"Your Highness, Mr. Al Fayed has expressed his willingness to consider selling Harrods, but he hopes to meet with you before the deal is concluded."
Hearing what Yulia Moore said, Barron frowned and said,
"What do you think he means?"
"It's hard to say, but... the relationship between Al-Fayed and the royal family is not so harmonious."
What Yulia said was also what Barron was concerned about.
This time, he hopes to acquire London's most famous department store, Harrods, in the name of the Devonshire Family Fund.
As early as three years ago, Baron had the opportunity to acquire another well-known London department store, Selfridges, but later Baron gave it to the Weston family. In addition to acquiring the Primark clothing chain from the other party, this high-end department store was not in his industrial development plan at the time, so using these funds could have better investment directions.
But now, after Barron acquired the Gucci Group and started to acquire Hermès, and with sufficient funds, it is time to enter this field.
As the most prestigious luxury department store in Britain and even the world, Harrods came into Barron's sight.
In 1834, founder Charles Henry Harrod started a grocery and tea business on Cable Street in Stepney, East London.
In 1849, he foresaw the business opportunities that the 1851 World Expo might bring and moved the store to Knightsbridge, adjacent to the Hyde Park venue. The surrounding 8 kilometers was called the "Crown Triangle" by the locals, and Harrods was born.
As London's economy prospered, Harrods' business territory began to expand.
As a legend in the department store industry, Harrods has created many "firsts".
In 1898, Harrods built the world's first escalator; the world's first winter sale started here; the first TV was sold here...
Former US President Reagan received an elephant as a gift when he was governor of California. The deal was made by Harrods. Here, you can even spend £250,000 to customize your own wax figure, which is made by Madame Tussauds...
Today, Harrods, which has a 172-year history, is no longer just a fashion department store in the hearts of the British people. It has become a classic representative of British shopping culture.
Harrods department store has become a symbol. When you walk on the streets of London carrying Harrods' golden logo and a dark green shopping bag, you will look more imposing than others.
However, the reason why Barron hesitated to meet with the Egyptian tycoon Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods, was mainly because of the dispute between the latter and the British royal family...
As we all know, Princess Diana died in a horrific car accident in the Pont de Alma tunnel in Paris in the early hours of August 31, 1997.
Her new boyfriend also died in the car with her.
At that time, the owner of Harrods, Al Fayed, was the father of Diana's boyfriend at the time.
How would you describe Al-Fayed?
It can be said that he is somewhat similar to Abu in some aspects, but not completely similar.
Al Fayed was born in Egypt and had a business mind since childhood. Since childhood, Al Fayed has been eager to enter the British upper class and become a member of it. Egypt was once a British colony, and his mentality was a kind of colonized convert fanaticism. He hoped to become a British upper class and never wanted to return to Egypt.
Al Fayed's original name was Mohammed Fayed. Later he added the prefix "Al" to his surname, similar to the "De" of French nobility or the "von" of German nobility, intending to appear noble. As a result, he was ridiculed as the "fake Pharaoh".
After acquiring huge wealth, he bought London's most famous department store, Harrods, in 1985, hoping to enter the British upper class society. He even bought the former residence of the Duke of Windsor in France, the Queen's uncle, Edward VIII, who "loved beauty more than power" and gave up the throne for the divorced American woman Mrs. Simpson, after his death, and redecorated it, preparing to give it to the British royal family to win their favor.
However, his move backfired a bit - because the media at the time was frantically hyping up the fact that the Duke of Windsor had been secretly flirting with Nazi Germany during World War II. The royal family did not accept this "gift", but only took away some of the items and documents related to the royal family.
And at the Royal Ascot, the biggest social event of the year sponsored by Al Fayed, the Queen did not sit next to Al Fayed to avoid suspicion, but let Princess Diana sit there on behalf of the royal family. It was because of this that Al Fayed got to know Diana and they had a good relationship.
Therefore, after Diana divorced the crown prince, in order to continue to enter the British upper class society centered on the royal family, Al Fayed went to great lengths to make his son and Diana become lovers...
Just think about it, the mother of the future King of England is your daughter-in-law; your grandson is a brother of the future king, wouldn't that be wonderful?
"Now, I have finally found true love. After getting married, I will live a normal life like an ordinary person."
These are the words Diana said during an interview in Paris, but six hours later she and her boyfriend Dodi died in a car crash.
After losing his beloved son, Al-Fayed would accuse the British royal family from time to time, claiming that the royal family murdered the two people. He even said that the assassination was ordered by Prince Philip, planned by Charles, and participated in by Prime Minister Blair, because this vampire family could not bear to see Princess Diana pursue happiness.
Later, he invested money to make a documentary about the car accident, "Unlawful Killing", but it was not released to the public.
Well, it is also worth mentioning that after the unfortunate deaths of Diana and Dodi, Al Fayed set up two memorial bronze statues in the lobby of Harrods in their memory.
The statue of Dodi and Diana smiling at each other and holding up an albatross flapping its wings together is still shining with golden light, symbolizing "eternal love". Photos of the two and candles are placed next to it for people to express their regret and commemoration.
These two commemorative bronze statues have become a tourist attraction in Harrods, and many people come here to see them...
It is somewhat ironic that Al-Fayed wanted so much to become an upper-class Englishman, but until now he has not obtained British citizenship.
"Inform Al-Fayed that I can meet him, but I want it to be a private meeting. Well, just invite him to The Holme."
The Holme is Barron's mansion in Regent's Park, which is usually used as a place for his trysts with Tamaran Ecclestone. Tamaran also often lives there, but recently she went to Japan with her father for a trip, where the Suzuka Circuit is hosting the F1 Japanese Grand Prix.