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Farouk I فاروق الأول
King Farouk I in military uniform
King of Egypt and the Sudan[1]
Reign	28 April 1936 – 26 July 1952
Coronation	29 July 1937[2]
Predecessor	Fuad I
Successor	Fuad II
Regents	See list Prince Muhammad Ali Tewfik Adli Yakan Pasha Tawfiq Nasim Pasha Aziz Ezzat Pasha Sherif Sabri Pasha
Prime Ministers	See list Mustafa el-Nahhas Pasha Muhammad Mahmoud Pasha Ali Mahir Pasha Hassan Sabry Pasha Hussein Sirri Pasha Ahmad Mahir Pasha Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha Isma'il Sidqi Pasha Ibrahim Abdel Hadi Pasha Ahmad Najib al-Hilali
Born	(1920-02-11)11 February 1920 Abdeen Palace, Cairo, Sultanate of Egypt
Died	18 March 1965(1965-03-18) (aged 45) Capri, Italy
Burial	Al-Rifa'i Mosque, Cairo, Egypt
Spouse	Farida (née Safinaz Zulficar) (m. 1938; div. 1948) Narriman Sadek (m. 1951; div. 1954)
Issue	Princess Ferial Princess Fawzia Princess Fadia Fuad II
Full name Farouk bin Ahmed Fuad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Muhammad Ali bin Ibrahim Agha
Dynasty	Muhammad Ali Dynasty
Father	Fuad I
Mother	Nazli Sabri
Religion	Islam
Signature

Farouk I (/fəˈruːk/; Arabic: فاروق الأول‎ Fārūq al-Awwal; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936.^[3]

His full title was "His Majesty Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and the Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan and of Darfur". He was overthrown in the 1952 military coup d'état and forced to abdicate in favour of his infant son, Ahmed Fuad, who succeeded him as Fuad II. He died in exile in Italy in 1965.

His sister, Princess Fawzia Fuad, was the first wife and consort of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.^[4]

Early life and education

He was born as His Sultanic Highness Farouk bin Fuad, Hereditary Prince of Egypt and Sudan, on 11 February 1920 at Abdeen Palace, Cairo, the eldest child of Sultan Fuad I (later King Fuad I) and his second wife, Nazli Sabri.^[5][6] He was of 10/16 Circassian (bilineal), 3/16 Turkish (bilineal), 2/16 French (matrilineal) and 1/16 Albanian (patrilineal) descent.^[7][8][9] Farouk was always proud of his Albanian heritage and as king, he was protected by 30 Albanian bodyguards as he regarded Albanians as the only people he could trust with his life.^[10] Farouk's first languages were Turkish and French (the languages of the Egyptian elite), and he always thought of himself as an Egyptian rather than as an Arab, having no interest in Arab nationalism except as as a way of increasing Egypt's power in the Middle East.^[11] Until the 1952 revolution, Egypt was dominated by an elite made up of interrelated families of Turkish, Circassian and Albanian origin known to historians as the Turco-Circassian elite who owned most of the land, upon which the fellahen (Egyptian peasants) toiled upon as tenet farmers. Despite the Albanian origin of his house, Farouk in common with the other members of Egypt's Ottoman elite had more Circassian blood in him as Mohammad Ali the Great and his successors were fond of their Circassian slave girls, which were one of the most prized possessions of an Ottoman official.^[12]  

