Mohamed Al Fayed: former Harrods owner whose son Dodi was killed alongside Princess Diana death dies aged 94

Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son Dodi Al Fayed was killed alongside Princess Diana in a car crash in 1997, has died at the age of 94.

The former Harrods owner's death was confirmed by his family, who said in a statement: “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 August 30, 2023.

"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.”

His death on 30 August was almost 26 years to the day when his son Dodi was killed in a car crash in Paris alongside Princess Diana. The couple were killed in the incident on 31 August 1997.

Mr Al Fayed had campaigned for years for answers about the death of his son and his partner. He repeatedly claimed that their deaths were a plot by the British establishment in light of Princess Diana's bitter and public divorce from the then-Prince Charles in 1996.

He was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1929 and moved to London in the 1960s, where he began to lay the roots of his expansive empire. In 1985, he became the owner of the iconic London department store Harrods after having purchased the legendary Ritz Hotel in Paris in 1979.

He was also owner of Fulham Football Club from 1997. He sold the club to Shahid Khan, owner of American football team Jacksonville Jaguars in 2013, with Mr Khan remaining the club's owner to this day.

Mr Al Fayed sold Harrods to the Qatari royal family in 2010 for a reported £1.5 billion