Mohamed Al Fayed: The billionaire who fell out with British royals after son’s death

Alexandria-born Mr Al Fayed spent a decade after the lovers’ 1997 deaths in Paris’s Alma tunnel repeatedly claiming that they were murdered in a plot by the security services and Prince Philip.

Mohamed Al-Fayed (PA)

Mohamed Al Fayed, who has died at the age of 94, was a colourful, controversial and often abrasive businessman who never shied away from a fight – even taking on the British royal family.

His first battle was to create a billion-pound business empire in his adopted UK, including upmarket department store Harrods, which led to the pint-sized Egyptian being dubbed the “Phoney Pharaoh”.