CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak’s younger son Gamal, thought by many to be his political heir apparent, became the father of a baby girl on Tuesday, the official MENA news agency reported.
“President Hosni Mubarak was blessed this morning with his first granddaughter, Farida, by his son Gamal Mubarak and Khadiga El-Gamal, MENA said, without providing details.
Farida is the couple’s first child.
Mohamed, one of the president’s two grandsons from his son, Alaa, died unexpectedly aged 12 last May. The president has worn a black tie in public since then.
The news of Farida’s birth came as Mubarak, 81, was recovering in hospital in Germany after surgery on March 6 to have his gall bladder and a growth on his small intestine removed, stoking uncertainty over his state of health.
Gamal Mubarak’s meteoric rise within the ruling party in recent years has fueled speculation that he is being groomed to take over the country’s leadership after his father.
The 46-year-old former investment banker married El-Gamal, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, in 2007. -AFP
