The Prince of Wales has held bilateral talks with Egypt’s president as his two-day tour of the Middle East country began.
Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived from Jordan and were whisked in a motorcade to the Al-Ittihadiya Palace – a former colonial luxury hotel – to meet the Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the First Lady Entissar Amer.
The president and his wife greeted their guests at the palace’s entrance and the foursome posed for pictures before they split, with the two women heading to a room for talks, while the prince and his host held their meeting, which lasted about 40 minutes, separately.
With Egypt due to take over the presidency of the next UN climate change conference – Cop27 – it is likely environmental issues were part of the discussions.
The Egyptian leader is a retired field marshal who led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected head of state, Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, in 2013, following mass protests against his rule.
In a televised announcement the president, then an army general, told the nation Mr Morsi had been removed from office and had failed to fulfil “the hope for a national consensus”.
The move was followed by a crackdown on those who opposed the ousting of Mr Morsi, which human rights organisations said resulted in the deaths of hundreds during one day of protests.
The Egyptian leader – who former US president Donald Trump once reportedly called “my favourite dictator” – has made maintaining stability and order in Egypt a priority.
Later, Charles visited the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and urged young people studying at the religious institution to remember all “we have in common, not what divides us”.
During the tour the prince met a group of students learning English at the mosque, with young men and women arranged in small groups to speak to him.
“The most important thing is to emphasise what we have in common not what divides us,” the prince told one group of women. “Do remember that we share so much.”
Stopping to talk to a second group, he wondered: “Are you actually able to sit down with representatives from other faiths for conversation? Learning a bit from each other?”
The prince also attended a private interfaith reception with the Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, accompanied by the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Alexandria, Dr Samy Fawzy.
The royal couple last visited the mosque in 2006, when Charles received an honorary doctorate from Al-Azhar University, which is considered the foremost Islamic institution in the Sunni Muslim world.
Founded in 970, the Al-Azhar Mosque is one of Cairo’s earliest and considered an architectural wonder, while its university is said to be the second-oldest seat of learning in the world.
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