invited Tom Bower to write his biography. Bower's biography, Fayed: The Unauthorized Biography, was published in 1998. Al-Fayed announced his intention to sue but later withdrew his suit. Both Orth and Bower were allegedly targeted by Al-Fayed's staff, who offered them purportedly stolen documents in attempts at entrapment.
10. Charitable Activities
Mohamed Al-Fayed engaged in significant philanthropic work through the Al Fayed Charitable Foundation, focusing primarily on assisting children facing life-limiting conditions and poverty.
The Al Fayed Charitable Foundation was established in 1987. Its primary aim is to help children with life-limiting conditions and those living in poverty. The charity collaborates mainly with other charities and hospices dedicated to disabled and neglected children in the UK, Thailand, and Mongolia. Its partners include organizations such as Francis House Hospice in Manchester, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and ChildLine.
In September 1997, West Heath School in Sevenoaks, Kent, United Kingdom, which was the former school of Diana, Princess of Wales, was placed into receivership. Al-Fayed purchased the school for £2.5 million in May 1998. It subsequently 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 served as an ambassador for the charity for eight years, officially opened the newly refurbished Zoe's Place baby hospice in West Derby, Liverpool.
11. Death
Mohamed Al-Fayed died in London on 30 August 2023, at the age of 94. His cause of death was listed as old age, and the announcement was made on 1 September. He was buried on the same day at Barrow Green Court, his estate in Surrey, alongside his son Dodi. The burial followed a funeral service held during Friday prayers at the London Central Mosque.
12. In Popular Culture
Mohamed Al-Fayed's public persona and notoriety led to his portrayal and representation in various forms of media, reflecting his impact on popular culture.
Al-Fayed was portrayed by Salim Daw in seasons 5 and 6 of the popular historical drama series The Crown. He also made appearances on television and radio shows, including an episode of Da Ali G Show in 2000 and The Howard Stern Show in 2007. In 2011, Al-Fayed appeared on the British reality television show Celebrity Big Brother, where he set the housemates a task based on dressing up as ancient Egyptian mummies. In the 2007 BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey, the character Nessa famously recounts having a sexual relationship with Al-Fayed.