Mohamed Al Fayed

[PrincessOfTigger]

Mohamed Al Fayed passed away last week. He was always such an interesting character. There was a really fascinating profile of him in the Daily Mail by Andrew Neil (ignore the sensationalist headline):
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12480121/ANDREW-NEIL-Mohamed-Al-Fayed-blamed-Dodi-Diana-car-crash.html

He was an odious man with an ego for which words cannot convey.
Knew him through my dads job when I was a teen.
I remember once we were in Harrods, where if he were in town he'd make his presence known expecting nothing but adoration.
He spotted my dad across the shop floor and swept over to us.
As a teen I was mortified I can tell you!!
He paid an awful lot of unwanted attention to my mum and i remember he turned to my dad and made some lewd comment.
He insisted that we could have anything my mother wanted gratis.
She grabbed a few bits from one of the cosmetics counters and whispered to my dad 'let's get the hell out of here' 😂
I never met him again but my dad have many more encounters.
I'd not label him as 'interesting'!!

Oh my gosh 😱😱😱

Different times, let the man rest in peace.

There was never a time when that behaviour was acceptable

Why post it here? The royal family loathed him.

The section is not meant to be pure positivity about the RF and MAF’s later life was so intertwined with them because of his quest for social status and then what happened in 1997. I still maintain that he was a fascinating character (even if not necessarily always a pleasant one!)

But it is meant to be about the royal family. Not a wannabe shopkeeper.

In the article I shared there is plenty of content about the royal family, including about the death of the mother of the next King.

a wannabee shopkeeper??

What a ridiculously snobbish way to describe the ex-owner of Harrods. Surely that qualifies him to be at least 'a shopkeeper'?

🙄

Wannabe in the context of wanting to be an aristocrat and craving the company of them. He was a shopkeeper, for sure.

Ah, so then you should have called him a wannabe royal!

Lots of good and bad reports of him and his actions. I am sure people either loved or loathed him He was fabulously generous and would always every Easter give a book to every Surrey school child and yes he went off after the tragedy of losing Diana and his son but he adored his son and he was forgotten in all the tragedy of losing Diana.
we need to let him RIP now

I worked briefly in Harrods many moons ago before Diana and Dodi died. I never saw him but amongst shop floor staff, he had the reputation of a perv, always looking out for pretty girls and inviting them to private "parties" and turning nasty to the point of sacking them if they declined. Some girls used to hide when he was about.
On the other hand, at Christmas all staff got a humongous hamper full of Harrods products including champagne.

Controversial man indeed but he's gone now so let him rest in peace.

@Diclofenac

I heard about that as well from friends who worked there in the mid-90s.
Really dodgy stuff

Actually, it should be 'Mohammed Fayed' - the 'al' was established to be an affectation, a bit like a German person adopting a 'von' in front of their surname.

why is this in the royal family topic. he was not royal in any way.

The Crown episode about him was the most interesting of the last season!

It was! They could’ve made the whole series about him and I would’ve watched

Another portrait of Fayed in The Mail. I never knew that Diana & Dodi were set up:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12499831/PETRONELLA-WYATT-reveals-Mohamed-Al-Fayed-led-macabre-tour-Dodis-flat.html

Yes I enjoyed watching about him in The Crown.

The poverty, the rise to fortune and even the Chariots of Fire.