Charles holds talks with Egypt’s president as tour begins
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.
