The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall Visit Cairo

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The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall during a visit to the Great Sphinx of Giza, on the third day of their tour of the Middle East. November, 2021.
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall during a visit to the Great Sphinx of Giza, on the third day of their tour of the Middle East. November, 2021.

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL VISIT THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN AND THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT

Cairo, Alexandria

 Friday, 19th November

ENGAGEMENT 21

The Prince of Wales will attend a Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) event at GrEEK Campus

The Prince of Wales will meet Ahmed el-Alfi, founder of the GrEEK Campus and Flat6labs, and his wife, Manal el-Alfi. His Royal Highness will then meet Randa Fahmy, Managing Director of the Environment and Development Group, before meeting CEOs of Egyptian businesses for a round-table discussion on the SMI and sustainable business practices. Finally, The Prince will attend the StartEgypt Annual Forum and award first prize to a competition winner. 

The GrEEK Campus is a technology and innovation park in Downtown Cairo offering workspaces for both start-ups and established local companies. The Campus consists of five office buildings on a total space of 25,000 m². The Campus was formerly the site of two Greek Schools in the early 20th century. The university moved to the outskirts of Cairo in 2008. 

Flat6Labs is the Middle East and North Africa’s leading seed and early-stage venture capital firm. Flat6Labs was launched in Cairo in 2011 by Ahmed Al-Alfi and has now expanded to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Tunisia and Lebanon. Since its launch, Flat6Labs has invested in more than 300 start-up companies. 

StartEgypt is a £2m project funded by the UK. The project aims to inspire and financially support Egyptian entrepreneurs and social impact enterprises by providing training, development and funding. The project was implemented by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Flat6labs and closed earlier this year after four successful years of operation. The Annual Forum is their showcase event and the culmination of a four-month incubation program under the StartEgypt project. Start-ups will get the opportunity to present their businesses to investors, leading business professionals, coaches and mentors. 

ENGAGEMENT 22

The Duchess of Cornwall will visit the Brooke Veterinary Hospital 

Her Royal Highness will meet Sherif Foda, Chairman of Brooke Egypt, and Frederick Schutte, Chairman of Brooke Netherlands. She will proceed into the hospital and meet Abeer Shennawy, CEO of Brooke Egypt, and Richard Searight, the Grandson of Dorothea Brooke. The Duchess will then cut a ribbon and officially open the hospital, before being introduced to Dr Eman Nouam, the Head Vet. Her Royal Highness will then visit the outpatients clinic and the farrier’s workshop, and will end by taking a photograph with staff and signing the visitors’ book. 

The Brooke Veterinary Hospital in Cairo has been running on this site since Dorothy Brooke founded the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital in 1934. Her Royal Highness visited the site in 2006. 

Brooke has four other hospitals and 28 mobile veterinary teams across Egypt which treat around 160,000 horses, donkeys and mules every year. In addition, they run education programmes for adults and children to raise awareness of animal welfare, with over 4000 people trained so far in 2021, as well as a successful programme to empower women in rural communities to spread positive messages around animal welfare. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Brooke ran a feeding programme for 1700 horses working at tourist sites across Egypt, as their owners lost income due to the lack of tourism. 

ENGAGEMENT 23

The Prince of Wales will visit HMS Queen Elizabeth 

The Prince of Wales will meet Commodore Steve Moorhouse, Commander of the Carrier Strike Group, and Captain Ian Feasey, Commanding Officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth. His Royal Highness will watch the launch and recovery of an F35B jet from the flight deck before touring the ship and meeting the ship’s company including, CSG battle staff, the Air Wing and U.S. Navy and Marines. 

HMS Queen Elizabeth deployed in May, at the heart of a group of ships and aircraft known as the Carrier Strike Group 2021, CSG21. She has been escorted by a ring of ships including: Type 45 destroyers, Type 23 anti-submarine frigates, and tanker and storage ships. QNLZ has also been accompanied by Dutch and US ships, whilst also exercising with a considerable number of other partners throughout the deployment. On completion of the deployment. The Group expects to have travelled in excess of 40,000 nautical miles. The route has taken in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, covering 40 countries and undertaking more than 70 engagements, visits, air exercises and operations. The Group reached its furthest point in its deployment in August (when it visited Guam). 

