King Ahmed Fouad: "My Egyptian diplomatic passport is an honor for me and I am optimistic that the situation in Lebanon will not deteriorate"

I was keen to follow the interview conducted by the media figure Wael El-Ibrashy with the former King of Egypt, Ahmed Fouad, in his home in Geneva, firstly because I knew King Ahmed Fouad and his wife at the time, Princess Fadila, when they were residing in Paris.

At a dinner hosted by the late Mrs. Alia El Solh, the eldest daughter of the late Lebanese independence leader Riad Al Solh, at her residence in the Crillon Hotel in Paris, was the first meeting that brought together my father, Badih Serbey, and King Ahmed Fouad. Since that time, a friendship developed between them. After that, Princess Fadila agreed to appear on the cover of “Al-Mawed” and conduct an interview with my father. That day, the interview caused a great stir because it was her first appearance and long interview in the Arab media.

There were many meetings between King Ahmed Fouad, Princess Fadila, and my father. At the time, I was at the beginning of my journalistic career, so I asked King Ahmed Fouad to interview him in an interview to be published in “Al-Mawed” magazine in the late eighties. I was surprised that he agreed, and indeed I conducted an interview that had a lot of resonance, especially at a time when the image of the monarchy was not seen in the way it is seen today, sixty-three years after its demise.

At that time, the King had refused to appear in an American film, even though he was offered ten million dollars in exchange for that, but he appeared for free, in a French documentary film, prepared and directed by Frederic Mitterrand. We talked about his appearance in the documentary film, and he said that day that he preferred not to talk about his father because he felt that the events were being distorted only to harm the reputation of King Farouk, so he preferred to remain silent, at one point, but he appeared in the documentary film, after people became ready to accept some facts.

I did not stop with this conversation with King Ahmed Fouad, but I conducted another political interview with him for the political magazine “Kol Shay" when it returned to publication in 1989, and in his speech, King Ahmed Fouad was polite, sophisticated, showing his patriotism and love for his country, despite the harsh years of exile and his distance from Egypt. The friendship remained between my family and King Ahmed Fouad, whose life witnessed many ups and downs, from his divorce to leaving his work and home and his migration to Geneva and the departure of his sisters. From time to time, I would converse with King Ahmed Fouad over the phone, how could we not, when he was the first to encourage me in my journalistic work.

Last week, I called him to congratulate him on receiving his Egyptian diplomatic passport, which says in the job title, “Former King of Egypt.” He was happy and told me: "it is an honor for me to carry this diplomatic passport, and I am happy because it is a confirmation of history, and I thank President Sisi for this honor."

I told him I also want to congratulate you on your answers which were as usual frank, clear, sophisticated and transparent, even though I had some reservations about some of the questions. He told me that was true and that is what I sensed from the reactions to some of the questions. Some of them surprised me, but I responded with complete frankness.

We agreed to meet not in Lebanon, which he visited last year for a short period, but in Paris or Geneva. I even told him that we might move our residence to France if the situation in Lebanon deteriorated, in light of these difficult circumstances. He told me that he did not think that the situation would deteriorate in Lebanon, and that he admired the Lebanese people and their extraordinary ability to build and start over, no matter what difficulties they faced.

The call ended with optimistic expectations from King Ahmed Fouad, as I leaned on a small embroidered pillow that he had given me when I had my first interview with him. I cherish it very much, as it is from a king who is truly a king in his morals, modesty, and refinement.