Kingdom of Egypt (1922-1953)

[iffig]

"Amazing" is the word!

Thank you very much indeed.

[Egyptian Zogist]

Hey everyone! I found the orders of dress for the Royal Egyptian Navy from 1925, from the Standing Orders for the royal yacht El Mahroussa. I found these scans on the Facebook page of the Rare Books and Special Collections section of the Alexandria Library. I'm going to translate them as best as I can, but for now, here are the orders of dress listed for naval officers:

1. Full ("Grand") Dress Uniform - Winter

2. Full Dress Uniform - Summer

3. Lesser Winter Dress Uniform - with epaulets

4. Lesser Winter Dress uniform without epaulets

5. "Daily" uniform - Winter

6. Lesser Dress uniform - Summer

7. "Daily" uniform - Summer

There are also general rules, such as that the King's ADC wears an aiguillette on the right shoulder, while staff officers wear it on the left. 

I wish there were drawings included, but it does make some of the uniforms I've seen in photos and videos make more sense.

 

[ChrisW]

Very interesting, and a great find! Thank you for posting these!

I should explore the Alexandria Library's Facebook page. I've spent some time digging around their website, which has some nice material (archive photos and some official documents from both the Kingdom and Republic era) but is extremely un-user-friendly. It requires lots of patience, cunning, and some knowledge of Arabic to trawl through.

The most obvious medal-related page from the website is this photo gallery of Egyptian and foreign medals in the library's collection - possibly originally from the Montazah Palace and since taken into the state archives?

http://modernegypt.bibalex.org/Collections/Medals/MedalsLucene.aspx

Chris

[Bayern]

The Royal Egyptian Army was based on the Khedives Army which was British patterned . Dr Chris Flaherty in his work about ottoman uniforms  dedicates a section to the Egyptian Army till 1919 . 

[ChrisW]

21 hours ago, Bayern said:

The Royal Egyptian Army was based on the Khedives Army which was British patterned . Dr Chris Flaherty in his work about ottoman uniforms  dedicates a section to the Egyptian Army till 1919 . 

Bayern,

Is this the work you're talking about? It's a very nice website and deserves to be shared here.

https://www.ottoman-uniforms.com

 

[Bayern]

Hello : Yes its the site . Very interesting , contains much data and of quality , 

[Rusty Greaves]

Chris, 

Thanks for that link in your May 15, 2016 post. I had not seen this before and it is the only internet source I've seen so far for a museum's collection catalogue entry featuring the Abbas Hilmi II coronation & return from Hegaz commemorativ medal I asked about at the end of last year. Is that the online collection catalog from the Alexandria Library? Sorry, I do not read Arabic.

Rusty

[ChrisW]

Rusty, 

Glad that link was helpful. The page would seem to show the collection of medals held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (there are similar pages for online collections of photographs, books, audio and video files).

There's an English language page here, but it has much less content. http://www.bibalex.org/en/default You could try contacting someone via that page.

I have not actually been to the library, so cannot confirm if the medals are on public display, in storage, or even physically at the library. 

Chris 

[oamotme]

Chris ,

I visited the BA in February and whilst I can confirm that it is well worth a visit if you are in Alexandria, there is no medal display or exhibit. There are a few medals on display at the National Museum and also at the Jewellery Museum but the displays of themselves would not justify a visit to Alexandria.

Kind regards,

Owain

Edited July 19, 2017 by oamotme

[Egyptian Zogist]

10 hours ago, oamotme said:

Chris ,

I visited the BA in February and whilst I can confirm that it is well worth a visit if you are in Alexandria, there is no medal display or exhibit. There are a few medals on display at the National Museum and also at the Jewellery Museum but the displays of themselves would not justify a visit to Alexandria.

Kind regards,

Owain

Owain,

Did you find anything there that was militaria or vexillology related at all? I'd like to go the B.A. but those are pretty much the only topics I'd be interested in finding books or documents about. There is an entire room of orders, medals and decorations in the ِAbdeen Palace museum complex. If I get a chance to go I'll try to take pictures. There are also watercolors (I think that's what they are) of Egyptian military uniforms of the monarchy period. 

Picture of the orders and medals section, from http://www.cairo.gov.eg

[oamotme]

Nothing specific at all in all three museums. I'll next be in Cairo in October and will again visit both the Abdeen Palace and the Military Museum - the latter I believe was set up many years ago with the assistance of all people the North Koreans hence there is a somewhat propaganda driven feel to the whole place. The Abdeen Palce is nice but 'could be better' but all in all both are well worth a visit.

Regards,

Owain

P.S. On another matter I note your post on HM Yacht Maroussa - do you have any information on its predecessor HMS Noor al Bahr?

Edited July 19, 2017 by oamotme

[Trooper_D]

4 hours ago, oamotme said:

... and the Military Museum - the latter I believe was set up many years ago with the assistance of all people the North Koreans hence there is a somewhat propaganda driven feel to the whole place.

