Egyptian Chronicles: Kodak Agfa Presents : The Royal Egyptian Orders and Medals at Alexandria's Royal Jewelry Museum

You have seen the exterior and the interior of Egypt’s Mohamed Ali Royal Family’s Jewelry Museum in Alexandria earlier this year.
I think it is time to explore its beautiful Jewelry and items inside it.
The Egyptian Royal Medals are exhibited in that beautiful gallery connecting the Eastern and Western wings of Fatimah Haider’s Summer Palace.

The Gallery between the Palace's East Wing and West Wing

The gallery’s balconies feature amazing hand-painted stained glass showing romantic scenes from the Renaissance era.
Now to the exhibits of that gallery.

Egypt’s Order of Mohamed Ali

The Order of Mohamed Ali

Founded by Sultan Hussein Kamel in 1915 to honor the heads of states as well the members of the Egyptian and European Royal families.
The recipients were entitled “Pashas” and “Excellency”
Till the declaration of the Egyptian Republic in 1954, this was the highest order in Egypt.
It was replaced by the Order of the Nile which was also founded by Sultan Hussein Kamel.

King Farouk’s Medals

King Farouk's golden medals

I do not know much about those medals except they are made of gold and are encrusted with diamonds and I think that they were instituted during the era of King Farouk of Egypt and Sudan

The Collar of King Fouad I

King Fouad's Golden collar

The Golden Collar was instituted by King Farouk in 1936 to commemorate his father King Fouad I. The recipients were Egyptians and foreigners
The recipients were entitled either “Pasha” or “His Excellency”

Egypt’s Order of Ismail

The Order of Ismail

The Order of Ismail was founded by Sultan Hussein Kamel in 1915 to honor those who presented great services to the country whether Egyptians or foreigners.

Egypt’s Order of Virtue

That’s Egypt’s female order of Knighthood as an award of merit.

Egypt's Order of virtue

It was established in 1915 by Sultan Hussein Kamel
Here are the most famous recipients according to Wikipedia.
Needless to say, the most famous woman to receive the Order of Virtue was legendary Singer Um Kalthoum 1944.
King Farouk awarded her the Order of Virtue in an incident that made most of the Egyptian Royal family’s ladies angry on how she would receive such an order. She had been entitled accordingly a noble title then, something like the Dame.

FYI , a little trivia : Um Kalthoum “Thuma” had a famous love story with the King’s Uncle Sharif Pasha Sabry who wanted to marry her but of course as the brother of the Mother Queen and King’s Uncle in the 1920s or 1930s , he could not marry a singer so yes , it was not about a commoner only that made the ladies of Mohamed Ali Family furious.

King Farouk awarded Thuma in August 1944 in a famous party at Al-Ahly Club in Cairo. The party which was held on the last night of Ramadan was transferred on air.
Here is the recording of that famous incident.

Here is Queen Farida’s Order of virtue.

Queen Farida's Order of Virtue

She was given its Supreme class in 1938 following her marriage from King Farouk.
The Order of virtue returned back to the Media in Egypt in 2015 when President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi decided to give it to Egypt’s Mothers of the Year since then.

Queen Nariman’s Red Crescent Medal

Queen Nariman's Red Crescent medal

Now I do not know what those medals and honors are. I remember reading somewhere that they were Ottoman medals given to members of the Egyptian Royal Family.

I think Sultan Adel Hamid's name is inscribed on the medal

I do not know if that was true or not.

Of course what is really interesting in that section is for me at least were not the Egyptian Royal Medals as much as the hand-painting murals of that gallery.