What The Crown’s Al-Fayeds are like in real life: Princess Diana dated Dodi Fayed after befriending his dad, former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed – but did Queen Elizabeth really snub him?
- The controversial Al-Fayeds are introduced in season 5 of Netflix’s hit show about the British royal family, with Dodi and Princess Diana’s romance – and tragic deaths – featuring in season 6
- Patriarch Mohamed was born in Egypt, shared son Dodi with first wife Samira Khashoggi, and Jasmine, Karim, Camilla and Omar with Heini Wathén – and bought and refurbished The Ritz in Paris
The controversial Al-Fayed family is introduced in season five of Netflix’s hit historical series The Crown, when Mohamed Al-Fayed befriends Princess Diana at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
Here’s everything we know about the Al-Fayeds.
The Al-Fayed family is introduced in The Crown season five
Season five of The Crown introduces the Al-Fayed family, formerly the Fayed family, to the royal saga.
In episode three, the family is questioned about their background when they put in a bid to purchase the Ritz in Paris.
Their brazen social climbing and association with the royal family placed the clan in the spotlight in season five.
Mohamed Al-Fayed was born in Egypt when it was still part of the British Empire
Mohamed, who financed the family’s most notable acquisitions, was born in British-occupied Egypt sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s. This made a strong impression on him as a child.
Mohamed has been quoted by Town and Country as saying he was born in 1933, which is listed as his birth year in the National Portrait Gallery. But a report from the British Department of Trade and Industry published in 1990 contradicted that and listed his birth year as 1929.
The fictionalised Mohamed worships the British as “Gods” in the series.