Mohamed Al-Fayed was best known for his successful business ventures and his oldest son, Dodi, who had a brief relationship with Princess Diana before the new couple both died in a car crash on August 31, 1997.

Twenty-six years later, on the same day as his son’s death, Al-Fayed has also died. He was 94 years old.

Al-Fayed was born in 1929. He was an Egyptian businessman who got his start by founding a shipping company with his brothers. In the mid-1960s, Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, put Al-Fayed in charge of helping him transform Dubai. 

Al-Fayed owned multiple very successful businesses during his lifetime. He bought the Ritz hotel in Paris, France, in 1979. He bought Fulham Football Club in 1997. He bought House of Fraser in 1985. This department store group included London’s famous Harrods department store, a store Princess Diana often shopped at.

It was Al-Fayed that introduced Princess Diana to Dodi. After the princess broke off her relationship with Hasnat Khan, Dodi invited Diana and her children, Prince William and Prince Harry, to join his family for a vacation in the south of France. They were photographed together on his family’s yacht.

In the days leading up to Dodi and Diana’s tragic death, the couple was on another vacation together. They spent 9 days aboard Dodi’s family’s yacht traveling along the French and Italian rivieras. Then, on that fateful night, they decided to stop in Paris on their way back to London. They never made it home. Dodi was pronounced dead at the scene.

Al-Fayed never believed the story that the fatal car crash was an accident. He suggested over 100 different conspiracy theories, none of which were ever proven to be true. He funded a documentary called “Unlawful Killing” that included his conspiracy theories about his son’s death. The film was never released.

Learn more about Al-Fayed life and death in the video below.

Rest in peace.