Inside Mohamed Al-Fayed’s Relationship With Princess Diana

Much about Mohamed Al-Fayed’s life was intriguing. As it turns out, Princess Diana wasn’t the only member of the British royal family that Mohamed had a connection to. He also had a unique link to Edward VIII, the former King of England and Duke of Windsor. In 1936, Edward abdicated the throne, making way for his brother, George VI, to become king, and nearly 20 years later, Edward and his wife, Wallis Simpson, moved to a villa in Paris. Edward died in 1970 and Simpson died in 1972, but in 1986, Mohamed purchased their Parisian home and converted it into a museum.

Mohamed had met the couple once, but he did not develop a relationship with them. “It was the romance of the century. Here was a great king of a great empire, saying goodbye to it all for a beloved woman. And I had the chance to preserve the house where he lived and all these objects. They’re the heritage of Britain, which is my second home,” Mohamed told The New York Times of Edward and Simpson and the project.

Diana did not have a relationship with the couple either. The former princess didn’t meet King Charles until after Edward and Simpson had died, and Charles seemingly wasn’t Edward’s biggest fan. “The whole thing seemed so tragic … I was relieved to escape it after 45 minutes,” Charles wrote of meeting with Edward, as reported by Time.