Dodi Fayed

Biography

Early life and education

Fayed was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on 15 April 1955. He was the eldest child of Mohamed Al Fayed (1929–2023), who later became the owner of Harrods department store, Fulham Football Club, and the Hôtel Ritz Paris. Fayed's mother Samira Khashoggi (1935–1986), was a Saudi author. She was a daughter of Muhammad Khashoggi and sister of Saudi billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. She and her brother were first cousins of the late Washington Post Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

Fayed had four half siblings from his father's second marriage to Heini Wathén: Omar, Camilla, Karim, and Jasmine Fayed.

Fayed was a student at Collège Saint Marc in Alexandria before attending the Institut Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland. He also briefly attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Career

After completing his education, he worked as an attaché at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in London.

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

Personal life

In 1986, Fayed married model Suzanne Gregard. They divorced eight months later. According to her memoir, Babylon Confidential, Claudia Christian had an on-again, off-again romance with Fayed.

In 1997, Fayed reportedly became engaged to American model Kelly Fisher. With money from his father, he bought a house in Malibu, California, for Fisher and himself.

In the summer of 1997, actress Traci Lind accused Fayed of abuse, saying he once threatened her with a 9mm Beretta and that he referred to her by the nickname “Bruisey.”

In July 1997, Fayed became romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, after entertaining her on his yacht Cujo. Fisher learned of Fayed's relationship with Diana only after seeing paparazzi photos of the two embracing. Fisher 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". Fayed denied that he was ever engaged to Fisher. Fisher dropped the lawsuit shortly after Fayed's death.

Death

Main article: Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

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 Fayed nor Diana was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. The only survivor of the crash was bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones.

Investigations by French and British police concluded that the chauffeur, Henri Paul, was driving under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs. They also reported that paparazzi chasing the couple were believed to have contributed to the accident.

Fayed's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, said that the couple "were executed by MI6 agents". Fayed's former spokesman, Michael Cole, has said that the couple became engaged before their deaths.

Fayed was originally buried 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.

Legacy

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 smudged with lipstick from Diana's final dinner, and the ring Fayed had purchased for her the day before they died. The second, unveiled in 2005 and titled Innocent Victims, is a 3 m high bronze statue of the two dancing on a beach, beneath the wings of an albatross, a symbol of freedom and eternity.

The memorials were designed by Bill Mitchell, a close friend of Fayed's father who had worked for the Fayed family for more than 40 years, including as a designer at Harrods. Fayed's father sold Harrods in 2010.

In January 2018, the manager of Harrods announced that the statue would be returned to the Al-Fayed family. He noted that Diana's sons William and Harry had commissioned a memorial to be installed at Kensington Palace, which the public could visit.

Representation in other media

• In the 2013 film Diana, Fayed was portrayed by Cas Anvar.
• Episodes of seasons 5 and 6 of The Crown referred to him, and he was portrayed by Khalid Abdalla. In 2023, Abdalla received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for his performance.

Notes

References

References

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