Victoria College (Alexandria)

Victoria College (Alexandria)   (College)
Formation	1902
Headquarters	Alexandria, Egypt
Founded in 1902 to educate Arab upper class loyal to Britain; nationalized in 1956.

Victoria College, Alexandria, was founded in 1902 under the impetus of the recently ennobled Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer of the Barings Bank, that was heavily invested in Egyptian stability. For years the British Consul-General was ex officio on the board of Victoria College. The new college was to raise the standard of Imperial education and free it from the influences of the madrassas and the ubiquitous Jesuits, both of whom made the British foreign office uneasy. Among prominent subscribers to the project were members of the prominent internationalized Jewish and Maltese minority in Egypt including members of the Egyptian Royal family. Prior to the 1930s establishment of Baghdad College, members of the upper class of Iraq sent their children to Victoria College.

During World War II, many displaced European royals and nobles were added to the student body:

" As the situation worsened north of the Mediterranean, scions of European monarchies expanded the student body further so that Romanovs, Saxe-Coburgs, Hohenzollerns, Zogos and Glucksburgs rubbed shoulders with the Hashemites, Mahdis and al-Sharifs. While most were treated like regular students some stood out because of restrictions imposed upon them. The Albanian royals, the Zogos, for instance, were constantly trailed by massive bodyguards, which is perhaps why they did not last long at Victoria. Years later, many among the Arab elite students would meet again this time as major players in rising petrodollar economies." (Samir Raafat)

The British Imperial-outpost phase of Victoria College ended abruptly in 1956, the year that began with the dissolution of Anglo-Egyptian cooperation and saw the Suez Crisis in October. The entire British faculty was fired. The school was renamed later to "Victory College" and continues to operate until this day.

At Victoria College on El Iqbal Street, former Bulgarian King and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha attended classes along with schoolmates such as King Hussein of Jordan, Zaid Al Rifai, the Kashoggi brothers (whose father was one of Saudi King Abdulaziz's physicians), Kamal Adham (who ran the Saudi external intelligence directorate under King Faisal), scholar Edward Said, present-day Saudi businessmen Mohammed Al Attas, the Shobokshi brothers and Ghassan Shaker —Internationally famous director Youssef Chahine, and actor Omar Sharif and many Princes from the Libyan Royal family and the Jordanian Royal Family.

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Died	Nationality	Summary	Description
Kamal Adham	1929	29 October 1999	Saudi Arabia	Spook Deep state operative Businessperson	Director General of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah at the time of BCCI and "Iran-Contra"
Edward Said	1 November 1935	24 September 2003	Palestine US	Activist Academic
Zaid al-Rifai	27 November 1936		Jordan	Politician	Former Prime Minister of Jordan. Attended Le Cercle

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