Egyptians turn towards the Monarchy to show their opposition of the oppressive republic

Criticising Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is a dangerous venture in the Nile country. "His method of governance is one that sucks the life out of the democratic and pluralistic aspirations that millions of Egyptians embraced after President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in 2011. ... Sisi has returned the country to a state comparable to the strongman days of President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser set the precedent for military rule and severe controls on the flow of information and knowledge, arguably the two greatest constraints on human and national development in the Arab world since 1952." (Aljazeera America).

 It seems safer to refer to the pre-1952 period as the "the beautiful era". The years of King Farouk I mean glamour, class, religious tolerance and a civilised society. That's the quintessence of an article on the BBC Trending website: Why are some Egyptians pinning away for their long-gone king?

"I'm begging King Farouk not to leave Egypt to the army," an Egyptian tweeted recently - quite an odd plea, as Egypt hasn't had a monarch for more than 60 years. But that message, and thousands like it, were shared in a sort of mass historical role play that pushed the phrase "Tweet as if you're in the 1950s" to the top of Egypt's Twitter charts.

 A Facebook fan page in his name that was set up in August 2011 has been liked more than 2.2 million times. "King Farouk was wrongly and unfairly depicted," says Amr Abu Seif, a 40-year-old Egyptian who set up the Facebook page as well as a King Farouk website, which he started in 2007 after he couldn't find any websites dedicated to the Egyptian monarchy.

Queen Narriman and King Farouk I with his son Fouad II on his lap.

Of course, there is an Egyptian king: Fouad II, son and heir of King Farouk who became king in 1952, after his father was forced to go into exile. However, the baby-king was deposed by Nasser in 1953. However, he keeps in touch with the Egyptian people and send a royal message on the occassion of Eid, the end of Ramadan. (For a rough translation you can use https://translate.google.com/)

﴿وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللهََّ عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ﴾

يتوجه فؤاد الثاني -ملك مصر السابق- وأسرته بأصدق التهاني للشعب المصري، وللشعوب العربية والإسلامية، بمناسبة حلول عيد

الفطر المبارك؛ الذي نستقبله الليلة شاكرين بعد أن منَّ اللهُ علينا وعلى أمَّتنا بإتمامِ شهرَ رمضان المعظَّم، فرحين بما آتانا الله من

نعمهِ ورحمتهِ في أهلينا ووطننا.
ويرفع فؤاد الثاني الدعاء من قلب مؤمن بالله ومحب لرسوله أن يتقبل الله صيامنا ودعاءنا، وأن يتغمدنا بعنايته ورحمته، وأن يؤلف

بين قلوبنا ويحفظ وطننا مصر من كل سوء ومكر، سبحانه نعم المولى ونعم النصير. وأن هذه المناسبة الكريمة، نستحضر فيها، بكل

تدبر واعتبار، ما يجمع شعوب أمتنا العربية والإسلامية من روابط وتاريخ، ترسخ إيماننا بوحدة مصيرها، في ظل إعلاء قيم ديننا
الحنيف، الداعية إلى الإخاء والإيثار والمحبة، والوسطية والاعتدال، والتسامح والتعايش بين مختلف الديانات والحضارات.
حفظ الله مصر وشعبها

فؤاﺍدﺩ فارﺭوﻭقﻕ

Monarchist candidate in Egyptian presidential election

Hossam Shaltot, a retired aviation engineer, is running in the Egptian presidential election on 23rd/24th May. But he has no intention of becoming Egypt's next president. His aim to give the country its Monarchy back.

"I came to announce my bid for president because there are so many problems that need to be solved and I'm the only one who can solve them," he told Turkish Anadolu Agency. "Conditions in the country are going from bad to worse," he added: "Something has to be done." He calls both toppled president Mohamed Morsi and his toppler, army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who also running for president, "failures".

Shaltot said: "Al-Sisi has been Egypt's de facto ruler for the past eight months, but he's done nothing to solve the country's problems."

If elected, Hossam Shaltot plans to restore Egypt's monarchy, which, he suggested, would allow it to join the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a six-country grouping of oil-rich Gulf Monarchies plus The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Kingdom of Morocco. This would mean Egyptian workers would have the chance to find work in the Gulf without requiring a visa.

Shaltot said the restoration of the monarchy and GCC membership would solve Egypt's acute fuel shortage by stimulating fuel aid from the Gulf.

