Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed passed away last Wednesday at the age of 94. The family has explained in a statement that he "enjoyed a long and full retirement with his loved ones" and also demanded "privacy". The tycoon, who lived in a mansion in England with his wife and had been retired from public life for years, had a life marked by professional success but also and above all torn by tragedy: the death of his son Dodi, who was traveling in the car with Lady Di at the time of the brutal car accident.
The Alexandrian-born businessman, who began his career selling soft drinks and worked as a sewing machine salesman, made his fortune in the 1970s by becoming an adviser to the Sultan of Brunei, one of the world's richest men.
Al Fayed moved to England until his death and although he was never accepted by the British elite, he made a name for himself in British politics and economics by owning Harrods department store for over 25 years, the club football club Fulham F as well as, for a time, the Ritz Hotel in Paris.
From his first marriage, to Samira Khashoggi, Al Fayed had a son, the filmmaker known as Dodi, known in the world of the seventh art for directing Chariots of Fire and The Scarlet Letter, among other titles.
Due to his connections in the upper British spheres, as well as with the country's monarchy, the businessman forged a friendship with Princess Diana of Wales, who after a vacation and after separating from Prince Charles had an affair with his son.
In 1997 the life of this financial magnate was cut short by tragedy. His and Lady Di's son died on August 31 in a car accident while fleeing from paparazzi pursuit in Paris.
The billionaire lived obsessed with this traumatic event and with proving that the British intelligence services were involved in the death of his son and Diana of Wales. Something that he could never get to demonstrate.
Al Fayed withdrew from public life and spent his last years surrounded by his family, his second wife, the Finnish Heini with whom he had three children, in his mansion in Surrey (United Kingdom).
