In their first trip outside the UK since the eruption of COVID-19 pandemic, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall paid a two-day visit to Egypt that ended on 19 November. It was their second trip to the country—the first was in 2006–and followed a two day visit of Jordan.
The visit, the UK Embassy in Cairo said, highlighted the close relationship between Egypt and the UK, and demonstrated Egypt’s growing commitment to protect the environment.
In Cairo, the royal couple were received by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and his wife Intissar at al-Ittihadiya Presidential Palace. According to the Presidency spokesperson, President Sisi welcomed his visitors, and sent his regards to Queen Elizabeth while Prince Charles, for his part, thanked the President for his warm welcome and conveyed the Queen’s good wishes.
The meeting with President Sisi focused in the major part on working together on the climate crisis ahead of COP27 which will be held in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt next year.
The Crown Prince and Duchess of Cornwall paid a visit to al-Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo where they were received by Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb. They discussed enhancing scientific, religious, and cultural ties with the UK and the Anglican Church. Al-Azhar is a 10th-century mosque and teaching centre that is today a modern university and the topmost Sunni institution and authority in the Islamic world.
The Prince also met Pope Tawadros of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Their discussions focused on climate change and battling violence against women. The Pope told Prince Charles that the Church’s regular prayers include prayers for the River Nile, the air, the plants and crops. He said that the Church supported international interest in climate change.
The two also discussed violence against women in Egypt and how it is being addressed by the Church.
This is the second time Prince Charles has met Pope Tawadros, the first was in London in May 2017.
Attending the recent meeting was Anba Angaelos, Coptic Archbishop of London, who tweeted: “Honoured to accompany HH Pope Tawadros II at a meeting with HRH the Prince of Wales during which they discussed the Christian understanding of stewardship over all creation and the role of faith communities in safeguarding the environment today.”
At the Greek Campus in Cairo, Prince Charles was received by Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad. He met emerging tech startups and corporate and institutional sustainability and climate leaders led by Ahmed al-Alfi, Chairman and Founder of Sustainable Markets Initiative. Discussions centred on the role of businesses in actively promoting sustainable development and participating in limiting the expected damage of climate change.
Prince Charles also visited Beit al-Razzazz in medieval Cairo. Beit al-Razzazz is an Islamic era 190-room urban palace which was restored between 1997 and 2007, and is currently a place that houses Egyptian craftspeople and arts and cultural activities.
There, the Prince was briefed on the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation (EHRF), an Egyptian NGO founded in 2013 with the objective of promoting and safeguarding Egyptian and regional cultural heritage. Representatives of the EHFR explained to Prince Charles how the NGO works to preserve documents and treasures of medieval Mamluk geometry of Cairo’s minbars. The Prince had the opportunity to speak to the young craftspeople from the EHRF and the Jameel School which is supported by the Prince’s Foundation. The Jameel School teaches young Egyptians classes in traditional Islamic geometry, drawing, colour harmony and arabesque studies.
Given that the Duchess’s charity work covers health, literacy, supporting victims of sexual and domestic violence, girls’ education and women empowerment, Ms Intissar al-Sisi talked with her about the Egyptian State’s efforts at securing a decent life for all Egyptians, especially women, through a series of initiatives and presidential programmes.
The Duchess then paid visits to venues concerned with them in Egypt. This took her to the underprivileged district of Ezbet Khairallah in eastern Cairo to check on projects funded by the UK to empower women and combat climate change.
The Duchess also learnt about another community initiative: growing tomatoes, where she planted her own little seedling and watered it.
The Duchess, who is famously interested in animals also, visited The Brooke, a veterinary hospital set up in Egypt in 1934 by the British Dorothy Brooke.
The Brooke Hospital … a brilliant history in treating sick animals
Duchess Camilla was warmly welcomed at The Brooke which she had first discovered in 2006 while on her first visit to Egypt. Across Egypt, The Brooke has four other hospitals and 28 mobile teams, which treat around 160,000 horses, donkeys and mules every year. During the pandemic, it ran a feeding programme for 1700 horses working at tourist sites across Egypt, as their owners lost income due to the lack of tourism.
The royal couple visited Alexandria where they toured the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the modern-day library which emulates the third century BC Great Library of Alexandria, one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The BA, which opened in 2002, is built on a magnificent site alongside Alexandria’s ancient harbour in the centre of the city.
The 11-storey library, ingeniously designed by the Norwegian firm Snohetta, enjoys a circular form 160m in diametre that tilts forward towards the Mediterranean shoreline, its rooftop pyramidical glass panels glittering in the sun to symbolise “the rising sun of knowledge”. An open plaza and reflecting pool surround the building, and a footbridge links it to the city. In addition to the library facilities, it contains cultural and educational functions including a planetarium, several museums, a conservation centre and others.
The library has a shelf space for an eventual eight million books, with the main reading room covering 20,000 square metres. The Duchess joined children in their reading space, reading for them “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt”.
Alexandria offered another chance for the Prince and Duchess to meet children at the Jesuit Cultural Centre, which offers a broad programme of artistic, intellectual and cultural activities to promote respect, equality and justice.
One of the children asked what Her Royal Highness’s best moments on her Egypt visit was, to which she unhesitatingly replied that it was the visit to the Pyramids and the Sphinx.
The royal couple had visited the historic site of the Pyramids and Sphinx at sunset the day before, where they took photos and entered the Great Pyramid. On their Twitter account they had posted: “A phenomenal moment at one of Egypt’s great sites of rich ancient history.”
“I did see the pyramids yesterday,” the Duchess said, “and we had a wonderful tour of them. I walked up quite high and went inside, but halfway inside I decided to go back again … And at the end of it we decided to go see the Sphinx, which I was very very excited about. To stand with the Sphinx was one of the best moments. You are very lucky to have such wonderful treasures in your country.”
In the evening of their day in Cairo, the Royal couple were back at the foothill of the Pyramids, attending a reception at 9 Pyramids Lounge to celebrate the bond between the UK and Egypt.
The reception was attended by top State officials, politicians, artists and public figures.
Initiating his speech at the reception party with the Arabic salute “peace be upon you,” Prince Charles spoke about the importance of Egypt, and voiced his pleasure to visit it again 15 years after his last visit, recalling the famous Egyptian folk saying that whoever drank the water of the Nile must return to it again.
He shed light on the importance of protecting the environment, citing ancient Egyptian practices that proved their awareness of the significance of the issue.
The Crown Prince praised Egypt’s eagerness to address climate change: “I know that Egypt is on the front line of urgent climate change challenges, from rising sea levels to loss of biodiversity in Egypt’s seas as temperatures rise.
“I can only applaud your leadership, for example for phasing out coal and creating at Benban Africa’s largest solar park, with a staggering annual production capacity of 3.8 terawatt hours and, crucially, recognising the need to do more to combat the crisis.
“As President Sisi steps forward to take on the Presidency of COP27 next year, the United Kingdom will be with Egypt as your friend and partner in this epic struggle to protect and restore our environment, and to build a better future for us all.”
Watani International
21 November 2021