Princess Diana on a 5 day tour of Egypt 1992 - The Pyramids & Sphinx in Cairo then to Luxor to Karnack Temple and the Valley of the Kings

At the invitation of First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, Princess Diana had an official 5 day Tour of Egypt where she met with President Hosni Mubarak. Diana also visited a welfare society for mothers and children, as well as the Institution of Polio and Rehabilitation.
The tour commenced on 10th May 1992

Princess Diana toured the pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza,  and she pronounced them 'breathtaking.'  Then she flew to Luxor to visit the Earthly home of the God Amun Ra at Karnack Temple, and the Valley of the Kings where all the most famous Kings of the new Kingdom period were buried.

GIZA

The Giza pyramid complex, is also known as the Giza Necropolis, sits on the Giza Plateau at Cairo. It includes the  Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx. All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The site also includes several cemeteries and the remains of a workers' village.

The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. Originally the Great Pyramid was covered by limestone casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface and it would have gleamed in the sunlight, what is seen today is the underlying core structure. There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was unfinished, the Queens Chamber and the Kings Chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure. The main part of the Giza complex is a set of buildings that included two mortuary temples in honour of Khufu (one close to the pyramid and one near the River Nile), three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, and an even smaller 'satellite' pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples, and small mastaba tombs for nobles surrounding the pyramid.

THE GREAT SPHINX

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. It faces directly West to East, sunrise and sunset.The face of the sphinx is generally believed to represent the pharaoh Khafre. Cut from the bedrock, the original shape of the sphinx has been restored with layers of blocks, it is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt.

Leaving Cairo Princess Diana flew to Luxor  to visit the earthly home of the God Amun, and then she crossed over the River Nile to the West Bank, the side of the setting Sun, to visit the Valley of the Kings



KARNACK TEMPLE

Every Egyptian temple is a symbolic impression of the universe; it is a picture that has been created from stone to describe the first moment of creation, the pylons are the east and western deserts, the portals represent the path that the River Nile would flow threw, and gradually the earth rises as you reach the mound of creation, the temple inspired the belief in their Gods and Kings, fulfilling both the human aspirations and the spiritual needs of the ancient Egyptians.


In Ancient Egypt each temple was considered to be the earthly home of a God; Karnack is the Home of the God that rose to supreme importance in ancient Egypt, The God Amun. Guarding the front entrance are two rows of Criosphinx sat high on pedestals, their ribbed horns curled around towards the face of a ram, which is also a representation of the God Amun, the head then morphed into the body of a lion, standing between giant paws the sphinx encloses a small figure of a pharaoh.

Karnack sprawls across the landscape, its heart still stands but its body was broken into pieces leaving the ground littered with broken columns and pylons as its history expanded, enclosing thousands of years of inspiration and belief. At its heart is the Great Temple of Amun; nearby are smaller temples dedicated to his son Khonsu and his wife Mut whose name means mother.



Over the centuries each Pharaoh ruled his people as The Son of the Father. He was considered as the living incarnation of Horus who was the divine son of Isis and Osiris.  Horus   protected the dynasty and the body of the king who was an absolute monarch, the ancient Egyptians believed that through their  king and his communication with the gods Divine order stability and prosperity would be maintained in their land and chaos would be avoided. The king was the High Priest of all Egypt. During his reign it was the duty of each Pharaoh to add to the Temple and to honor the gods and his own ancestors. Some of Karnack’s sections fell into disrepair or were left uncompleted, over the centuries each succeeding Pharaoh carried on the work of his predecessors and In return for the honors and offerings, they believed that the  gods would bestow blessings of victories in battle, recovery from sickness and plentiful harvests. Only the Pharaoh and priests had access to this sacred home of Amun.

Walking through the first pylon  the immense width of the pylons makes you feel humble, and makes you feel as insignificant as an ant. Graffiti has been scratched on the great blocks of stone, almost at the top on the right hand side of the first pylon I inscribed into the stones is recorded the French Expedition to Egypt.  Napoleon had arrived at the port of Alexandria on July 1, 1798, with some 25,000 soldiers. Though he enjoyed some early success, Napoleon retreated to France in 1799 and Egypt reverted to the British-backed Ottomans in 1801. Graffiti on the inner wall of the pylon records their arrival at Karnack Temple, ‘The Republique Francaise  Geographic des Monuments’ they had given the longitude and latitude of all the temples that they had studied in Egypt during their expedition with Napoleon Bonaparte. This deep entrance leads into the large first main courtyard where three barque chapels sit snugly in the corner; they were created by Seti 1 for Amun Mut and their son Khonsu.  Across the courtyard on to my right was the temple of Ramses 111, which is a miniature version of his mortuary temple known as Medinet Habu.

