Nostalgia for a cosmopolitan and free Egypt

There was a time in Egypt when people were free to express themselves, governments changed as a result of elections or on the floor in Parliament under the Westminster system, Muslims, Jews and Christians lived side by side, all enjoying equal political rights and the right to worship and to believe in God in their way, the Copts were not persecuted, and Cairo and Alexandria were vibrant, cosmopolitan cities.

That was when Egypt was a constitutional monarchy, before a republic was imposed after the  1952 coup d'état against King Farouk by General Naquib and Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser.  As a result Egypt fell under a dictorship from which even now she does not know whether she has escaped. 

The video below captures the time when King Farouk lived in Cairo with his gracious Queen, Farida.  The channel which carries this, Joan's 20th Century, gives this eloquent explanation: 

          "FOR EVERY MONARCHY OVERTHROWN THE SKY BECOMES LESS BRILLIANT, BECAUSE IT LOSES A STAR."

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