Diana first visited Egypt on her honeymoon when she and Charles entertained the late President Anwar Sadat, fresh from his triumphant in making peace with Israel, at a banquet on the royal yatch Britannia off Port Said.
The immensely-popular Princess Diana was well known in Egypt from newspapers and magazines.
As understood, her visit had a more far-reaching purpose, underlining Britain's gratitude to Egypt for their support during the Gulf War. Diana's visit combined the tourist attractions of the land of the Pharaohs with visits to charitable institutions.
Diana had asked to see social rehabilitation centres for the blind, handicapped and sick (al-Nour school), the welfare of mothers and children, reflecting her interest in social issues.
Diana stayed at the residence of Britain's ambassador to Cairo, Mr. Christopher Long.
During the five-day (11-15) visit, Diana's itinerary called for touring Egyptian historical sites.
At the Giza Great Pyramids (named after the Pharaoh Cheops), Diana cut a solitary figure in the Egyptian desert, posing alone for photographers.
It was at the 4,600-year-old limestone half-man half-beast statue, Sphinx, Egyptians officials had to hurry up Diana's visit to get her away before running into Argentina's President Carlos Menem, on a similar visit scheduled nine minutes later.
As reported, "Both Diana and Carlos Menem were seeing the sights of the Pyramids on official visits to Egypt but it appeared Mr. Menem, as a head of state, was being given precedence before the Princess of Wales. At one stage, only nine minutes separated Diana from a potentially embarrassing face-to-face meeting with the leader of the country which was Britain’s enemy in the Falklands War 10 years ago (in 1982). Each was out to view the famous Pyramids and the Sphinx on the edge of the desert, at Giza, a few miles outside Cairo and the double visit proved a headache for the Egyptians.
"There was a heated discussion in Arabic between a British diplomat and a security guard who refused to let anyone through a gate leading to the Sphinx except President Menem and his entourage. The impasse was resolved only minutes before the Princess arrived. But once inside the viewing area, dominated by the massive human-headed lion carved out of limestone, it became obvious agitated officials were equally anxious to get her away before the Argentinians arrived."
Diana described the Sphinx as "breathtaking". At the Cairo Museum, Diana viewed the pharaoh Tutankhamen's golden sarcophagus, the brilliant gold burial mask of Tutankhamen.
In Luxor, Diana stepped inside Tutankhamen’s tomb, the royal burial grounds in the Valley of the Kings. At the time, it was closed to the public because it was showing signs of damage from thousands of visitors but was reopened especially for Diana. It was empty except for the mummified body of Tutankhamun, who ruled from the age of nine but died on reaching manhood.
Diana met her hostess Suzanne Mubarak at her home in Heliopolis and visited the headquarters of the British consul.
Diana flew to the southern Egyptian city of Aswan to visit the ancient temple of Philae, dedicated to Isis, one of the great mother goddesses of Egypt - said to have civilized the world by instituting marriage and teaching women domestic arts.
Diana was seeing going barefoot on a visit to Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, seat of the highest Islamic authority in Egypt - the 1000-year old Egyptian Theological Institute that upheld Sunni Islamic orthodoxy, to which many people and religious institutions in Moslem communities looked for guidance and counselling. Diana spent 20 minutes at the mosque, built in 969 AD by the Shia Moslem conquerers of Egypt as the main mosque of the new city of al Qahira, from which the name Cairo was derived.
"The princess has special respect for Islamic tradition, so her program will include a visit to Al-Azhar mosque," Christopher Long said at a briefing for reporters. Diana was not scheduled to meet with the leading clergyman of Al-Azhar, the Grand Imam. Instead, she met with his deputy.
On the banks off the Nile, Diana stepped out in temperatures touching 100F to visit the ancient Karnak Temple where she was presented with a ram's head.
On the last day of her official Egyptian tour, Diana visited the Heliopolis War Cemetery on the outskirts of Cairo to honor the British and Commonwealth soldiers of the World War II's North Africa campaign which led to the victory of El Alamein. Diana laid a wreath, marked with a hand-written card saying "For Evermore - Diana".
