Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed died Wednesday —the day before the 26th anniversary of the Paris car crash that killed his son, Dodi, and Princess Diana, his family said Friday. He was 94.
Al Fayed — a former department store mogul — was laid to rest at Regent’s Park Mosque in London Friday, according to Al Jazeera Egypt.
“Mrs. Mohamed Al Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday 30, August 2023,” his family said in a statement, according to the UK Guardian.
“He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones.”
Al Fayed was once the owner of the popular British department store Harrods along with the Fulham Football Club.
Dodi, his eldest son, died with Princess Diana in a Paris collision on Aug. 31, 1997 — almost exactly 26 years to the day of his father’s death.
Al-Fayed was born in Roshdy, Alexandria, Egypt, in 1929. He went on to marry Saudi Arabian journalist Samira Khashoggi in 1954, according to the UK Independent. Dodi was born one year later.
He later launched a shipping company before meeting the former ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum — who hired him to help build the growing city.
In the 1960s, he moved to the UK and in 1979, he bought the Ritz Hotel in Paris, which he still owned at the time of his death.
Earlier this year, his wealth was estimated to be $2 billion — ranking him the 1,493rd richest person in the world.
His son was close friends with Princess Diana for roughly a decade before striking up a romance with her while vacationing on a yacht in the south of France — just weeks before their untimely deaths.
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