After gaining independence from Britain in 1922, the new Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan began its own stamp program. The Kingdom lasted until 1953. Ahmed Fouad, then the Sultan of the British Protectorate (officially the Sultanate of Egypt and Sudan), was given the title of King (as Fouad I). Despite this apparent arrangement, Britain kept military personnel in the country, and the Kingdom wasn’t truly independent until 1949.
King Fouad I, and later his successor and son, Farouk I, were themselves keen stamp collectors. (Their wide-ranging collection was auctioned publicly when the Kingdom ended and Egypt became a Republic.) This passionate devotion to philately translated into postal innovations such as airmail and daring, detailed photogravure printing. For collectors today, the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan’s stamps are high-quality and aesthetically pleasing to collect, to say nothing of the historical interest of the period.
