London’s Metropolitan Police said Hamza, 57, had been remanded in custody until September, charged with plotting to murder four people.

“Dr. Hamza appeared at Bow Street Magistrates Court [in central London] on July 14, charged with soliciting to murder four known people,” a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

“He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on September 1. The British embassy is in close contact with the Egyptian authorities about this case,” he added.

Hamza was arrested on July 12 shortly after arriving in the UK.

Designer of the new Alexandria Library, Hamza is one of Egypt’s most celebrated architects and a wealthy businessman.

The Cairo tabloid Sawt Al Umma said Hamza faced charges of “plotting to assassinate Egyptian government ministers and other figures.”

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said Hamza had appeared in court earlier this month.

“Dr. Mamdouh Hamza, an Egyptian with no residence in the UK, appeared in custody at Bow Street magistrate court on the 14th of July, charged with four counts of soliciting to murder and was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on the 21st of July,” she said.

Contacted by AFP, a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman was not able to confirm whether Hamza had been a guest of Queen Elizabeth recently.

“Thousands of people are invited each year by the queen for her garden parties,” she said.

Last weekend the Egyptian government demanded an explanation from Britain over Hamza’s arrest, with foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit telling reporters that the government had learned the news “with great concern.”

“I have asked our embassy in London to make urgent contact with the British authorities to establish the true nature of this case and the charges being leveled against him,” he said.