The UK's Prince Charles of Wales met at his London residence with six Egyptian students from the UK-Al-Azhar scholarship programme, where they discussed religious tolerance and counter-extremism efforts, the British embassy in Cairo announced on Sunday. Prince Charles is the patron of the scholarship's fundraising campaign, according to the British embassy statement The six students – Mariam Shehata, Mohamed Gamal, Mahmoud Afifi, Doaa Baumi, Mohamed El-Marakby and Rawdah Fawzy – are currently studying for their PhDs at the British universities of SOAS, King's College London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Lancaster. British Ambassador to Egypt John Casson and director of the British Council in Egypt Jeff Streeter attended the reception. "We're proud to partner with Al-Azhar to encourage dialogue and support young faith leaders like the six Egyptian students here today, in order to promote the values of peace, openness and tolerance," Ambassador Casson was quoted as saying in the statement. The scholarship programme was established in 2015 by Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb and Ambassador Casson to foster dialogue between cultures and faiths and to strengthen new and positive religious voices from Egypt and around the world. According to the British embassy, six scholarships have been awarded since 2016, with each scholarship worth up to £170,000 per candidate. Prince Charles holds an honorary doctorate from Al-Azhar University for his work supporting inter-faith dialogue.
