Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed dies at age 94

Businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed died at the age of 94, the football club he once owned announced on the evening of Friday, 1 September.

The Egyptian-born business giant made his name in the United Kingdom, where he was known as the former owner of the upscale London department store Harrods. He also owned the Fulham Football Club, which announced his passing.

"We owe Mohamed a debut of gratitude for what he did for our Club," Fulham wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

In a statement, his family said that Al-Fayed "enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones".

Al-Fayed is survived by his wife, four children, and grandchildren.

His eldest son, Dodi Fayed, was in a romantic relationship with the late Princess Diana. The two died in a tragic car crash in 1997 in Paris. The event was a turning point for Al-Fayed, who went on to spend years battling figures in the British establishment that he held responsible for their deaths.

Who was Mohamed Al-Fayed?

The late billionaire was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1929, where one of his parents was a school teacher.

His business exploits began when he started working for Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Al-Fayed eventually moved to the UK in the 1970s.

He married his first wife Samira Khashoggi in 1954. They had a son, Dodi, together before divorcing in 1956.

He purchased the Ritz Hotel in Paris along with his brother, and later purchased the iconic Harrods department store in London.

A British government inquiry into the purchase later found that Al-Fayed and his brother had been dishonest about their wealth in order to land the takeover of Harrods.

The spat led to a back and forth between Al-Fayed and British politicians that lasted for years.

He later sold Harrods in 2010 to the investment wing of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund for an estimated 1.5 billion pounds ($1.9 billion; €1.7 billion).

In November last year, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $1.9 billion.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.