Albawaba.com
Rabat
The former Egyptian royal family is now visiting Morocco, where they will celebrate the 13th birthday of Prince Farid Addine, grandson of King Farouk, the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily reported.
Queen Fadila, the wife of King Farouk's son Ahmed Fouad I, told the newspaper it was the Late King Hassan II of Morocco who had named her son, Prince Farid Addine, after his birth in Rabat, Morocco's capital.
The Egyptian royals have been living in France since King Farouk's overthrow in July 1952 by the group of Egyptian Free Officers, led by President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Queen Fadila fervently defends her title as the last queen of Egypt. "The title of Queen is my title," she said, adding "on July 26, 1952, when King Farouk was toppled, he did not leave the throne vacant. He appointed his son, my husband Ahmed Fouad, the legitimate King of Egypt."
Queen Fadila insisted that the Egyptian monarchy was not abolished until 1953, one year after the Free Officers' revolution. "As my husband was the King of Egypt, I am automatically the Queen, and I am known all over the world as the Queen of Egypt," she said.
Queen Fadila said she was keen on raising her children as the offspring of three great Kings of Egypt - Fouad I, Fouad II and King Farouk, but above all as Muslims, Arabs, and African "citizens of the world".
Queen Fadila has three children from King Ahmed Fouad: Prince Mohamed Ali, born in Cairo in 1979, Princess Fawzia Latifa, born in 1982 and Prince Farid Addine in 1987.
Speaking of how her family survived after the Egyptian revolution, Queen Fadila said her family is indebted to the Late King of Morocco, Hassan II, whose help and support helped them overcome the vicissitudes of time.
Forty-eight years after leaving the throne, the Egyptian royal family still keeps good relations with the country they once ruled. However, family members prefer to keep silent on the revolution. Only history will judge that, they say.
Queen Fadila stressed that the monarchy is now in the Egyptians' sub-conscious and it is up to the historians to tell the people what really happened in Egypt during the first half of the twentieth century.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
