Princess Diana was told Mohammad Al-Fayed was “sleazy” before she holidayed at his villa in the South of France in the summer of 1997, and embarked on a fateful romance with his son Dodi.
Diana and Dodi were both killed in a Parish car crash in August 1997, and his father was extended great sympathy as he mourned their loss – including putting a permanent shrine to the couple at Harrods, his London department store.
The last 10 days have seen a revision in the perception of this always controversial figure, after the BBC’s Panorama documentary program shared accounts of several women who had suffered sexual abuse from him going back decades, including his tenure as Harrods boss.
The numbers of women to come forward have reached over 200, and now Daily Mail journalist Richard Kay, who spoke to Diana frequently during her last years and became one of her closest confidants, has revealed he tried to warn her off the association.
Kay wrote in Saturday’s newspaper that the Egyptian millionaire, who battled unsuccessfully for years to obtain British citizenship, lavished Diana with gifts for herself and her two sons. Kay wrote:
“Had Diana heard one whisper of the appalling allegations against the man who so dazzled her, she might still be alive today.”
He wrote that several years before, prior to her divorce, Diana had turned down an invitation by Al-Fayed after her bodyguard Ken Wharf warned her off him.
According to Kay, Wharfe said: “I told her that he was basically a villain and it would make life very difficult for the Queen if he was able to parade the princess and the boys as his guests at a time when he was publicly fighting Her Majesty’s government over its failure to grant him a passport.”
Later, in 1997, now-divorced Diana did accept an invitation from Fayed, and holidayed twice in the South of France, before travelling to Paris with Dodi where they were killed, along with the driver, when their Mercedes crashed on the Paris embankment.
Kay wrote that he too tried to warn her. He said: “When I suggested he was not the cuddly figure he liked to appear at the annual Harrods sale, she bridled… The Fayed she knew was a warm family man.”
When she asked Kay why the press were so negative about al-Fayed, the journalist remembered: “‘Because he is a sleazy man,’ I replied.”
Al-Fayed died last year aged 94. Harrods bosses have extended a public apology to any women on the receiving end of Al-fayed’s abuse, and emphasised that the culture within the world-feted store has changed completely from how it was during his long rule as the boss.