Donald Trump claimed to have a “great” relationship with former Harrods boss Mohamed Al-Fayed and had praised the late billionaire as a “fabulous” man and business owner over the years, DailyMail.com can reveal. .
The Egyptian tycoon, who died in August 2023 at age 94, has been the subject of numerous accusations of sexual harassment and rape since his death; More than 400 victims have come forward in a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) lawsuit in the United Kingdom as of this week. .
Now DailyMail.com can reveal that Al-Fayed had close ties to Republican candidate Donald Trump, 78, enough for him to be invited to his wedding to his third wife, Melania, in 2005.
Their friendship, however, dates back decades before, and Trump even praised the fellow businessman on UK national television during an interview with the BBC’s Terry Wogan in 1988.
Appearing alongside his first wife Ivana, Trump recalled meeting Al-Fayed and his wife Heini Wathen-Fayed, a former Finnish model who was married to Mohamed from 1985 until her death.
Donald Trump, pictured with his first wife Ivana, spoke about his “great” friendship with disgraced former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed in a resurfaced interview with BBC chat show host Terry Wogan in 1988.
The Egyptian tycoon, who died in August 2023 at age 94, has been the subject of hundreds of accusations of sexual harassment and assault since his death.
‘This is a country that I find fascinating. Yesterday we were with a man, Mohamed Al-Fayed, owner of Harrods, and he is a fabulous man. And your wife is just a wonderful lady and we spent a day walking around Harrods,” Trump tells Wogan.
“I mean, as an example, what a difference between this and the last time we saw it five years ago, what a great job you’ve done with it.”
When another guest, the late comedian Barry Humphries, dressed as his alter ego Dame Edna Everage, chimed in: “Oh, wonderful, wait until you see her house,” Trump responds: “It’s beautiful.”
‘Oh, have you been there too?’ says Humphries.
Wogan then chimes in, joking: “I have to say Donald, but you can’t be anywhere the Lady hasn’t been.”
Trump’s comments suggest he visited Fayed in 1983 and 1988.
While their friendship has flown under the radar, it remained close enough over the decades that Al-Fayed appeared at Trump and Melania’s Palm Beach wedding in January 2005.
The event was covered as a history of society in the Palm Beach Daily News which reported that Al-Fayed made a grand entrance and headed straight to the front of the church.
Trump remained close enough to Al-Fayed over the years to invite the mogul to his 2005 wedding to his third wife Melania in Palm Beach.
Al-Fayed was the father of producer Dodi Al-Fayed (right), who was romantically linked to Princess Diana when they both died in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
Princess Diana with Mohammed Al Fayed pictured attending a charity dinner for the Harefield Heart Unit held at Harrods, London in February 1996.
‘Mohamed Al-Fayed created a stir when he entered the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea and stood in the front row reserved for the family as if, one guest complained, “he was the Archbishop of Canterbury.” .’
Other guests included Bill and Hillary Clinton, Tony Bennett, Shaquille O’Neill, Heidi Klum and Simon Cowell.
Trump would continue to speak fondly of Al-Fayed in later interviews, including one 2003 meeting with British business magazine Property Weekin which he He reiterated that the now disgraced tycoon was “a friend of mine” and a “great guy.”
Speaking about his potential business interests in the UK, Trump told the magazine: “I have great relationships with a lot of great people there.”
“Mohamed Al-Fayed is a friend of mine and he’s a great guy, but a lot of people don’t know that.”
When asked about a possible “union with Harrods”, he replies: “Well, I don’t know.”
‘I have to be very careful. “I’ve turned down at least 10 jobs in the last five years in England because I don’t want to get into a situation where I’m not the best.”
Trump had previously joked that he may have slept with the late Princess Diana, who was dating Al-Fayed’s son Dodi when they were both killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
In a 1997 interview with Howard Stern, he was asked, “Why do people think it’s selfish of you to say you could have dated Lady Di?” You could have caught her, right? Could you have caught her?
The billionaire Egyptian businessman, who is survived by his wife Heini Wathen (pictured in 2016), bought Harrods in 1985, six years after acquiring the Ritz in the French capital. He bought Fulham in 1997.
While most of the lawsuits against Al-Fayed come from former Harrods employees, other victims have come from across the billionaire’s business empire.
This week, the group Justice for Harrods Survivors said it had sent its first letter of claim to Harrods, signifying the “beginning of the formal legal process”, and lawyers indicated it “will be followed by hundreds more”.
Trump responds, “I think I could have done it,” before adding that she would have to go to the doctor with him “for a little checkup,” referring to an STD test.
The former president is a germaphobe and told Stern that he always made sure women got tested before sleeping with him.
Trump’s close ties to the tycoon have resurfaced as lawyers working on the case against the late Egyptian billionaire revealed on Thursday that they have been handling 421 investigations related to Al-Fayed.
At a news conference in central London, the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said it had been contacted by many people from Harrods and Premier League soccer team Fulham FC, both owned by Al-Fayed.
The group’s legal team said it had sent its first letter of claim to Harrods, signifying the “beginning of the formal legal process” and indicated that “hundreds more will follow”.
Dean Armstrong KC, a member of the group’s legal team, added: “We are delighted to announce that we have reached an agreement with a leading law firm who will be responsible for the prosecution of these claims.
“The law firm has areas of expertise in this field and, lest anyone worry about our ability to fight to the end, has more than £1 billion backed by it.”
