Trivia

His son Dodi Fayed died in the car accident that also killed Princess Diana.

Owned the famous Harrods department store in London, since purchasing the parent company, House of Frasier, in two transactions, in 1984 and 1985 for approximately £615 million British Pounds. He sold off House of Frasier by taking the company public in 1994, but retained Harrods by excluding it from the public offering of House of Frasier, until a surprise sale of Harrods to the Royal Family of Qatar in 2010 for £1.5 billion British Pounds.

His second wife Heini, Miss Finland in 1977, and Miss Suomi 1973 (credited as Heidi Wathen), worked as a model.

Although claiming British citizenship for decades, his applications have been rejected by both Labour and Conservative Home Secretaries. He now is thought to have citizenship in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In 1979, he purchased the Hotel Ritz in Paris, France, from the family of legendary founder Cesar Ritz, for approximately $30 million USD. As of 2022, he retains ownership of the Paris Ritz.

Has claimed that the death of his son, Dodi Fayed, and Princess Diana, was a conspiracy involving Diana's former father-in-law Prince Philip.

Shares a birthday with Mimi Rogers, Rosamund Pike, Alan Cumming, James Cromwell and Bridget Fonda.

Fayed married Finnish socialite and former model Heini Wathén in 1985, with whom he has four children: Jasmine (b. c. 1982), Karim, Camilla (b. February 16, 1985) and Omar.

In 1986, after the death of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor), the widow of Duke of Windsor (former King Edward VIII of The United Kingdom), Al-Fayed negotiated a 50 year lease of the Windsor villa in Paris from the French government, which included the purchase of all the contents, including furniture, clothing, art, jewelry, UK government documents, and personal correspondence, with the promise of restoring the mansion, and giving many items back to the UK government, and the royal family. After a three year restoration and renovation (rumored to have cost over £14 million British Pounds) of the property, he kept his word, and returned many valuable items to the family of Queen Elizabeth II, in the hopes of being granted British citizenship. Al-Fayed applied to the UK government for citizen at least twice, under both Conservative and Labour governments, but was turned down each time.

His surname at birth was Fayed, but he began using Al-Fayed in the early 1970s, supposedly to imply aristocratic origins.

Was Owner/Chairman of Fulham Football Club from 1997 to 2013 when he sold the club to Pakistani-American Shahid Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League.

Daughter Camilla, with wife Heini, is a friend of Paris Hilton.