Prince Abbas Hilmi (; born 16 October 1941) is an Egyptian and Ottoman prince and

financial manager Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and discipline of money, currency, assets and liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business Administration wich study the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of an o ...

. A member of the

Muhammad Ali Dynasty The Muhammad Ali dynasty or the Alawiyya dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Egypt and Sudan from the 19th to the mid-20th century. It is named after its progenitor, the Albanians, Albanian Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, regarded as the fou ...

, he is the only son of Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim and his Ottoman wife Princess Neslişah, and grandson of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II Bey.

Early life

Born in Cairo in 1941, Prince Abbas Hilmi was named after his paternal grandfather Abbas Hilmi II, the last khedive of Egypt. Theirs was the most senior male branch descended from

Isma'il Pasha Isma'il Pasha ( ; 25 November 1830 or 31 December 1830 – 2 March 1895), also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France. Shari ...

, and thus first in the line of succession to the Egyptian throne by virtue of the 1866 rules of succession. However, those rules were suspended by the British upon their proclamation of a protectorate over Egypt in 1914. Abbas Hilmi II was deposed, and his son Muhammad Abdel Moneim lost his place as

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

. Montgomery-Massingberd 1980
p. 35
/ref> The throne passed to Abbas Hilmi II's uncles Hussein Kamel and

Fuad I Fuad I ( ''Fu’ād al-Awwal''; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sultan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Hus ...

. The Royal Edict of 13 April 1922 specifically excluded Abbas Hilmi II from the succession, although it stated that "this exception shall not apply to his sons and their progeny." This meant that Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim and his son Prince Abbas Hilmi remained eligible for the throne and retained a senior position in the

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of importance applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. For individuals, it is most often used for diplomats in attendance at very formal occasions. It can also be used in the context of ...

of the

Kingdom of Egypt The Kingdom of Egypt () was the legal form of the Egyptian state during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's reign, from the United Kingdom's recognition of Egyptian independence in 1922 until the abolition of the monarchy of Eg ...

. Prince Abbas Hilmi's two great-grandfathers on his mother's side were

Mehmed VI Mehmed VI Vahideddin ( ''Meḥmed-i sâdis'' or ''Vaḥîdü'd-Dîn''; or /; 14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926), also known as ''Şahbaba'' () among the Osmanoğlu family, was the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the penultimate Ottoman Cal ...

, the last Ottoman sultan, and

Abdülmecid II Abdülmecid II or Abdulmejid II (; ; 29 May 1868 – 23 August 1944), commonly known as Abdülmecid Efendi, was the last Ottoman Caliphate, Ottoman caliph, the only caliph of the Republic of Turkey, and head of the Osmanoğlu family from 19 ...

, the last Ottoman caliph. Had the Ottoman monarchy not been abolished in 1922, Prince Abbas Hilmi would have received, in addition to his Egyptian princely title (), the Ottoman title of ''sultanzade'', which was given to the sons of imperial princesses. In July 1952, the Free Officers launched a revolution that led to the forced abdication of King

Farouk of Egypt Farouk I (; ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his ...

in favour of his infant son King

Fuad II Fuad II (, full name: Ahmed Fuad bin Farouk bin Ahmed Fuad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Muhammad Ali; born 16 January 1952), or alternatively Ahmed Fuad II (), is a member of the Egyptian Muhammad Ali dynasty. As an infant, he formally reigned as ...

. Due to Fuad II's minority, Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim was chosen by the new military rulers to serve as regent, first as head of a temporary regency body and later as sole

prince regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...

. However, he did not last long in the position, as the Egyptian monarchy was officially abolished on 18 June 1953. Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim and his wife Neslişah were arrested in 1957 and accused of taking part in an anti-

Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

plot. Their souring relations with the new revolutionary regime forced them into exile. As a result, their son Prince Abbas Hilmi spent much of his life in England and France.

Business activities

Educated at

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding ...

school in

Street, Somerset Street is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, with a population of 12,709 in 2021. On a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, it is southwest of Glastonbury. There is evidence of Roman occupation. ...

, Prince Abbas Hilmi pursued his higher studies at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

. He worked for a discount house, a bank and an

insurance broker An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negoti ...

before joining Grieveson Grant & Co. in 1968. He remained with Grieveson Grant & Co., one of the

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

's top stockbrokers, until 1981. In 1970, he made history by becoming the first foreign member of the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

, his election having been rendered possible by a change of Rule 21, which had previously restricted membership to British citizens. After leaving Grieveson Grant & Co., Prince Abbas Hilmi became a general manager of Schroder Asseily & Co. (1981–1983), and then Chairman of Hilmi and Associates (1983–1986), where he was mostly engaged in financial management activities and project finance assignments. After spending three years in London as Vice-President of Kidder, Peabody & Co. (1986–1989), he joined the Concord Group in 1989, only one year after its establishment. He was part of the three-member team that launched the Concord Group's Cairo office in 1994. Since then, Egypt has become the group's main focus area, with more than half of the assets it manages ($2.8 billion out of $3.4 billion) being invested in Egyptian

securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...

. Concord is currently among the largest

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of all value for which a group or entity is responsible. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as complex process or manufacturing plants, infrastr ...

firms in Egypt. One of the funds it manages, the Egypt Investment Company Ltd, has been repeatedly ranked by the ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

'' as the top performing fund in the world. Prince Abbas Hilmi still works for Concord, where he holds the position of Senior Managing Director.

Cultural activities

Since his return to Egypt in 1994, Prince Abbas Hilmi has devoted considerable time to the conservation of his family's architectural legacy. He was instrumental in providing the funds necessary for the 2004–2008 renovation of his great-grandfather

Tewfik Pasha Mohamed Tewfik Pasha ( ''Muḥammad Tawfīq Bāshā''; April 30 or 15 November 1852 – 7 January 1892), also known as Tawfiq of Egypt, was khedive of Khedivate of Egypt, Egypt and the Turco-Egyptian Sudan, Sudan between 1879 and 1892 and the s ...

's mausoleum, where he has reserved a burial plot for himself. In 2006, he founded the Friends of Manial Palace Museum Association, which seeks to preserve the

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

of his granduncle Prince Muhammad Ali.

Marriage and children

In 1969, Prince Abbas Hilmi married Mediha Momtaz (born 1945). The religious ceremony was performed in Istanbul on 1 June, and the civil marriage took place at the

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

Register Office A register office, commonly referred to unofficially as a registry office or registrar's office is an office in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and some Commonwealth countries responsible for the civil registration of births, deaths, marri ...

in London on 20 June. Mediha is a maternal granddaughter of Ahmad Midhat Abbas Yeghen, a descendant of one of the sisters of

Muhammad Ali Pasha Mehmed Ali Pasha may refer to: * Muhammad Ali of Egypt (1769–1849), considered the founder of modern Egypt * Çerkes Mehmed Pasha (died 1625), Ottoman statesman and grand vizier * Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha (1815–1871), Ottoman statesman and gra ...

, the founder of the Egyptian royal family. Prince Abbas Hilmi and his wife Mediha are thus genealogically related, as illustrated by the family tree below. The couple have a daughter, Sabiha Fatma (born 1974), and a son, Daoud Abdel Moneim (born 1979). As of 2005, Prince Abbas Hilmi's only sister Ikbal (born 1944) lived in Istanbul with their mother Neslişah (1921–2012) and her husband, married in 2000.

References

External links