Egypt's legitimate Monarch, King Fu'ad II, was toppled in 1953 and has been living in Europe since a military coup d'état established a dictatorship that lasted until the "Arab Spring" forced Hosni Mubarak out of power. King Fu'ad had succeeded his father on 26th July 1952 upon the abdication of His Majesty King Fārūq I, who was forced by the putsch of army officers to leave the country. His Majesty, King Fu'ad II reigned for less than a year until 18th June 1953.

Egyptian wedding in Istanbul on 30th August 2013, King Fuad II embraces his son, Crown Prince Muhammed Ali, who married Princess Noal Zaher of Afghanistan in a lavish ceremony.

In July 2013 Al Jazeera author Tanya Goudsouzian speculated about The Return of the King:

In Egyptian author Alaa Al Aswany's bestselling 2002 novel The Yacoubian Building, an ageing aristocrat declares:

"It was a different age. Cairo was like Europe. It was clean and smart and the people were well mannered and respectable and everyone knew his place exactly…"

Fewer and fewer people remember Egypt as it once was, a glittering romantic metropolis and a genuine regional hub for culture and the arts - it is an Egypt that now only lives in the collective memory of some exiles, the result of dictatorships both republican and Islamic.

Prince Osman Rifaat Ibrahim was barely two years old when his family was forced to leave his native Egypt, after the 1952 Free Officers' revolution. As members of the dynasty of Mohamed Ali, founder of modern Egypt, they had become persona non grata. His father, Prince Amr Ibrahim, was blacklisted as a potential threat to the new order. He had been a high commander of the Special Police during World War II, and enjoyed a great deal of support among certain circles. As a grandson of Mohamed Ali's eldest son, he was viewed as a contender for the throne.

Overnight, their family lost everything, as the state confiscated extensive properties and all of their personal belongings, including priceless antiques and artworks, by order of the Revolutionary Command Council. There were three palatial homes in Cairo, three buildings in coastal Alexandria, and vast swaths of agricultural land on which they grew cotton, then a highly profitable crop. With nothing left in Egypt, they went into exile, first to Italy and later to Switzerland, where Prince Osman grew up among other Egyptian aristocrats.

Today, like the rest of the world, the 63-year-old prince watches from afar as chaos unfolds in Egypt, wondering whether there will ever be a happy ending to the story that began six decades ago.

"When this latest revolution started a little over two years ago, I was hopeful that it might be the end of nearly 60 years of military dictatorship," he told Al Jazeera. "Unfortunately it was not, and where we are headed is gloomy."

Unless the Monarchy is to return in all its glory.

Royal Egyptian and Afghan Wedding

Crown Prince Muhammad Ali of Egypt and Princess Noal Zaher, granddaughter of King Zaher Shah of Afghanistan, are preparing for their impending royal wedding.

Crown Prince Muhammad Ali, Noal Zaher's mother, Fatima Aref Begum, Muhammad's father, King Fuad II and Princess Noal Zaher

The couple, who announced their engagement on 27 April 2013, are set to tie the knot on 30th August at the Palace of Çirağan on the European shores of the Istanbul Strait in Turkey.

The Egyptian Crown Prince was born in Cairo in 1979 and is the eldest son of King Fuad II of Egypt, giving him the title of Prince of Sa'id. Today Prince Muhammad resides in Paris where he works in real estate and met his princess during a holiday in Istanbul.

Princess Noal Zaher was born in 1980 in the Italian capital of Rome, where her family took refuge after a coup d'état proclaimed a republic in Afghanistan in 1973, which destabilised the country up to this day. Her father is Prince Mohammed Daoud Khan Pachtounyar, the fifth son of King of Afghanistan Zahir Shah and Queen Homeira.

Princess Noal Zaher graduated from the famous French university Institut Saint-Dominique with a degree in European Business before specialising in jewellery design at Webster University in London.

Crown Prince Leka II of the Albanians and his fiancée, Ms Elia Zaharia,

Crown Prince Leka II of the Albanians and his fiancée, Ms Elia Zaharia, announed on his website, that they will attend the wedding the Egyptian Crown Prince's wedding.

The dynasty of Mehmet-Ali who ruled Egypt for over a century is considered to have Albanian roots. The website claims, that "the presence of the head of the Albanian Royal Family shall celebrate the very closed friendship between the two royal families, especially during King Zog I and Queen Geraldine’s exile. The royal couple, Crown Prince Leka and the whole royal household were generously hosted by HM King Farouk I in his beloved country from 1946 until to the fall of the egyptian monarchy."

