CAIRO: Princess Ferial, the daughter of Egypt s last reigning monarch, died on Sunday after a long battle with cancer, a family friend said.
The princess died in a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland where she had been receiving treatment for stomach cancer, which she was diagnosed with seven years ago, Lotus Abdel-Karim told AFP.
She will be buried in Egypt. Her body will be flown back home within one or two days, Abdel-Karim said.
Born in 1938 in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Princess Ferial was the daughter of King Farouk who ruled Egypt from 1936 until he was overthrown in the 1952 revolution.
The princess was the king s oldest child from his first wife Farida. She was educated at a private boarding school in Switzerland, where she had been living up until her death.
The dynasty ruled Egypt for 150 years until 1952, when King Farouk abdicated. His infant son Ahmed Fouad ascended to the throne but had to join his family in exile when a republic was declared the next year.
Farouk s only surviving child is Fouad, Ferial s half-brother who will attend the funeral in Egypt along with her daughter Yasmine, according to the family friend. -AFP
