Mohamed Al Fayed buried with son Dodi on Surrey estate 'surrounded by sphinxes'

02 September 2023 , 23:08

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Mohamed Al Fayed has been laid to rest on his Surrey estate next to his son Dodi (Image: BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images)

Mohamed Al Fayed has been buried next to his beloved son Dodi on the family's 226-acre Surrey estate, it has been reported.

Mr Al Fayed, who died of old age according to his family, was buried after Friday prayers following a service at Regent’s Park Mosque in London, reported Al Jazeera Egypt. He died one day before the 26th anniversary of the death of his eldest son, Dodi, and Princess Diana.

The ex-owner of Harrods, who long held a fascination with ancient Egypt, was laid to rest in a mausoleum guarded by statues of lions and sphinxes next to his son's tomb. One of Mr Al Fayed's brothers is also buried in another of the eight chambers within the mausoleum.

Princess Diana with Mohamed Al Fayed attending a charity dinner for the Harefield Heart Unit held at Harrods, London, February 1996 (Getty Images)

Mr Al Fayed once said of the mausoleum: 'I come here every day, perhaps for two or three hours and memories come back to me as I sit.' Four candles continuously burn around Dodi's grave.

Undertakers SM Funerals told the Daily Mail that Friday's service was deliberately understated in accordance with the Al Fayed family's wishes. It is not yet known where Mr Al Fayed died, though it has been reported that his body was brought to the mosque from a London hospital where a ritual bath was performed, after which he was placed inside the coffin.

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In the 1990s, Al Fayed was one of the richest people in the world, with an impressive list of businesses and property to his name. As the owner of luxury department store Harrods and his involvement with high-profile charities brought him into the same circles as the royal family, including Princess Diana.

Mohamed and his son Dodi Al Fayed, who died in 1997

His eldest son, Dodi, was friends with the royal for about a decade before romance blossomed during a yacht holiday in the south of France. However they were denied the opportunity to spend their lives together, dying side-by-side in a car crash in Paris. Al Fayed spent the rest of his life mourning the loss.

The billionaire's relationship with the royal family was recently depicted in season five of The Crown, where Mr Al Fayed, played by Salim Daw, was seen getting to know Diana. The businessman was born in Alexandria in Egypt and came to London in the 1960s where he set about building his empire.

Matt Clemenson