Samira Khashoggi

Who was Samira Khashoggi?

Samira Khashoggi was an influential, progressive author of several books and the first wife of Egyptian born Mohamed Al-Fayed, and the mother of Dodi Fayed.

Her father Muhammad Khashoggi was a medical doctor of Turkish descent—the family name means spoonmaker in Turkish. She is the sister of Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi

She wrote under the pseudonym Samirah ‘Daughter of the Arabian Peninsula’. Her books include Wadda’t Amali “Thekrayāt Dām’ah’, ‘Wara’ Aldabab’, Qatrat Min ad-Dumu’ and ‘Barīq Aynaik’.

She met Mohamed Al-Fayed on the beach in Alexandria, and they married in 1954. The marriage lasted two years, and produced one child, Dodi Fayed. Samira separated from Mohamed Al-Fayed just months after Dodi's birth. She died of a heart attack in 1986 aged 51.

She was the aunt of actress Nabila Khashoggi.

Her son Dodi Fayed was reportedly devoted to her, and would telephone her almost every day up to her death. Dodi once told a friend: "If it meant giving up everything I have—cars, wealth, and women—I would do it to bring my mother back."