Are we witnessing the return of the monarchy to Egypt?

This won’t be a success… This is what I said as the general entered his new palace, in the new administrative capital, arrogantly, imitating the only president in the world whose pretentious walk in his palace was broadcast before it became a custom for the general; Russian President Putin. He is still impressed by Putin even after Russia’s defeat in Syria and after his forces turned back with nothing.

It was not successful, because the new presidential palaces represent a major crisis, and were the subject of the engineer and contractor Mohamed Ali in his first appearance. It caused a stir in Egypt, and prompted the first public demonstration, since the popular movement after the coup, and the demonstrations that the country witnessed after it relinquished the Tiran and Sanafir islands. The concern reached the government itself, as expressed by the general himself when he said, “I built, and I will build these palaces”, speaking as if they are not his private property, but for Egypt. If building these palaces was something that is a source of national pride and honour, he would not have waited for Mohamed Ali to announce it from abroad, but he would have announced it himself!

Now, when he shows off the new palace, while the majority of Egyptians live below the poverty line, and after the success of the Syrian revolution, and the summit of developing countries, the matter is revealed to be unsuccessful. The presidential palaces are not a national achievement that deserves to be showed off and boasted.  However, what actually caught my attention in all of this is this imperial presence, which is not befitting of a president with a fixed term, or even one who plans to amend the constitution to be president for life. It seems like he is thinking of restoring the monarchy.

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Pompous parades

Egypt had a monarchy in place before the army officers’ movement in in 1952, but there are no photographers of such a parade of a royal nature.

Social media was buzzing with the two Quranic verses at the entrance to the new presidential palace. The first was “Am I not sovereign over Egypt as well as all these streams flowing at my feet?” and the second was “We revealed to Moses and his brother, Appoint houses for your people in Egypt.” This may be an ill-considered choice.

There may be a lack of awareness in the connection between the first and second verses, as the speaker in the first is Pharaoh, and in the second, it is a revelation to his enemy and his mother, as if he is calling for a national reconciliation between them. It does not seem like those who chose the verse are aware of this.

Egyptian President Sisi inscribed the Quranic verse on his new palace walls:

“O my people, does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me..”

The full verse in the Quran:

“And Pharaoh called out among his people; he said, “O my people, does not… pic.twitter.com/zvawkY0ljr

— DOAM (@doamuslims) December 20, 2024

I doubt the choice for this was made behind General Al-Sisi’s back, but it seems that he was concerned with it referring to the “King of Egypt” and not the fact that the speaker is Pharaoh, so the Egyptian ruler is happy to be described as a Pharaoh, regardless of the religious position towards him, and without thinking about his painful end and those with him, as the verse says, “We inflicted punishment upon them, drowning them all.”

So, it definitely seems that what he cared about in the first verse is the “sovereign over Egypt” part, regardless of the speaker and his fate, and what tempted him with the second verse was the process of “appointing houses” and nothing else.

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The cemetery and beyond

Apparently, he wrote the verse “My Lord! You have surely granted me authority and taught me the interpretation of dreams” on the family tomb. Although some promote the belief that the military intelligence had planned for Al-Sisi to assume the presidency after Hosni Mubarak, his agency was not the one making political decisions at that time. The powerful sovereign agency was the General Intelligence Service. If the military agency gained influence after the revolution, it was thanks to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the governor delegated by Mubarak.

The sign on the tomb may have been engraved after the coup, to emphasise the former meaning. He was just an officer with a rank lower than that of a major general and was not an intelligence officer as some claim. However, it is worth noting that he himself read the verse at the end of a speech he gave: “My Lord! You have surely granted me authority and taught me the interpretation of dreams.”

Before that, we saw him at the opening of the Suez Canal expansion, on the late king’s ship and with the marshal’s baton, revealing the ambition from the beginning, to be the ‘King of Egypt’.

Before the revolution, and when people seemed to give up on change, we read claims that the solution to Egypt’s problem was the return of the monarchy, and I responded to this suggestion, by asking: “Who will be king? On what basis will he be chosen?” There were those who looked at the previous king who was appointed while he was still alive.

In traditional monarchies, the monarchy is a lineage, they are the owners of the country, or those who have liberated or discovered it. Even the Al Saud family’s rule, for example, has its historical context, and history is not invented or made from nothing.

Panic over Al-Assad’s fate

Building presidential palaces with this exaggerated extravagance cannot be accepted with “it’s just a matter of a few days” speech.

Egypt’s #Sisi inaugurated a $45 billion new Republican Palace despite ongoing economic hardship on regular #Egyptians who are now demanding retribution. pic.twitter.com/vuOmTQjeOW

— Abu Alessândra al-Maksīkī (@Abu_alessandra) December 24, 2024

The people in Egypt are panicking, something that is expressed by the general himself, as well as by the media mouthpieces, which makes us understand that the revolutionaries are at Cairo’s doorstep. You look around you and find no one, and you do not hear any whispers, but the people are threatening, using the army.

However, the general context does not suggest that this is just a matter of a few days, and then the new ruler will come. There are hesitant voices starting to talk about amending the constitution to allow Al-Sisi to run for elections after the end of his term in 2030, although he will certainly wait for the right opportunity to announce this, and if he succeeds, there will be more to come after that.

Welcome to the Kingdom of Egypt!

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 23 December 2024

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.