Dodi Fayed

Fayed was born in Alexandria and was the eldest son of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed (1929–2023), the former owner of Harrods department store. He was the half-brother of Omar Fayed, Camilla, Karim, and Jasmine Fayed. Dodi's father was also the former owner of Fulham Football Club and the Hôtel Ritz Paris.[3] Dodi's mother was Saudi Arabian author Samira Khashoggi (1935–1986),[4] daughter of Muhammad Khashoggi and sister of Saudi billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.[4][5]

Fayed was a student at Collège Saint Marc before attending the Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland.[6][7] He also briefly attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[3] After completing his education, he was an attaché at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in London.[7] He was a first cousin of the late Washington Post Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in 2018.[8]

Through his family's production company, Allied Stars, Fayed was executive producer of the films Chariots of Fire, Breaking Glass, F/X, F/X2, Hook, and The Scarlet Letter, and executive creative consultant for F/X: The Series. He also worked for his father on Harrods' marketing.[9]

In 1986, Fayed married model Suzanne Gregard. They divorced eight months later.[9]

According to her memoir, Babylon Confidential, Claudia Christian had an on-again, off-again romance with Fayed.[10]

In July 1997, Fayed became romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, entertaining her on his yacht Cujo.[11] Earlier that summer, he was engaged to American model Kelly Fisher and bought a house in Malibu, California, for himself and Fisher, with money from his father.[12][13] Fisher subsequently said Fayed jilted her for Diana and announced that she was filing a breach of contract suit against him, saying he had "led her emotionally all the way up to the altar and abandoned her when they were almost there," and that he "threw her love away in a callous way with no regard for her whatsoever".[14] She dropped the lawsuit shortly after Fayed's death.[15]

Death

Innocent Victims, one of two memorials in Harrods

In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana and Fayed died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris. They had stopped in Paris en route to London after spending nine days on holiday in the French and Italian Rivieras aboard his family's yacht, the Jonikal. Neither was wearing a seat belt.[16] The only survivor of the crash was bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, who was seriously injured but was conscious after the crash. Fayed was pronounced dead at the scene on removal from the wreckage.

Investigations by French and British police concluded that their chauffeur, Henri Paul, was driving under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs; paparazzi chasing the couple are also believed to have contributed to the accident.[17][18] Fayed's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, has said that the couple "were executed by MI6 agents".[19] Fayed's former spokesman, Michael Cole, has said that the couple became engaged before their deaths.[20]

Fayed was originally interred in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey, but was re-interred on the grounds of the Fayed estate in Oxted, Surrey, in October 1997.[21]

Memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed in Harrods

Fayed's father erected two memorials to his son and Diana at Harrods. The first, unveiled on 12 April 1998, consists of photos of them behind a pyramid-shaped display containing a wine glass still smudged with lipstick from Diana's final dinner, and a ring Fayed purchased the day before they died.[22] The second, unveiled in 2005 and titled Innocent Victims, is a 3 metres (9 feet 10 inches) high bronze statue of the two dancing on a beach, beneath the wings of an albatross.[23]

The memorials were designed by Bill Mitchell, a close friend of Dodi's father and architect for Harrods for more than 40 years.[24] In January 2018, it was announced that the statue would be returned to the Al-Fayed family.[25]

• Operation Paget

• Dodi Fayed at IMDb