EGYPT: Son’s Send-off

Last week marked the 18th anniversary of the accession of fat, amiable, hoarse-voiced King Fuad to the throne of Egypt. Britain, who put him there, was acutely aware of two facts: 1) Fuad was educated in Italy, once served as an Italian artillery officer; 2) there are nearly twice as many Italians as Britons living in Egypt.

Three days prior to the anniversary celebration, King Fuad’s son, solemn Crown Prince Farouk, 15, said good-by to his four small sisters, left the royal palace at Alexandria to be trained as a British army cadet at Woolwich. Few schoolboys ever had a more impressive sendoff. At Ras-et-Tin Palace, British High Commissioner Sir Miles W. Lampson was on hand for a farewell handshake, a bit of fatherly advice. In a glittering barouche behind an escort of Egyptian lancers the dark-skinned youngster drove through the streets of Alexandria to the quayside where he boarded the British light cruiser Devonshire. With the crew lining the rails at attention, the Devonshire snaked its way through the great armada of British warships jamming Alexandria harbor, made the 124-mile run to Port Said. There the crew manned ship again; a royal salute was fired; the little prince went down the captain’s gangway to board the P. & 0. liner Strathaird for Britain and the life of a British schoolboy.

Fuad’s official anniversary celebration brought forth more royal salutes banging from the bastions, the proclamation of a national holiday, and swarms of British planes buzzing overhead. Two days later, as a reminder of Britain’s might, 10,000 British and Egyptian troops paraded through the streets. The Egyptian Cabinet voted an extra $1,000,000 for war materials, all of which must be spent in Britain, and War Minister Mohammed Tawfik Abdalla Pasha announced that Egyptian conscripts whose terms of service are about to expire will be held under arms until the present emergency is passed.