The untimely death of an Egyptian Prince

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A rather soiled and not very sharp photo of a seemingly ordinary car with a group of people: that is what can be seen on the front side of this postcard. The text on the other side, however, turns it into an important and rather macabre document: this was the Mercedes owned by the Egyptian Prince Ibrahim Mohamed in 1906, with his chauffeur François-Joseph Daurengeon at the wheel. The Prince, who was a grandnephew of the Khedive of Egypt, was at the time of the photo on holiday in Royat. If he had bought the car only shortly before or if some repairs were necessary at that moment is not known to me, but a Mercedes mechanic is sitting on the running board. The other men in the photograph are apparently friends and acquaintances of the Prince and/or the driver, and also three newspaper boys are immortalized.

The last sentence on the postcard states that three weeks after the photo the Prince and his driver were killed in a train accident, a news fact that was reported by most newspapers in the world. On August 18^th the Prince returned to his summer residence in Trouville. Taking the route from Bernay to Trouville, while they were travelling at a speed of 110 km/h and driving just outside Thiberville, the driver apparently lost control and was caught at a railway crossing by the train from Thiberville to Cormeilles. Driver Daurengeon was killed immediately, Prince Ibrahim Mohamed would succumb of severe injuries later that evening after having been operated without success.

In a comment in La Vie au Grand Air it was argued that these accidents occurred too often because of incompetent drivers speeding at greater speeds they were able to handle. The thrill of speed, however, is such a powerful drug that it has always prevented too many people to learn from these accidents. Then: world news. Now: a few lines in the local newspaper...

Words and photograph by Ariejan Bos.

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