Princess Diana entered the Hypostyle Hall , the Reception Area of the Gods, its awesome lotus columns represent the plants that came into being on the mound of creation. The lotus columns are a symbolism of Horus who was born on the waters of creation, the lotus plant represents the first sunrise on the day of creation. Each evening the lotus submerges beneath the waters, and at dawn it rises symbolically to worship the sun again, it encompasses all the forces of nature and lives in all the four elements, its roots are bound to the earth and its stem rises through water, it flourishes in the air and blooms in the sunlight.  Standing in this incredible hall you are overpowered by 134 of these gigantic columns, 122 are in the open papyrus bud style, and another 12 in the central isle are closed

The Hypostyle Hall was originally the vision of Seti 1, and after his death his son Ramses the Great completed the Hypostyle Hall, he had erected 54 columns on the south side, and a stone wall to surround the whole hall on the east side. Ramses 11 reigned for 67 years and fathered over 100 children ! ! ! 


The VALLEY of the KINGS

‘ Make beautiful your resting place in the West, make splendid your resting place in the City of the Dead, Thanks to your just way of life, it is here that your heart and soul can rest’

Merikare

'I am yesterday today and tomorrow,

And I have the power to be born a second time'

The Book of the Dead

Across the river Nile on the western shore of Thebes, there lays a desolate winding valley that hibernates within a barren and silent city for the dead, where no life can sustain on its parched desert rocks. In ancient days this was a secret place with only one way into the valley, its dusty road was only followed by the ritual funeral entourage of ancient times, and if you go into the valley you can only return by the road that you came. The sides of the valley twist and turn and contorting into a mountain that forms a natural pyramid known as 'The Quorn', like the pyramids this is a ladder to the stars and eternal life. It encloses the subterranean tombs and final resting places of the once living Gods of Ancient Weset, the pharaohs of The New Kingdom.

The Valley of the Kings is known to contain 63 tombs and chambers.  KV5 was re-discovered by Kent Weeks, it is the largest and most complex tomb in the valley with over 120 chambers.  The royal tombs are decorated with symbolic scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period. Almost all of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of the pharaohs.


The most famous tomb in the Valley is the Tomb of Tutankhamun. It was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, when Lord Carnarvon had impatiently stood waiting behind Howard Carter in November whilst he broke a hole through in the sealed door of a tomb and passed a candle through the hole. ‘Can you see anything?’ said Lord Carnarvon anxiously. Carter had been struck almost dumb as hot air escaped from the room within causing his candle to flicker, strange statues and animals appeared from the gloom within, and the glint of gold was everywhere. It was all Carter could do to express the words ‘yes, Wonderful things!’

The tomb KV62 had been discovered underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period; this explains why it was largely spared the desecration and tomb clearances at the end of the 20th Dynasty, although it was robbed and resealed twice in the period after its completion.

Tutankhamun  was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the 18th dynasty during the New Kingdom of Egyptian history. His father was the pharaoh Akhenaten, believed to be the mummy found in the tomb KV55. His mother is his father's sister, identified through DNA testing as an unknown mummy referred to as; "The Younger Lady" who was found in KV35.

Tutankhamun came to the throne at eight or nine years of age, and was originally known as Tutankhaten. His names—Tutankhaten and Tutankhamun—are thought to mean "Living image of Aten" and "Living image of Amun".

Under the  Viziership of his eventual successor, Ay, to whom he may have been related. He married his half sister Ankhsenapaten who later became known as Anaksenamun. During their marriage they lost two daughters, whose foetus were found in a wooden box in his tomb, one was lost during the first 5-6 months of Anaksenamuns pregnancy, and the other one died shortly after it's birth at full term

Whilst in Egypt Princess Diana also visited a welfare society for mothers and children, as well as the Institution of Polio and Rehabilitation

Cairo has five centers for the treatment of Polio and it's Rehabilitation, the disease has caused paralysis and death for much of human history. Over millennia, polio survived quietly as an endemic  until the 1900s when major epidemics began to occur in Europe. Soon after, widespread epidemics appeared in the United States. By 1910, frequent epidemics became regular events throughout the developed world primarily in cities during the summer months. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio would paralyze or kill over half a million people worldwide every year the development of two polio vaccines has eliminated or controlled polio in many countries across the world

I adore Diana and was devastated when she was killed. When Diana first met Prince Charles she was very shy, and gradually over the years she found her confidence in her royal duties, her charisma and friendliness endeared her to the world and helped her reputation to survive after the horrendous collapse of her marriage to Prince Charles, they took her title of Princess away, but she will always be our 'Queen of Hearts'

Diana was very photogenic and newspaper reporters followed her everywhere, they were considered to have been partly to blame for the fatal car crash under a tunnel in Paris in 1997, because some of  the reporters chased after the car that she was travelling in with her new Egyptian boyfriend Dodi Fayed, who was also killed in the Crash. Her funeral had the largest attendance ever seen for a royal burial, but her legacy lives on forever, as the Ancient Egyptians demonstrated, if you speak the name they are born again.