Very interesting from Sotheby's:
Description
Oblong folio (265 x 385mm.), 305 photographs (average 85 x 135mm., or the reverse; a few smaller or larger), mounted recto and verso on cream card, generally two to five photographs to a side, a very few captioned in pencil on the mount, coloured map of Arabia mounted at beginning, 4 newspaper cuttings from The Times pasted in (dated 5 February to 7 March) regarding the Royal visit to Arabia, printed report pasted in: "Visit of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice and the Earl of Athlone to Saudi Arabia" by Sir Reader Bullard dated 21 March 1938 and with Lord Frederick Cambridge's name in blue ink at head, memorial service sheet "To the beloved memory of Frederick Charles Edward Cambridge and John Henry George, Earl of Erne, killed in action May 1940, Badminton, 14 June 1940" (4pp.) loosely inserted, contemporary green buckram, preserved within a modern clamshell case, a few minor marks to binding
PROVENANCE
Lord Frederick Cambridge (1907-1940), compiler of the album (killed in action, Belgium, 30 May 1940); his sister The Duchess of Beaufort (1897-1987); by whom given to her niece Lady Mary Whitley (1924-1999); by whom given to her godson
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES
HRH Princess Alice. For my Grandchildren: some reminiscences. London, 1966 (pp.224-242); Wahba, Hafiz. Arabian Days. London, 1964; Bullard, R. Two Kings in Arabia: Sir Reader Bullard's Letters from Jeddah. Reading, 1993; Aldamer, Dr S. The Visit of HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone and the Earl of Athlone to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 25 February - 17 March 1938. With a summary of Saudi-British Relations. King Abdulaziz Public Library, 2007
CATALOGUE NOTE
an historic album of photographs of saudi arabia and bahrain compiled by princess alice's nephew lord frederick cambridge, who accompanied his aunt and uncle as aide-de-camp. The album also contains Lord Frederick's personal copy of Sir Reader Bullard's official report on the royal visit.
Princess Alice relates in her memoirs: "Our visit to Saudi Arabia in the winter of 1938 came about through a chance meeting with the Crown Prince Saud in 1936, when he took me in to luncheon at Ascot... Out of politeness I said how sorry I was that I had never visited Arabia, though I had been as far as Petra. He at once asked, 'Why not come to Arabia?' " (For my Grandchildren, pp.224-5). The importance of this visit is derived from several factors, for although many members of the Saudi royal family had visited Britain, this was the first occasion on which a delegation from the British royal family had visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and it was the only occasion on which any member of the British royal family met the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. The primary objective of this visit was not to discuss political affairs but to strengthen friendly ties and communications between Saudi Arabia and Britain.
In the winter of 1938 Princess Alice and the Earl of Athlone travelled to Saudi Arabia, stopping en route in Cairo and Port Sudan. They arrived at Jeddah in HMS Enterprise on 25 February, accompanied by Lord Frederick Cambridge, where they were met on board by the Governor of Jeddah, Sheikh Ibrahim, Sheikh Hafiz Wahba, the Saudi Minister to London and Sir Reader Bullard, British Minister in Jeddah. On landing they were received by the Emir Faisal, Governor of the Hijaz and second son of His Majesty King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, who entertained them to dinner in the evening. The following day King Abdul Aziz entertained Princess Alice and the Earl of Athlone to tea, which was the first occasion on which the King had ever received a European lady into his house. Princess Alice in her autobiography describes the meeting with the King: "He himself was a huge man, a great gentleman with a most engaging manner. He was charming and full of jokes, and Granpa and I became his hero-worshippers... We sat in an alcove, he on the sofa and we on either side of him, with Sir Reader Bullard and Hafiz Wahba interpreting for us, and I thanked him very much for inviting me, as he had never before asked a female to an audience or a meal." On 27 February the Emir Faisal gave a large picnic for the royal visitors at Wadi Fatima. The following day Princess Alice received presents from the King and the Earl of Athlone had a private audience with him. They said goodbye to the King on the 1 March, before travelling in a motor convoy for several weeks across Arabia from west to east, meeting tribal chieftans and camping in the desert. On their travels they stayed at Mudhitta Camp, Ashaira Well (the last well between the Hijaz and Nejd), Taif, Mowaih Well (where they met some Bedouin called Khlawi), Dafina Well, Afif Well, and travelled along the Jebel Nir mountain range to Fort Duwadime, then to Wadi Hanifa and to Ibaila where they were met by the Crown Prince Saud. On 7 March they were taken to the Badia Palace where they dined with the Crown Prince, his uncle Ahmed and his nephew Faisal Ibn Turki. The next day they drove to Riyadh and were given a tour of the palace and town. Princess Alice comments in her book "There were a thousand things to photograph, but whenever we stopped a throng of curious people crowded round... Next day we went to photograph the famous gate and fort which... the King had captured with only fifteen men, against seventy in the garrison and during which he had a hand-to-hand fight with the Governor" (op. cit. pp.237-8). They left Riyadh on 10 March for Hofuf and Prince Saud arranged some hunting for them on the way. From Hofuf they proceeded along the coast before reaching the California Arabian Standard Oil company's camp at Dhahran. It was here at oil well Dammam No. 7 on 4 March 1938 that oil was discovered in commercial quantities, the well having produced over 2,000 barrels and by the end of March, the quantity had risen to over 3,000 barrels per day. King George VI sent a telegram congratulating King Ibn Saud on the discovery of oil that so happily coincided with Princess Alice's good-will visit. After visiting the oil wells and drillings, the royal party visited Bahrain where they were received by Sheikh Isa at his country palace. They said their farewells to Sheikh Isa at Bahrain airport, where the royal party left in three British aircraft to Basrah, before flying back to Cairo and returning by sea to England.
