France 'Quietly' Awards Highest Distinction Saudi Arabia Crown Prince

It is with the utmost secrecy that France has presented Crown Prince of Saudi Arabi Mohammed ben Nayef with the Legion of Honour, which is the the country highest distinction.

The ceremony turned controversial among the French politicians as the French government kept all this affair very quiet. So quiet it did not even inform neither the public nor the media through the Presidential agenda, which is available to everyone.

The French government was among the most vocal outside the Middle East in its condemnation of Saudi mass executions earlier this year, calling the kingdom’s killing of 47 people “deeply deplorable”.

Yet almost two months to the day after that statement was issued, President François Hollande awarded his nation’s most prestigious award to the heir to the Saudi throne, Prince Mohammed bin Naif.

The Crown Prince’s visit to the Elysee Palace actually took place on Friday 4 March, the same day as Mr Hollande held talks with Angela Merkel about how to cope with the refugee crisis.That the Prince even received the award was only confirmed by Mr Hollande’s entourage on Sunday afternoon. Officials sought to play it down, telling Le Monde it was “common protocol” to issue visiting dignitaries with the honour.

But while in France the decoration was done, as media outlets put it, “with discretion”, the government-owned Saudi news agency SPA hailed the honour as recognition for the prince’s “great efforts in the region and world for combating extremism and terrorism”.

The Legion of Honour was founded by Napoleon in 1802, and is regarded as among the first and most prestigious modern orders of merit in the world.

As today we're celebrating Women's International Day, let us remember that lately, women in Saudi Arabia have been banned from entering a branch of Starbucks in the capital Riyadh after a wall designed to segregate men and women was reportedly removed during renovations.