Former Egyptian Royals Seek Return of Palace, Land

The three daughters of Egypt’s last monarch have won a preliminary round in their attempt to retrieve a palace and land.

The debate over royalty, justice and history has only just begun.

The Constitutional Court ruled late last year that the princesses-- Fadia, 56; Fawziyah, 59; and Ferial, 61--can pursue a lawsuit claiming 1,744 acres of land and Cairo’s Tahra Palace, now used by the government to house visiting dignitaries.

The ruling stung some Egyptians.

Next the courts will rule that the shift from monarchy to a republic was unconstitutional, scoffed Farouk el-Ashi of the Democratic Arab Nasserist Party.

El-Ashi and his party remain loyal to the memory of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who overthrew King Farouk in 1952.

Returning property to Egypt’s former royals would be a second blow to Nasser’s memory. In 1991 the government started an ambitious privatization program that targets many of the companies nationalized by Nasser in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Constitutional Court, Egypt’s highest, sent the royal property case back to a lower court that had dismissed the suit, saying the constitution stipulates that no claim older than a year is valid.

The high court ruled that “ownership is a permanent right” and that the princesses’ case should be judged on the merits of their claim. The women argue that their mother had divorced Farouk before he was overthrown, so she was not a royal and her property should not have been confiscated.

Their lawyer, Mahmoud Dardir, praised the ruling for not being swayed by anti-royal feelings in Egypt. He said he took the princesses’ case because he believes in the “sanctity of our Egyptian legal system . . . which is a medal on our chests.”

A final ruling on the claim could take months or even years.

The three princesses, who have lived mostly in Switzerland since 1952, are reportedly suffering financial problems. The Associated Press was unable to interview them.

Egypt’s leading weekly magazine, Rose el Youssef, has reported that Fawziyah is crippled and spends most of her time in a wheelchair. Ferial’s husband recently committed suicide, leaving her depressed and eking out a living as a typist. Fadia works as a translator.

The princesses left the country with their father in 1952 when he was ousted. Farouk remained in exile until his death in Rome in 1965.

Dardir said the land and palace were owned by the princesses’ late mother, Queen Farida, who divorced the king in 1948. He contends that when royal property was confiscated, Farida was an ordinary Egyptian citizen, and therefore her property was not royal.

Farida lived in Switzerland and France for years, returning in 1982 to Egypt, where she died six years later.

The princesses say in court papers that documents dating to 1944 prove their mother owned the Tahra Palace, and other papers dating to 1951 indicate she owned the land.

Even if they win their case in the long run, they won’t get tracts of land. Egyptian law does not allow any citizen to own more than 50 acres of land, so the princesses most likely would have to be compensated in cash for the rest.

Egyptians living near the Tahra Palace, a two-story mansion surrounded by a high wall, are divided on giving it back to Farouk’s daughters.

“The family, whether the king or his children, got all its money from the people,” said Abdel-Meguid Mohammed, who runs a pharmacy in the neighborhood. “A palace like that is a symbol for the country. This palace is for the people, and the government should not give it away.”

Ahmed Sami, who owns an electric equipment shop near the palace, disagreed.

“If the palace was owned by Farida, then it’s her daughters’ right to retake it,” he said. “Since Farida’s daughters, who are not guilty, are in financial need, they have the right to take the palace.”