Ashraf AboArafe
22 June 2023, CAIRO – The British Embassy in Cairo celebrated His Majesty King Charles III’s 75th birthday with a grand reception in the garden of the Ambassador’s Residence, with nearly 2000 invitees. This is the first King’s birthday celebration in almost 80 years since King George VI, father of the late Queen Elizabeth II, was on the throne.
Senior Egyptian officials took part in the celebrations, including key ministers and parliamentarians, and numerous businessmen and women, intellectuals, and celebrities were in attendance.
A topical theme for the reception was the environment, in honour of King Charles’s lifelong love of nature, the UK and Egypt’s green partnership and Egypt presiding over COP27 respectively.
And in pursuit of preserving and protecting the environment, the embassy has partnered with Heliopolis University’s Carbon Footprint Centre to offset all emissions and ensure the event is carbon neutral.
British Ambassador to Egypt, Gareth Bayley, said: “Two years on from his visit to Egypt, today we celebrate His Majesty The King’s 75th birthday, reiterating his dedication to protecting the environment, as well as his deep affection for Egypt. Thus, today is not only a celebration of our King but of the special bond between our two countries, whether through our green partnership, our trade and investment ties, as well as our ‘best of British offer’ in terms of education, healthcare, sports and culture.”
In terms of the green partnership, the UK continues to support Egypt through green investments including $1.2 billion worth of MoUs and framework agreements in green hydrogen and green ammonia. Currently the UK has projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the pipeline, including everything from clean desalination, wind, solar, waste, electric vehicles & EV to energy charging stations projects.
Apart from climate, the UK and Egypt have strengthened their bilateral cooperation in several other areas over the past year:
– Trade: A very successful BEBA mission to London took place last week with the participation of Egyptian Ministers of Petroleum and Finance, creating tremendous investment opportunities for British businesses in Egypt. There will be a further Africa coming soon in July, in which five Egyptian Ministers could take part.
– Education: The UK continues to offer various scholarships, including its flagship Chevening scholarship that opens for a new round very soon. The UK is also working to support Egyptian students with their employability upon graduation through the Career Employability Project, to which the UK provided £2 million in funding. It will help thousands of graduates get access to better job opportunities, lead more sustainable lives and thereby help achieve more inclusive economic growth.
– Gender: The British Embassy just launched the Laha w Maha fund, which will be providing up to £2m in grants over the next two years. The Fund will be helping to find innovative solutions to prevent violence against women and girls and support survivors.
In the UK, in honour of the King’s birthday celebration, aircrafts from across the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force took part in a spectacular flypast for The King’s Birthday Parade on June 17, marking the first Birthday Flypast for HM King Charles III.
Around 70 aircraft took to the skies above the crowds on The Mall and over Buckingham Palace watched on by Their Majesties’ The King and Queen, alongside other members of the Royal Family.
The King’s Birthday Flypast follows Trooping the Colour which took place on Horse Guards Parade in the morning, a ceremony dating back to the reign of King Charles II, becoming an annual event in 1760.
The British Embassy would like to thank our sponsors, Uppingham Cairo, AstraZeneca, BP, Shell, Vodafone, BAE Systems, Vitabiotics and Blue Skies. This event was made possible by their support.
