Heini Wathén -Fayed, wife of billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, has initiated a legal battle at the High Court to prevent the construction of a large crematorium near their luxurious Surrey mansion.
Heini Wathén -Fayed, 67, is legally challenging the proposal to establish a grand funeral site on green belt land in proximity to their £4.6m 17th-century manor home located in Oxted.Having been married to the former Harrods chief for 35 years, the ex-model is leading the opposition against this proposal.
Horizon Cremation Ltd proposed the construction of the new crematorium, along with a ceremony hall to accommodate 120, a memorial area, remembrance garden, and parking.
Since the 1970s, Mr. Al-Fayed, 93, has been the proprietor of Barrow Green Court, a Grade I listed mansion. The couple previously engaged in a court battle in 2010, where Mr Al Fayed failed to secure oil rights beneath his property.
Mrs. Wathén -Fayed is presently leading a High Court appeal to reverse a planning inspector’s decision from September 2021, which approved the crematorium construction. The approval was granted due to an evident local need, with the closest cremation facility being situated in Crawley, 11 miles away.
Mother to four of the former Fulham FC owner’s children, Mrs Wathén -Fayed and her husband own a collection of extravagant properties around the globe, thought to exceed a value of £1.2 billion.
Dodi Al-Fayed, Mr. Al-Fayed’s son from his first marriage with Samira Khashoggi, who tragically perished in the infamous 1997 car crash alongside Princess Diana.
Mrs. Wathén -Fayed has voiced her commitment towards preserving the local environment and maintaining the tranquility of the 12-acre site.
Horizon Cremation Ltd submitted their initial application for planning permission to Tandridge District Council in 2020, which was initially turned down.
A Brief Introduction to Heini Wathén
Heini Wathén -Fayed (born Heini Wathén on Feb 24, 1955, in Hanko, Finland) is a former model who is married to Egyptian business tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed. She was previously an officer for The Ritz Hotel, London.
Her Journey in Modeling
At the age of 17, Heini Wathén, after bagging a handful of beauty pageant titles in Finland, signed up with a modeling agency. After completing secondary school in 1975, she moved to Paris to pursue her modeling career alongside her sister. However, she returned to Finland two years later to participate in the Miss Finland contest but did not reach the finals.
It was during the Miss Finland contest that she met Dodi Fayed, who was on the hunt for fresh faces in Finland for modeling. Fayed facilitated Heini Wathena’s introduction to Pierre Balmain’s fashion house.
Glimpse into Her Personal Life
In Paris, Wathén was introduced to Dodi Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, and they began dating. Al-Fayed subsequently invited Wathén to live with him at his residence on Park Lane in London. The couple got married in 1985, and thereby, Heini Wathén became Dodi Fayed’s stepmother.
Together, Wathén -Fayed and Al-Fayed have four children: daughters Jasmine (born 1980) and Camilla (born 1985), and sons Karim (born 1983) and Omar (born 1987).
Today, Heini Wathen-Fayed and Al-Fayed stay in Surrey and also own a mansion in Espoo, Finland.
The Life and Times of Mohamed Al-Fayed
Hailing from Alexandria, Egypt and born in 1929, Mohamed Al-Fayed relocated to the UK during the mid-1960s and has resided there ever since. He first wed Samira Khashoggi, with whom he had Dodi, between 1954 and 1956. Afterward, in 1985, he married Heini Wathén, a Finnish model and socialite. They share four children: Jasmine, Karim, Camilla, and Omar.
Al-Fayed’s wealth is attributed to a shipping enterprise he initiated with his siblings in Egypt, later relocated to Northern Italy. The Times reports that his fortune spiraled upward after fostering a fruitful relationship with the Dubai ruler, which led to connections with British construction companies.
Al-Fayed, who established connections with the Royal Family in the 1980s, is renowned for his acquisition of the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979. He and his brothers subsequently bought the House of Fraser, which included the famous Harrods department store, in 1985. Additionally, he purchased Fulham FC in 1997.
Mohamed Al-Fayed: Where is He Now?
Interestingly, Mohamed was the unintentional cupid for the relationship between his son, Dodi, 42, and Princess Diana, 36, in 1997. He had invited the princess and her sons, Prince William, 15, and Prince Harry, 13, to vacation on his yacht in the South of France. It is believed that during this holiday, Princess Diana developed a close bond with his son.
