During his inspection tour around the royal rest house of King Farouk at the Giza zoo, Minister of Agriculture Ayman Abu Hadid realised that the original furniture of the king's bedroom was missing and replaced with classic pieces bought from Omar Effendi furniture store in downtown Cairo. The rest house was built by King Farouk during his reign in the middle of the zoo between the rest houses of the Tea Island and the Khedive Ismail rest house to enjoy his weekend in winter. It was also a guest house for several kings and presidents of foreign and other Arab countries during their official and private visits in Egypt due to its splendid location overlooking the Nile and its proximity to the Giza Pyramids. In 1978, the rest house became a residential house for two ministers in the government because they did not have a house in Cairo. The first was former minister of agriculture Mahmoud Dawoud who lived in it alone without his family whose members were afraid of the lion's roars at night. The second was former minister of trade Nagui Shatla. The rest house was completely closed in 1986. What is behind the disappearance of the original furniture of King Farouk's bedroom? It was said that a wife of one of those former ministers was not pleased with the style of the bedroom furniture and ordered it replaced with a new one from Omar Effendi furniture store. The original was put in storage. Until now no one knows in which store it was stored but the zoo employees succeeded in locating the rest house's royal salon which was used in one of the zoo's administrative bureaus. The salon was restored and repositioned in its original location in the rest house. The porcelain tea and coffee sets used by the king in the rest house were also found in storage while the search continues for the bedroom furniture.
