In 1997, Al-Fayed bought the Fulham Football Club. Al-Fayed sold Harrod's in 2010 for £1.5 billion ($1.86 billion) and sold Fulham in 2023 for $300 million.
Harrods was sold for £1.5 billion. Fayed later revealed in an interview that he decided to sell Harrods following the difficulty in getting his dividend approved by the trustee of the Harrods pension fund. Fayed said "I'm here every day, I can't take my profit because I have to take a permission of those bloody idiots.
Known for its zealous customer service, Harrods is considered the best department store in Britain. In 1985 it was bought by Mohamed al-Fayed, who sold Harrods to Qatar Holding in 2010.
2010: Fayed announces he has sold Harrods to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). It has been reported that the QIA paid £1.5 billion for the Knightsbridge store, in a deal signed in the early hours of 8 May 2010.
Harrods sold by Mohammed Al Fayed for 1.5 billion pounds
Did Mohamed Al Fayed go to Diana's funeral?
While he was openly critical of the royal family after the crash, Al-Fayed did attend Princess Diana's funeral in Westminster Abbey in 1997, alongside his wife, Heini Wathen. His son Dodi had been buried at an earlier date at Barrow Green Court, Surrey – a house which Al-Fayed owned.
They really wanted Harrods. It's a particularly glamorous brand for people from the Gulf. The status it has given them among their Gulf rivals – not so much in the UK – is enormous. They were willing to overpay for that.
As depicted in the show's third episode, Fayed bought a ring from the French luxury jewellery brand Repossi following his and Diana's visit to a store in Monte Carlo.
The famous department store in London is now owned by Harrods Ltd, a company currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.
Al Fayed had an estimated net worth of 1.70 billion pounds, according to the 2023 Sunday Times of London Rich List. At the time of his death, Al Fayed had already sold off two of the biggest brands in his portfolio, Harrods and the London soccer team Fulham FC. He still owned The Ritz in Paris.
As the present graph lays out, in 2023 the net worth of Harrods Limited amounted to almost 2.4 billion British pounds, although turnover was lower than previous years in the financial year ending in February 2022.
He is survived by four children, meaning his inheritance will now need to be distributed between them and his second wife, Heini Wathen, according to reports. It is thought Mr Al Fayed still had a vast number of assets before his death, including the Paris Ritz Hotel and a mansion in Surrey.
In his first interview since his shock decision to sell his beloved Knightsbridge empire, Fayed revealed how he grew so frustrated with pension fund trustees blocking his efforts to extract a dividend from his own business that he decided to call it a day.
Two recalled Diana dismissing tabloid claims that she and Dodi would soon be engaged, both times saying, “I need another marriage like I need a rash on my face.” She told several of them she was having a fun summer but looked forward to getting back to London, to work and to her children.
The couple had been seeing each other for just a few months before the tragic car accident took both of their lives. Princess Diana's romance with Dodi Fayed, the Egyptian-born film magnate, was just beginning when the two died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Fayed was originally interred in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey, but was re-interred in October 1997 on the grounds of Barrow Green Court, the family estate in Oxted, Surrey.
I took friends who had never been to Harrods or seen the Diana/Dodi memorial, after walking around I finally asked a staff member. The store is no longer part of the Fayid property portfolio, it is now owned by the Royal family of Quater and all trace of Diana has been removed.
In 1997, Dodi Al Fayed died alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in the Pont D'Alma tunnel in Paris. The son of of billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi was a film producer and jetsetter, who split his time between Los Angeles, London, and other family homes.
In King: The Life of Charles III, Christopher Andersen says Charles was "ashen and trembling" when he heard the news of Diana's death. "He let out a cry of pain that was so spontaneous and came from the heart. Palace staff rushed over to Charles' room and found him collapsed in an armchair, weeping uncontrollably."
Was Diana wearing her engagement ring when she died?
Diana was wearing a ring given to her by Dodi Fayed when she died. It was a £3,000 Bulgari yellow gold band with diamonds. The diamond band set in yellow gold was not an engagement ring and was worn on the fourth finger of her right hand, where her butler Paul Burrell advised her to wear it.
After the princess' death, most of her personal jewelry was inherited by her two sons Princes William and Harry, with pieces loaned to her during her lifetime being returned to Queen Elizabeth II, where they are most likely to have been inherited by King Charles in 2022.
In 1985, House of Frasier sold Harrods department store to Egyptian businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed. Al-Fayed introduced the Egyptian room in Harrods in which he displayed two busts of himself, as well as two memorials to his son Dodi and Princess Diana, who both died tragic deaths in a car accident.
This is the most expensive item ever sold by the House of Harrods, priced at $165 million. Project Mars is a luxury yacht designed by the renowned Italian shipbuilding firm, Fincantieri Yachts. Project Mars is a mega yacht, the height of bespoke luxury.
