What a summer it was for the Establishment in Bahrain and Britain. As the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, clasped his ears, the King of Bahrain roared with laughter. It was a Sunday evening in May and the upper tier of British royals watched as Her Majesty’s Household troops fired an artillery salute for her 90th birthday; the Queen had invited King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa personally to join the celebrations. He is considered to be such a close friend that he sat directly next to Queen Elizabeth. This was no accident. Their family friendship goes back generations.
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