You can say that again!!* Now you have revealed who the 'midwife' was, I can understand why  

 

* (from my memory of a visit seven or eight years ago)

Edited July 19, 2017 by Trooper_D

[ChrisW]

2 hours ago, Trooper_D said:

You can say that again!!* Now you have revealed who the 'midwife' was, I can understand why  

 

* (from my memory of a visit seven or eight years ago)

You're both spot-on. North Korea remodeled the Military Museum at the Citadel around 1988/89 -- which used to be a nice place -- and also helped with the October War Panorama a decade later. North Korea was repaying a debt to Egypt: Egypt sold them Scud missiles, which were the basis of the entire North Korean ballistic missile program of today. Who got the better end of that deal?

[Egyptian Zogist]

Here are some uniforms from a booklet entitled "The Military Museum and the History of the Egyptian Army", published by the Ministry of Defense in the 1980s I believe.

 

The booklet captions this as "Soldier's uniforms in the reigns of both Kings Fouad and Farouk". The writing is too small to see, but I recognize some of these from other sources. The first two uniforms, second row, are cavalry (probably winter olive-green and summer khaki versions). I've seen them in newsreels of the period. The first two in the third row are border guards, who wore a distinctive "Sudanese"-style uniform. 

These two models are supposed to be from the era of King Fouad (1917 - 1936). I believe the placards on the bottom identify the one on the left as a lewa'a (لواء Major General) and the one of the right as a molazim awwal (ملازم أول First Lieutenant). 

These uniforms are captioned incorrectly as being from the reign of Mohamed Aly Pasha (1805 - 1848). They are from much later, in the late 19th century to early 20th century. I've seen photographs of officers wearing similar uniforms in the 1930s through 1950s, and if I'm not mistaken, they are the dress uniforms for officers of the Royal Guard Infantry (Royal Guard Cavalry uniforms were white in the summer, blue/red in winter, both with plastron fronts).  

 

These uniforms are in closed off sections of the Military Museum. I've tried to look as hard as I could through the glass doors last time I visited, and saw a few things I recognized but I couldn't read the labels. Hopefully the next time I go there they'll have opened up these rooms to visitors.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Egyptian Zogist
Added descriptions to images

[Rusty Greaves]

I don't know if the following image is of interest, but it shows a military coat (Army office's summer uniform?) similar to that illustrated by Chris on November 7, 2015 in this thread. There is no date associated with this photo from the London Studios of Cairo & Heliopolis. This is for a current eBay auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Armenian-photographer-in-Egypt-ARMY-OFFICER-LONDON-PHOTO-STUDIO-CAIRO-HELIOPO/312106412166?hash=item48aafde886:g:I~UAAOSwaDpayqeh

[Rusty Greaves]

I know that Egyptian Zogist would be more interested in data about uniform styles, but I could not resist posting a few photos from the recent inventory of an eBay seller that included some nice Images identified as Royal Guards, and one passport of an Army officer. 

This photo is identified as showing 3 of King Farouk's Royal Guards. The original print is 24 X 18 cm. https://www.ebay.com/itm/EGYPT-OLD-VINTAGE-PHOTOGRAPH-Royal-Guard-of-King-Farouk-with-swords-and-medals/273364034277?hash=item3fa5c422e5:g:LekAAOSwLfRbUKp1

This images also is identified as a group of King Farouk's Royal Guard. The date in the lower left is not completely clear, but appears to be 14 April, but the year looks more like [19]26 than a date that would be appropriate for Farouk I (during the reign of his Father after he declared himself King Fuad I of Egypt). It is unclear to me whether the Guardsman on extreme L of the front row may be the same man in the previous photo on the R, and if the Guardsman second from the R in the front row may be the same man in the middle of the previous photo, each with fewer chest decorations. The original print is 23 X 17 cm, and the lower right signature on the photo and mat is Riad Shelata Studio in Cairo. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Royal-Guard-of-King-Farouk-with-swords-and-medals-Photo-by-Riad-Shehata/312193444504?hash=item48b02dea98:g:9PMAAOSwiSZbUKgE

No information is provided in the eBay listing about this 14 X 9 cm portrait of an individual identified only as a Royal Guard Officer, except for the studio name of the print (Lassave of Alexandria). https://www.ebay.com/itm/EGYPT-OLD-VINTAGE-PHOTOGRAPH-Royal-Guard-Officer-PHOTO-LASSAVE-ALEX/312213262082?hash=item48b15c4f02:g:dbkAAOSwJkNbb1Hs

The following images are from a 1946 issue passport for an Army Officer:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kingdom-of-Egypt-OLD-ROYAL-ARMY-OFFICER-PASSPORT-WITH-REVENUES-ISSUE-1946-GREEN/312198403280?hash=item48b07994d0:g:0dkAAOSwQFhbV5jT

 

 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Rusty Greaves