The late Queen was warned Mohamed Al Fayed was a “dirty old man” with a reputation as a “salacious attacker of women”, a former royal protection head has said.
More than 20 female former employees of Harrods spoke out in a BBC investigation on Thursday against the former department store tycoon, alleging assault, physical violence, and in the case of five women, rape.
Mr Al Fayed died last year at the age of 94 without the bulk of the allegations surfacing in British media in his lifetime.
Dai Davies, Scotland Yard’s former head of royalty protection, said he had warned the late Queen about Mr Al Fayed’s reputation in the 1990s, due to his association with the late Princess Diana.
He told the Daily Mail: “In 1997 there were already allegations he had been bribing MPs to table questions in the House and he had a salacious reputation.
“There were concerns about his persona as a dirty old man.
“There were allegations I was aware of that Al Fayed had sexually assaulted women then paid them off. I had no compunction in warning the Queen about this individual.
“I advised the Queen, through Lord Fellowes [her private secretary], not to let the boys [Prince William and Prince Harry] go away on holiday with him because of the allegations I was aware of – that he was a salacious attacker of women.
“[Fellowes] said to me: 'The Palace is aware, Mr Davies.’”
Mr Davies said he raised the concerns with Lord Condon, the-then Met Police Commissioner, as well as the Palace, but his advice was ignored.
After the BBC’s expose aired on Thursday, another women came forward to allege sexual assault by Al Fayed while working at Harrods.
The woman believes police nearly arrested him over her allegations just days before he died in August 2023, she told the BBC.
Following the new allegation, Harrods' current owners said they stood by a statement issued on Thursday which said they were "utterly appalled" by the allegations of abuse.
The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.
Mr Al Fayed was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and came to London in the 1960s and set about building a business empire.
He took control of Harrods in 1985 and later expanded his business interests to include the Paris Ritz and Fulham Football Club.
The tycoon was rarely out of the newspapers, with his most public attack on the House of Windsor and the Establishment over the death of his son and heir Dodi alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in the world's most famous car crash.
Mr Al Fayed had previously been accused of sexually assaulting and groping multiple women, but a 2015 police investigation did not lead to any charges.
