Farida, the Queen of Egypt: A Memoir of Love and Governance

Mr. Farouk Hashem met queen Farida in 1976, when he was a consul at the Egyptian Embassy in London. Mr. Hashem was working on the preparation for a festival for the arts and civilization of the Islamic World. Queen Elizabeth inaugurated the festival and Mr. Hashem represented Egypt at the festival. This was the beginning of many meetings between Mr. Hashem and Queen Farida in Cairo and many other Capitals in the Arab World, especially Bahrain. That was also the start of their travels to many Arab countries for twelve years, where Queen Farida had the opportunity to talk about her life story with King Farouk at the Royal Palace, the ups and downs in their relationship, her love for the Arts and the struggles she had to face throughout her life until her passing in 1988. Morad Abou-Sabe’ met Queen Farida in the summer of 1986, when she was a dinner guest at his sister in law in Cairo and met Mr. Hashem twenty years later in 2006, when they discussed the publication of this English version of the book about Queen Farida. Dr. Abou-Sabe’ is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ USA. He has a long academic career where he published many research papers and two book in his field of expertise. Dr. Abou-Sabe’ has also contributed a chapter on Nobel Peace Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, which was published in “Africa’s Peace Makers, Nobel Laureates of African Descent”, edited by Professor Adekeye Adebajo, 2013, and published by ZED Books, London and New York.

Mr. Farouk Hashem met queen Farida in 1976, when he was a consul at the Egyptian Embassy in London. Mr. Hashem was working on the preparation for a festival for the arts and civilization of the Islamic World. Queen Elizabeth inaugurated the festival and Mr. Hashem represented Egypt at the festival. This was the beginning of many meetings between Mr. Hashem and Queen Farida in Cairo and many other Capitals in the Arab World, especially Bahrain. That was also the start of their travels to many Arab countries for twelve years, where Queen Farida had the opportunity to talk about her life story with King Farouk at the Royal Palace, the ups and downs in their relationship, her love for the Arts and the struggles she had to face throughout her life until her passing in 1988. Morad Abou-Sabe’ met Queen Farida in the summer of 1986, when she was a dinner guest at his sister in law in Cairo and met Mr. Hashem twenty years later in 2006, when they discussed the publication of this English version of the book about Queen Farida. Dr. Abou-Sabe’ is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ USA. He has a long academic career where he published many research papers and two book in his field of expertise. Dr. Abou-Sabe’ has also contributed a chapter on Nobel Peace Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, which was published in “Africa’s Peace Makers, Nobel Laureates of African Descent”, edited by Professor Adekeye Adebajo, 2013, and published by ZED Books, London and New York.