Obituary: Princess Ferial The last surviving daughter of King Farouk is buried in the historic Al-Rifaai Mosque Princess Ferial, the eldest and last surviving daughter of Egypt's penultimate monarch King Farouk and his first wife Safinaz Zulfikar (1921-88), died earlier this week after a long struggle against cancer. She was born in the sumptuous surroundings of Montazah Palace, Alexandria, overlooking the Mediterranean, on 17 November 1938. The Egypt into which she was born has since been torn down or buried. Cairo, like Alexandria, was different up to the departure of the royals from the country. In illustrated books the royal family always looked the very picture of perfection. Ferial, like her sisters Fawzia (1940-2005) and Fadia (1943-2002), lived a largely sheltered, if not particularly pampered life. As a child Ferial was renowned for her golden plaits, her thick velvety hair worn in a single braid down her elegant royal back. Her father was King of Egypt, Sudan, Nubia and Darfur -- an appellation now consigned to the dustbin of history. Princess Ferial was educated at the Grand Verger Finishing School in Lutry, Switzerland. Sadly, her life in the post-revolutionary period was a shrunken imitation of the splendour of her father's reign. There aren't many photographs of Ferial's childhood in Cairo. To get a glimpse of the world she grew up in, those fascinated with the reign of the 10th ruler of the Mohamed Ali dynasty pay microscopic attention to the surviving photographs of the Egyptian royal family. Scraps of newsreel, documentaries and old newspaper and magazine cuttings tell a sorry tale. Ferial's adolescence was a time of upheaval and uncertainty. Yet to the very end she remained an amiable and convivial character. She survived the suicide of her husband Jean- Pierre Perreten, to whom she was betrothed in 1966. The following year their daughter, Yasmine Perreten-Shaarawi, was born. Ferial raised Yasmine virtually single-handedly, with the minimum of help from family and friends. Yasmine later married a grandson of Hoda Shaarawi, the pioneer of women's rights. Princess Ferial did not see much of her mother in adulthood, which was a cause of great sadness to her. She devoted her life, however, to her daughter Yasmine and to the animals she loved. Her obsession with animals was overwhelming. And, like an animal driven from its natural habitat, she herself would turn away and run to the relative safety of Switzerland. The country was her haven. She lived an inconspicuous life, working in an office in Geneva. "She was a loving and forgiving person who never bore grudges against the Free Officers who toppled the regime of her father. Her strong faith kept her going. She believed in kismet, that was her fate," Maged Farag, spokesman for Egypt's former royal family, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Sobriety marked Princess Ferial's life in exile. Unlike other aristocrats, Princess Ferial did not spend her final years juggling with massive debts or struggling to make ends meet. She visited Egypt on several occasions, mostly to bury a beloved relative. This week her mortal remains were returned with her daughter Yasmine and Princess Ferial's own half-brother, ex-King Ahmed Fouad. "She was a beautiful woman, inside and out. I have never met a woman so beautiful. But physical beauty was not a preoccupation of hers. What singled her out was her inner beauty," says Farag. A down-to-earth character, she never played the part of the spoilt aristocrat. She would be the first to express surprise at the way news of her death sparked off web traffic jams in Egypt. The volume of Egyptians searching the Internet to learn more about her life and times, the sheer level of interest in Princess Ferial's passing, has taken many by surprise. Her death, front-page news in some of Egypt's independent dailies, was accorded less prominence in state-owned publications such as Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar. During her last visit to Egypt she was as jovial and spirited as ever. Little did those who met her realise that she was on the last leg of her journey of what her friends insist was a full and meaningful life, despite numerous personal tragedies and heartaches. She adored animals and birds, all creatures great and small. Among her favourites were a viper and a frog, mortal enemies, who found succour in her home. Her last resting abode is the magnificent Al-Rifaai Mosque, one of Cairo's most beautiful, where her father, sisters and the late Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, are buried. Princess Ferial is survived by her daughter, Yasmine. Gamal Nkrumah
