Narriman was unable to be present in her sons’ lives in the traditional way, but she tried to be there for them as best she could. Prince Fuad admitted that he blamed her for leaving him in infancy, though he should have directed the blame to his father. Narriman came to see him when Farouk allowed her to. She was a part of his wedding too. Like many children growing up after the Second World War, I learned of the world's great fairy tales, including Cinderella, through the retellings of Andrew Lang. I still treasure my childhood copy of his Blue Fairy Book in a Longmans, Green & Co first edition from 1949. It has a little orange label: People's Bookshop, 45 Kerk Street, Johannesburg.

In this earliest known version of Cinderella, a rosy-cheeked girl called Rhodopis is captured in the mountains of Greece. She is sold in Samos, where wise storyteller Aesop befriends her.

In this story, ‘Cinderella’ is A girl named Rhodopis which comes from "rosy-cheeked" in Greek, she is celebrated for her beauty and like all good fairytale princesses, she is kind and gentle. She later gets captured, enslaved, and then sold off in Egypt. Rhodopis is bought by a Greek who takes pity on her and treats her as a daughter, the three Egyptian sisters who also serve as servants in his house (another feature of Cinderella) become jealous of Rhodopis and don’t treat her well. It is not until later that Cinderella and her prince come together. Narriman really succeeded in keeping her life private after she married Dr. Fahmi. There is no account of her marriage, and neither she nor Fahmi talked to the press or to anyone who would blab. It does seem though that she was happy and Fahmi genuinely cared for her well-being. Sadly, Narriman’s troubles didn’t end, despite her loving husband. Although Adham was a good man, he found it wasn’t easy to live with a woman with so much emotional baggage. There are conflicting reports on why Narriman’s second marriage broke down. One of these is that she hadn’t left her taste for luxury behind and found it frustrating to live in a budget. But according to some sources, the real reason was much darker.

One of the king’s stipulations for Narriman was decidedly unromantic. He wanted her to lose weight before the wedding. Her diet in Rome accordingly helped her achieve her fiancé's desired weight of 110lbs. Farouk, meanwhile, weighed around 300. Girls, take note: If he has issues with the way you look, just dump him. Even if he happens to be king. In his own words, the king wanted to make sure he didn’t make the same mistakes with Narriman, as he had with Farida—his first wife. I’m assuming one of those was not taking her on a long honeymoon, because he took Narriman on a three-month long vacation along the French Riviera. He would also buy her gifts everyday from money he “earned” by gambling.Re-told by award winning and influential children’s author Beverley Naidoo, this version of Cinderella supports learning around traditional tales. With clear links to ancient Greece and ancient Egypt, children will discover how one story can have many iterations around the world and throughout history. Alongside historical themes, the book could be used as a platform for discussions around human rights, enslavement and justice. Links and themes: Cinderella of the Nile is a story that crosses ages – children across the primary age range will enjoy and become entranced by this timeless tale.

Narriman's dress was an absolute stand out—and for good reason. Seamstresses delicately sewed a stunning 20,000 diamonds sewn onto the fabric. And that wasn't all. It seems like Narriman couldn't decide whether she preferred diamonds or pearls—so she decided to have both. The queen wore an extravagant crown of pearls on her newly-royal head. Cinderella of the Nile is introduced to the reader as the earliest known version of the fairytale. It tells the story in an alternative manner due to the different cultural settings of Greece and Egypt being explored as opposed to the typical western setting.

14. He Did Not Live for Too Long

This three-week Writing Root begins with the discovery of a bottle that contains a map and a message. After interrogating the scenario presented and writing a short news report using the present perfect tense, the children then share the first part of Cinderella of the Nile. They develop skills of inference before exploring the author’s use of literary language and the effect that this has on the reader. Suffix fixers are used to investigate abstract nouns which are then used to create an emotions graph before being woven in to a diary entry in role that also draws upon literary language from a previous session. Once the story has been read, the children sort statements about traditional Cinderella tales and statements about this version onto a Venn diagram and then go on to devise their own version of a Cinderella story complete with fable! Synopsis of Text Soon thereafter the pharoah announces his son will seek a bride and rest, as fairy tales go, is history: they live happily ever after. Unfortunately, the King didn't tell Narriman the truth about all those presents. You see, Farouk wasn't the best gambler. He was actually losing far more money than he was winning. If you’re thinking that the king doesn’t sound like the wisest, most responsible person you know, you’ve got it right. You may have thought that Narriman would seize this chance to leave the king, but you'd be wrong. She stayed with her husband during this dark time, sailing into exile in Italy with Farouk, their son, and the king's daughters from his previous marriage. It was a selfless act, but let's be real. We all know this won’t end well... Already depressed at losing her father, Narriman began to worry that the King had lost interest in her.

But when I was at university, I was fortunate to have my colonial ways of seeing challenged. I began the life-long process of questioning 'truths', whether presented by governments, political parties or individuals. I began to understand how our perceptions, feelings and indeed fears are shaped. Removing blinkers and widening vision is an ongoing journey for me and one in which literature has played an important role. Being an idealistic teenager, Narriman had imagined that Farouk was sincerely committed to bettering his people’s lives. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. He seemed oblivious to his country's poverty. His decisions made the poor even poorer and often benefitted the rich and corrupt. As though that wasn't bad enough, Farouk also invoked everyone’s ire because of his own lavish lifestyle. For starters, King Farouk was looking for a purely Egyptian bride, who had no Turkish or Syrian ancestors. Apart from that, his new wife also had to be Muslim, a virgin, and, in an effort to curry favor with his people, she should not belong to the aristocracy. Well, 16-year-old Narriman certainly fit the bill. And for bonus points, she was also beautiful, polite, and charming. It seemed like a perfect match. Emphasis on "seemed."She did come home after she got better, but not for long. A few months later she went into a coma and never woke up. After ten days in the hospital, she passed on February 16, 2005, at the age of 75.