In February 1945, at the Fayum oasis in Egypt, Winston Churchill met the founder of the Saudi kingdom, Ibn Saud. The Prime Minister had been warned that the monarch – the father of King Abdullah, who died yesterday – would not tolerate smoking or drinking in his presence.
Churchill’s reply? He said to the interpreter: “If it was the religion of His Majesty to deprive himself of smoking and alcohol, I must point out that my rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after and, if need be, during all meals and in the intervals between them. The King graciously accepted the position.”
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