Billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed has been laid to rest alongside his beloved son Dodi who died almost to the day 26 years earlier.
The former Harrods owner and Fulham FC chairman was interred in the family mausoleum after a funeral was held following his death on Wednesday.
Mr Al Fayed’s death became public on Friday after the burial had taken place, which under Muslim conventions should happen within 24 hours.
The flamboyant businessman had mourned his son Dodi for the past three decades after he was killed in a car crash aged 42 in Paris alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.
The 94-year-old died a day before the anniversary of his son’s death and it’s reported the pair now lay at rest in the private burial site at Barrow Green Court, a 17th century mansion Mr Al Fayad lived in with his wife Heini Wathén in Surrey, according to the Mail Online.
In the years after the death of his son, who worked as an Egyptian film producer, Mr Al Fayed repeatedly claimed they were murdered in a plot by the British establishment.
The billionaire’s relationship with the Royal Family was recently depicted in season five of The Crown, where Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, was seen getting to know Diana.
The year of her death, Mr Al Fayed had invited Diana and her sons Prince Harry and Prince William, to holiday with him on the Al Fayed yacht where they were followed by the paparazzi.
In a statement released by Fulham FC, Mr Al-Fayed’s family said: “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.”
The businessman was born in Alexandria in Egypt and came to London in the 1960s where he set about building his empire.
Mr Al Fayed had taken control of Harrods in 1985 and he had also purchased the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979; and was known for being the owner of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013.
