Exclusive:
London’s National Portrait Gallery is selling greeting cards and prints of the shamed Harrods tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed in its online gift shop – a black-and-white photograph can be purchased as a card for £4
One of the UK’s top tourist attractions is cashing in on Mohamed Al-Fayed memorabilia – despite a torrent of sex abuse allegations against him.
London’s National Portrait Gallery is selling greeting cards and prints of the shamed Harrods tycoon in its online gift shop. A black-and-white photograph can be purchased as a card for £4 or a framed picture for £16.
The image – featuring Fayed in a suit surrounded by ornate furniture – was taken in 1980 and once graced the gallery’s walls. The portrait is no longer on show as exhibits are changed every six months.
But the revelation that the spin-offs are being used to make money angered groups working with sex abuse victims. Lucy Duckworth of rape charity the Survivors Trust said: “We are not surprised that a man of fame and power who abused these privileges to deliberately cause harm and lifelong impact through acts of sexual abuse is still exercising this power after his death.
“This only further highlights the desperate need we have for a cultural change around this subject, which no person or institution is immune from.”
Our shock revelation comes after a lawyer supporting 290 alleged victims said Mr Al-Fayed’s offending could be on the same scale as serial sex offender Jimmy Savile.
It follows a wave of allegations against the billionaire businessman after a BBC exposé broadcast the claims of 20 women. The documentary tells how Harrods failed to intervene and even helped cover up the allegations before his death last year aged 94.
Since airing in September, hundreds of alleged victims and witnesses have come forward. And some 290 women have now applied to a compensation scheme set up by Harrods.
This week lawyer Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, appointed as an advocate to the Justice for Harrods Survivors group said: “We could be talking about something on the scale of Jimmy Savile.
“What we do know is that there are many people – and survivors have said this to me already – that were complicit [in Al Fayed’s abuse].”
The National Portrait Gallery is globally renowned and the Princess of Wales is patron. There is no suggestion she is aware the products are still on sale.
A Women’s Aid spokesperson said: “It is concerning to see that memorabilia celebrating an alleged sexual abuse perpetrator continues to be sold, despite so many survivors bravely speaking out earlier this year.
“Women’s Aid stands in solidarity with the survivors of Mohammed Al-Fayed and others who have experienced sexual abuse.”
The National Portrait Gallery said: “The portrait of Mohamed Al Fayed is no longer available to buy as a print. We apologise for any upset caused. No prints of the image have been sold by the gallery.”