HMS Queen Elizabeth has two squadrons of F-35B jets embarked (18 in total) eight from the UK and ten from the US. The number of UK jets will continue to increase over the next few years as the UK takes further deliveries and the F35-B Lightning Force grows. The Queen Elizabeth Class are international by design and the fact they can operate a mixed US/UK air group is a strategic advantage, offering choice and flexibility to both nations. 

ENGAGEMENT 24

The Duchess of Cornwall will visit the Jesuit Cultural Centre

Her Royal Highness will be greeted in the courtyard by Father Mario, Acting Director of the Jesuit Cultural Centre, and Ruth Cocks, Deputy Director of the British Council in Egypt. Father Mario will explain some of the history of the Centre. The Duchess will then meet Sami Creta, Programme Director of the Centre, who will show Her Royal Highness an exhibition called Faces of Alexandria; the artists will also be present. 

Her Royal Highness, accompanied by Sami Creta, will proceed to a small theatre where the children and mentors from Camera Chica will be waiting on the stage to meet her. There will be a 3 minute video showing the filmmaking workshops the children did and edited highlights of the final films, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, and an opportunity for the children to put some questions to The Duchess. 

The Jesuit Cultural Centre was set up in the 1950s, shortly after the construction of the church and monastery. The purpose-built arts centre, set up around the monastery buildings, is notable for inclusive training and for community-based arts. It is now the most active non-governmental cultural space in Alexandria. The Centre offers a broad programme of artistic, intellectual and cultural leadership activities to promote respect, citizenship, equality and justice, without any religious, social, political or gender segregation. 

The Faces of Alexandria exhibition, which launched on November 16th, is the result of the work of five young artists who graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University working with young refugees. The five artists were part of a workshop aimed at transferring knowledge and expertise of Alexandrian heritage by connecting their work to mosaic art, which Alexandria is famous for. The five artists also cascaded their learning to 30 young people between the ages of 13-18 from the refugees community. 

ENGAGEMENT 25

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will visit Bibliotheca Alexandrina 

The Duchess of Cornwall will meet Dr. Sherif Riad, Head of External Relations at the Bibliotheca, and Nevine Abaza, Director of the British Council in Alexandria. The Duchess will enter the library and meet Heba al Rafey, Deputy Head of External Relations. Her Royal Highness will proceed to the Children’s Library, where some older children will be painting, and will then read with a group of younger children. The Duchess will proceed to the Mahmal area in the Great Reading Room, where music will be played by the Bibliotheca’s group of young violinists. 

The Prince of Wales will arrive at 1450hrs and meet Dr. Mostafa el Feki, Director of the Bibliotheca, and Elizabeth White, British Council Egypt Director. His Royal Highness will proceed to the Mahmal area to meet The Duchess. Their Royal Highnesses, accompanied by Dr Mostafa el Feki, will proceed to the Manuscript Collection to view some of the treasures of the Bibliotheca. 

The library of Alexandria is a revival of the ancient Great Library of Alexandria (est. c 250 BC). It is one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world, and intended as a collection of all knowledge. The library has shelf space for an eventual eight million books, with the main reading room covering 20,000 square metres. The complex also houses a conference centre; specialised libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums; four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory. 

The Children’s Library includes a reading hall, TV corner, computer lab, storytelling and puppet theatre as well as an arts and handicrafts corner. They have an engaging programme for children of all ages, with a Summer Holiday Reading Club, a Parents’ Lecture series, extensive outreach work in schools and hospitals in the City of Alexandria, and even a library programme for tiny babies from one day old. 

The Manuscripts Centre in the Bibliotheca aims to explore the depths of Arab and Islamic manuscript heritage through indexing, verification, and study. The Manuscript Centre hosts researchers, organises academic conferences, and holds a diverse collection of original manuscripts. In the Museum, visitors can review any given manuscript online using touch-screen technology to browse and magnify different pages, and listen to related commentary and explanation. 

ENGAGEMENT 26

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will depart Borg el-Arab Airport to return to the UK 

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The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall Explore Umm Qais, Jordan – Day 2
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall Arrive in Egypt – Day 3
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall Visit Cairo – Day 4

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