Tuesday, 26 Nov 2024

Billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed said Diana and his son were ‘definitely murdered’

It's been nearly 25 years since Princess Diana died tragically after a horrific car accident in Paris.

Diana was killed in the fatal crash alongside her partner, Dodi Fayed, and the car's driver, Henri Paul.

News of her death shook the nation and sparked a slew of questions, with many believing that there was more to the accident.

In 2008 a British inquest into her death found that Diana and Dodi had been unlawfully killed through "grossly negligent driving" by Henri Paul and the paparazzi vehicles following their car.

But two decades later, conspiracy theories continue to spiral, and one person who has continued to add fuel to the fire is Dodi's father Mohamed Al-Fayed, who has spent the past 25 years claiming that the Royal Family murdered Diana and his son.

Here's who Mohamed Al-Fayed is and what he's said about Diana's death.

Who is Mohamed Al-Fayed?

Mohamed Al-Fayed is an Egyptian-born businessman who is best known for previously owning the London department store Harrods.

Al-Fayed moved to Britain in the 1960s and made his fortune in the country by acquiring a number of businesses.

As well as Harrods, Mohamed also previously owned Fulham Football Club and he now owns the Ritz Paris hotel.

What is Mohamed Al-Fayed's net worth?

According to Forbes, Mohamed Al-Fayed has an estimated net worth of $1.9billion (£1.6billion).

In 2010 he sold Harrods to Qatar for a reported $2.4billion (£2billion) and in 2013 he sold Fulham FC to US billionaire Shahid Khan for a reported $300 million (£254million).

While Mohamed is known for his vast wealth, he became an even more prominent name in the 1990s when Princess Diana began dating his son, Dodi Al Fayed.

Since the pair's tragic death, Mohamed has been vocal about his opinions surrounding their accident and has alleged that they were killed as part of a huge conspiracy by the British establishment.

What has Mohamed Al-Fayed said about Diana and Dodi's death?

Mohamed Al-Fayed has been one of the most prominent figures to fuel conspiracy theories about Diana's death, and in the years after her accident he claimed that she was "definitely murdered".

In 1999 he told 60 Minutes Australia: "Dodi and Diana have been murdered, definitely."

He went on to describe the motive behind the murder, saying that it was "because they still don't accept that Dodi, my son, an Egyptian, a Muslim, can be the step father of the future king."

He also claimed that the British establishment "used American intelligence to spy on Dodi and Diana by bugging their phones".

In the 2008 inquest into Princess Diana's death, Mohamed claimed that Diana was killed because she was pregnant with Dodi's baby at the time of her death, and that the couple had been planning to announce their engagement.

He said in court: "I am the only person they told."

However a post mortem found that Diana was not pregnant and he friends also claimed that it wasn't possible.

During the inquest, Mohamed also branded Prince Philip a "Nazi" and a "racist" and said: "It's time to send him back to Germany where he comes from."

He accused an array of people and organisations of being implicated in the alleged conspiracy to kill Diana and Dodi, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Diana's sister Sarah McCorquodale and her husband Robert Fellowes, French toxicologists, French ambulance drivers, the car's driver Henri Paul, two former London police chiefs, three bodyguards, and even some of Diana's closest friends.

He said that Diana's friends, who had told the inquest there was no chance she could be pregnant, were lying, claiming: "All the witnesses who have been saying this are part of the cover-up and have been told what to say."

He also said that Diana told him "she knew Prince Philip and Prince Charles were trying to get rid of her" a month before the crash.

Al Fayed accused paparazzi member James Andanson of being the one to cause the fatal collision, he told the court in 2008: "There was one paparazzi member in the pay of the security services.

"This is likely to have been James Andanson, who exacted the murder in his own Fiat, pushed the car and a strobe light having been used to blind Henri Paul."

However, Andanson had an alibi proving he wasn't in Paris at the time of the crash.

In 2000 the photographers body was found in a burnt-out car, his death was officially ruled a suicide but it fuelled Al Fayed's belief of a conspiracy.

To this day, Mohamed has remained convinced that his son and Diana were murdered and has dismissed findings that showed Henri was intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Mohamed Al-Fayed's close friendship with Michael Jackson

Diana isn't the only celebrity that Mohamed Al-Fayed is linked to, he was also close friends with Michael Jackson.

The billionaire admired the Thriller singer so much that in 2011 he bizarrely unveiled a Michael Jackson statue outside Fullham's Craven Cottage stadium.

Announcing the statue, Al Fayed said: “He was my friend, a man with whom I shared many happy memories and who died a tragic and untimely death."

Fans criticised the decision to erect the statue as the singer's only tie to the club was a visit in 1999.

The statue was eventually removed in 2013 and in 2014 it was put on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester.

However, the museum removed the statue from their collection in 2019 after sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson came to light.

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts