Marina Milad:
While the late Queen of Britain, Elizabeth II, did not visit Egypt at any time; The new king, Charles III, visited it three times at different stages of his life.
At the age of 74, Charles, on Saturday, took the throne of Britain, succeeding Queen Elizabeth, during a historic ceremony committed to royal traditions at St James’s Palace in London.
For years, the image of “Charles” as a prince was “unstable” in the minds of Egyptians and others; This image has always been associated with Princess Diana, and his marriage to her ended in a stormy and dramatic manner.. But it seems that the image improved, perhaps with the passage of time, or that Charles himself gradually strengthened it.
In August 1981, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, visited Egypt for the first time. That was when the royal yacht settled in the city of Port Said, which British forces participated in 25 years before that moment in the aggression on it alongside France and Israel.
His wife, Princess Diana, was accompanying him on that cruise for a two-week honeymoon; A few days ago, the whole world was watching the “wedding of the era” taking place in the British capital of the Prince of Wales, 32, and Lady Diana Spencer, 20.
President Anwar El-Sadat and his wife, Jehan El-Sadat, received the newlyweds in Port Said, and they held a dinner party in their honor, as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles did during Sadat’s visit to Britain in 1975.
Diana also received the Medal of Perfection, awarded to women who perform services to the country or to humanity, and Queen Elizabeth received it before her.
At the end of their trip, “Sadat” and his wife traveled a distance of 640 km from Alexandria to the port of Hurghada, to be bid farewell to them – according to Al-Anbaa newspaper at the time.
at that time; The character of the young prince was not entirely clear to the public. He lived long in the shadow of his mother the queen as the eldest son well considered to be king one day.
attended a difficult boarding school in the North East of Scotland; His father studied, then Cambridge, to obtain a degree in anthropology, archeology and history, becoming the first graduate of the royal family. Then he worked as an officer in the Royal Navy for five years.
He told the French magazine “Express” days after his marriage, “I am preparing myself for the burdens of the oldest profession in the world.”
Years later, life between Charles and Diana is turned upside down. In an interview, she hinted at his relationship with “Camilla”, his girlfriend and ex-lover, who later became his wife and now is the “Queen Consort”.
In those years, the Egyptians knew about Charles only news and leaks, most if not all of his bad relationship with Diana, then his official separation from her in 1996, followed by a car accident in Paris, which ended with her death and many doubts and ambiguities.
All this has damaged the popularity of the prince, who has been hidden for a while and focused on raising his two sons, “William” and “Harry”, and then returned to the spotlight again by marrying Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005 in a small, civil ceremony, the exact opposite of his first marriage.
Things settled down, and Charles struggled to restore his status and image as the Queen’s representative, a lover of the environment, and a sponsor of several projects in this field.
And after 25 years of his first visit to Egypt with “Diana”, he visited her again, but with “Camila” at the age of 58 years.
The weather was nice in March 2006, but there were tensions between the West and Muslims after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in some European media.. In the midst of that, the prince and his wife arrived in Egypt with perfect preparation.. They toured the ancient Al-Azhar Mosque, after he took off his shoes on the His doorsteps and carried a “rosary”, while Camila wore a veil.
While this was taking place, the owners of the bazaars gathered in the Hussein area on the street sides, hoping to see or shake hands with the prince, according to a report by Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper at the time, which quoted them expecting that “this visit will support tourism and erase the bad effects of the terrorist events that Egypt witnessed.”
At Al-Azhar University, and it was Charles’ second and most important station, he received an honorary doctorate from the university’s president, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, who is now the sheikh of Al-Azhar.. This was the first certificate granted to a Christian for his call for tolerance and interfaith dialogue.
In a speech he delivered in the Imam Muhammad Abdo Hall in front of a large crowd, he said that he was “interested in Ibrahim’s legacy, which unites Jews, Christians and Muslims… and that we must return to what the Islamic world enjoyed in its golden ages,” and spoke of his rejection of extremism.
Imam Muhammad Sayed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar at the time, received Charles’ speech with a great welcome. He addressed him saying: “Your Highness, the reminder of noble meanings and valuable ideas is the fruit of your serious study and an expression of your insight and rational stance on what is happening around the world.”
Charles’ odd and different choices seem to have not stopped with his age. After he left Cairo and opened the British University there; He decided to penetrate into the Western Desert, where he visited Siwa Oasis, which he visited its archaeological sites such as the coronation hall of Alexander the Great and Shali Castle.
He stayed at the “Adrier Amilal” hotel, or “The White Mountain” in the Berber language. No one would have known him at this time had it not been for his visit. This quiet, isolated hotel with few rooms is made of local, eco-friendly building materials that prevent heat from escaping during the day, and then reflecting it back at night.
Later, he established the “Prince Charles School of Traditional Arts”, which offers a joint project with the Cultural Development Fund in Egypt to teach arts and crafts under the name “House Jameel” for traditional arts, an institute for teaching Islamic architecture, painting, arabesques, and other works.
Several occasions in which the prince and his wife appeared. In 2013, he represented his mother for the first time at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. He visited several countries, but his date with Egypt was another 15 years after his last visit. He is at the age of 73.
November last year, the royal black car arrived at the pyramids area. The area is almost empty and the insurance is at the highest level. Their Royal Highnesses Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, disembarked, smiling and ready to set out on a tour of their well-prepared area.
The two-day tour was the first for a member of the British royal family since the Corona pandemic. The couple took the photos together at the same location where the late Princess Diana was photographed when she visited the region alone in 1992.
for the second time; Al-Azhar Mosque was at the forefront of their schedule. Then he met with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his wife.
With a smile at his insistence and giving up some formalities, “Charles” went to the headquarters of the Greek Campus in Cairo to meet with young people and entrepreneurs, and look at projects related to the environment and sustainable development, a trend that he strongly supports.
Meanwhile, Camilla went to Brooke Hospital, which is located in the popular area of Sayeda Zeinab and treats animals for free, to offer her support.
Dr. Imad Naoum, director of Brooke Hospital, said: “She was very friendly and humble… and took pictures with everyone.”
Both “Charles” and “Camila” appeared in a more stable and familiar image in Egypt, which still has much of the English heritage represented in the facilities and holdings of museums and others.. The prince wandered in the paths of old Cairo, heading towards the “Bait Al-Razzar”, to see traditional and handicrafts. which he pays attention to.
While Prince Charles is seated at a reception hosted by the Minister of Antiquities and Tourism for him next to the pyramids at night, he said: “We have gathered today next to one of the wonders of the world to remind us of miracles, and that we should think about the importance of the legacy of our ancestors.”
Less than a year later, the prince became king, with a crown on his head and a scepter in his hands. Surrounding him remains the legacy of his ancestors and his mother, the longest-reigning British monarch. During a ceremony broadcast for the first time, he vows that he will “strive to emulate the inspiring example set by his mother in shouldering the heavy responsibilities of sovereignty”.
Read also:
The last trip .. a timeline of the most prominent ceremonies until the funeral of Queen Elizabeth
after her death| Milestones in the life of Queen Elizabeth II (interactive)