Author’s Note
180 Words
Author’s NoteMy grandfather as an undergraduate at Oxford University attended the Opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
The description of the Ceremony, the Royal guests and the magnificent party given by the Khedive of Egypt at Ismailia are all accurate.
The building of the Suez Canal combined with the personal extravagance of Ismail Pasha bankrupted Egypt in 1875.
Mr. Benjamin Disraeli, the British Prime Minister with much subtlety was able to buy the Khedive’s shares for four million pounds.
Whatever the cost, the achievement of Ferdinand de Lesseps, whose dream came true after he had spent a lifetime surmounting incredible difficulties, raising money and coping with obstructions in the Canal itself is one of the great adventure stories of the world.
His bronze statue at the entrance to the Suez Canal was destroyed by a hostile mob in 1956, but his name lives on in the pages of history.
After his lifelong struggle had been fulfilled, Ferdinand de Lesseps married his second wife, a young French girl in a little Chapel at Ismailia. She was to bear him twelve children.
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