Italian Egyptians which was to be inaugurated in 1871 with the "Aida" by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Khedivial Opera House or "Cairo Royal Opera House" was the original Opera House in Cairo. It was inaugurated on November 1869 and burned down on October 1971. The opera house was built on the orders of the Khedive Ismail to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. The Italian Egyptian architects Pietro Avoscani and Mario Rossi designed the building. Pietro Avoscani, before his 1891 death in Alexandria, created even the famous "Corniche" of Alexandria. The fondness of Egyptian monarchs towards Italy appeared in
Suez Canal Company Société Générale was interested in his shares of the Suez Canal Company in exchange for paying off the debt installment, however, the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli responded quickly and with permission from parliament and Queen Victoria received a loan from Lionel de Rothschild in the amount of 4 million pounds to purchase the 177,000 shares from Ismail on behalf of the British government. This offer was slightly greater than the french offer, and Ismail physically delivered his share certificates to the British consulate. By December 1875 Britain became the largest shareholder of the Suez Canal Company, owning 44 percent