HM Queen Farida, King Farouk I’s first spouse and HRH Princess Fadia of Egypt attended King Leka I and Australian-born Queen Susan’s wedding in Madrid in October 1975.

King Fouad I and King Farouk I, respectively great grandfather and grandfather of HRH Prince Muhammad-Ali, were both holders of the highest ranks of the royal Albanian orders, the Grand Collar of Honour of Albania and the grand-sash with star of the Bessa Order as well.

First wife of the Shah of Iran has died aged 92



His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shahanshah Ariyamehr with H.I.H. Princess Fawzia of Egypt, 1st wife of the Shahanshah of Iran.



Princess Fawzia, the first wife of the Shah of Iran and a daughter and sister of Egyptian kings has died aged 92, a member of the Egyptian Royal Family has announced.

Her death was reported on social media by her nephew, King Fuad II, who was Egypt’s King before he was deposed in 1953, when Egypt was deprieved of the Monarchy and declared a republic under the dictatorship of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

“The royal family of Egypt announces to the nation that it is mourning the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia Fuad, daughter of His Majesty King Fuad I and sister of His Majesty King Faruk I and aunt of his Majesty King Fuad II and the former Empress of Iran… The funeral procession for Her Royal Highness Princess Fawzia will start after noon prayer on Wednesday.”

Her relatives have said she will be buried in Cairo.

Princess Fawzia became the Queen of Iran after marrying then Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1939, they divorced nine years later. She remarried in Egypt in 1949 to Ismail Chirine, an Egyptian army officer.

Princess Fawzia of Egypt and Colonel Ismail H. Chirine.

Fellow blogger Theodore Harvey found the right words:

As Egypt undergoes yet more turmoil with the military ouster of President Morsi today, one more link to an era when Egyptians enjoyed relative stability and liberty is gone. Egypt and Iran are still paying the price for the ouster of her brother & nephew and husband respectively.

His Majesty King Fouad II of Egypt has released a statement

In the name of Allah the benevolent and the merciful.

"We Ahmed Fouad II of Egypt, deeply saddened by the tragic events experienced by our beloved country, wish wholeheartedly for a swift solution to the present crisis.

"Our prayers accompany families who have suffered losses of dear ones.

"Our best wishes for a prompt recovery are extended to those who have been injured.

"We hope most sincerely that these unfortunate victims will be truly the last and that there will be no more bloodshed.

"Let us hope that the whole Nation and its people will recover peace and well being and take the path of democracy. Social and economic development can only come through peaceful dialogue.

"May Allah protect my beloved Egypt and the Egyptian people."

His Majesty, Fu'ād II, King of Egypt and the Sudan – Aḥmad Fu'ād (Arabic: الملك أحمد فؤاد الثاني Aḥmad Fu'ād) – was born on 16th January 1952. He ascended the throne on 26th July 1952 upon the abdication of his father, His Majesty King Fārūq I, who was forced by the putsch of army officers to leave the country. His Majesty, King Fu'ad II reigned for less than a year until 18th June 1953, when Egypt was declared a republic and he joined the rest of his family in exile in Switzerland, where he has continued to live to this day.

King Fouad II of Egypt

Surprise no. 1: Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal published an article on His Majesty King Fouad II of Egypt.

Big surprise no 2: The article is not only fair to the Monarch in exile, but refers also to his increasing popularity in his home country:

"Farouk fever" has been sweeping Egypt. A TV soap opera on King Farouk was such a hit its producers just unveiled another series about the royals. Books set in the era are selling briskly at the popular Diwan bookstore chain in Cairo. A tour company is marketing cruises along the Nile on a yacht with a "Farouk Suite."

"You are and you left as the king," says Youssef Makar, a friend who is seated nearby. "And to us you will always be the king."

In July 1952, the young Fouad, swaddled in fine Egyptian embroidered cotton, boarded the royal yacht with his parents and three half sisters as they fled the country during the revolution. He was in the arms of his nanny, and Farouk ordered them to walk in front of him. "He is the King," Farouk declared. They landed in Capri and Fouad, carried by his nanny, was the first off the boat.
His father's "comeback" has given Fouad a new optimism. He longs to return to Egypt in some capacity—perhaps as cultural ambassador. Monarchs such as the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, have helped their countries move to democracy, he says: "It works for Spain beautifully."