In addition to his sisters, Fawzia, Faiza, Faika and Fathia,^[13] he had two half-siblings from his father's previous marriage to Princess Shwikar Khanum Effendi. King Fuad kept tight control over his only son when he was growing up and Farouk was only allowed to see his mother once every day for a hour.^[14] Fuad who did not speak Arabic insisted that the crown prince learn Arabic so he could talk to his subjects.^[15] Farouk become fluent in classical Arabic, the language of the Koran, and he always gave his speeches in classical Arabic.^[16] As a child Farouk showed a facility for languages, learning Arabic, English, French and Italian, which were the only subjects he excelled at.^[15] The more honest of Farouk's tutors often wrote comments on his childhood essays such as "Improve your bad handwriting and pay attention to the cleanliness of your notebook" and "It is regrettable that you not know the history of your ancestors".^[15] The more sycophantic of his tutors wrote comments like "Excellent. A brilliant future awaits you in the world of literature" on an essay that began with the sentence "My father had a lot of ministers and I have a cat".^[15] Farouk was known for his love of practical jokes, a trait that continued on as an adult, for instance he liked to free the quail that the game keepers had captured on the grounds of the Montaza Palace and he once used an air gun to shoot out the windows at the Koubbeh Palace.^[17] When Queen Marie of Romania visited the Koubbeh Palace to see Queen Nazli, Farouk asked her if she wanted to see his two horses; when she answered in the positive, Farouk had the horses brought into the royal harem, which greatly displeased the two queens as the animals defected all over the floor.^[18]

Farouk's closest friend when growing up and later as an adult was the Italian electrician at the Abdeen Palace, Antonio Pulli, who become one of Egypt's most powerful men during his reign.^[17] The influence of Farouk's father, the dominating and misogynistic King Fuad together with the influence of his surrogate father Pulli who viewed women only as sex objects, had a major impact on Farouk's attitudes towards the opposite sex.^[18] As a teenager, Farouk's favorite place was the garage at the Abdeen Palace where Pulli and the other Italian servants would relate to Farouk their "whore stories".^[19] An attempt to enlist Farouk at Eton was thwarted when he failed the entrance exams.^[16] Before his father's death, he was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, England. The Italophile Fuad wanted to have Farouk educated at the Turin Military Academy, but the British High Commissioner Sir Miles Lampson vetoed this choice as growing Italian claims for the entire Mediterranean to be Mare Nostum ("Our Sea") made it unacceptable for the Crown Prince to be educated in Italy.^[16] 

In October 1935, Farouk left Egypt to settle at Kenry House in the countryside of Surrey to attend the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich as an extramural student.^[18] Farouk attended classes occasionally at "the Shop" as the academy was known to prepare himself for the entrance exam.^[20] Farouk stayed at Kenry House and twice a week was driven in a Rolls-Royce to the Royal Military Academy to attend classes, but still failed the entrance exam.^[20] One of Farouk's tutors, General Aziz el-Masri, complained to King Fuad that the principle problem with Farouk as a student was he never studied and expected the answers to be given to him when he wrote his exam.^[21] Instead of studying, Farouk spent his time in London when he went shopping, attended football matches with the Prince of Wales, and visited restaurants and brothels.^[22] When King George V died, Farouk represented Egypt at his funeral in Westminster Abbey.^[23]

On 29 April 1936, King Fuad died of a heart-attack and Farouk left England to return to Egypt as king.^[23] Farouk's first act as king was to visit Buckingham Palace to accept the condolences of King Edward VIII, one of the few Englishmen whom Farouk liked, and then he went to Victoria station to take a train to Dover and was seen off by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Anthony Eden.^[24] At Dover, Farouk boarded a French ship, the Côte d'Azur, which took him to Calais.^[24] After a stop in Paris to shop and visit the Elysee Palace, Farouk took the train to Marseilles, where he boarded an ocean liner, the Viceroy of India to take him to Alexandria, where he landed on 6 May 1936.^[24] Upon landing in Alexandria, Farouk was greeted by huge crowds who shouted "Long live the king of the Nile!" and "Long live the king of Egypt and the Sudan!".^[24] In 1936, Farouk was known by his subjects as al malik al mahbub ("the beloved king").^[25] Besides for inheriting the throne, Farouk also received all of the land that his father had acquired, which amounted to one seventh of all the arable land in Egypt.^[26] As the Nile river valley has some of the most fertile and productive farmland in the entire world, this was a considerable asset.^[27] Fuad left Farouk a fortune worth about $100 million U.S dollars plus 75, 000 acres of land in the Nile river valley, five palaces, 200 cars and 2 yachts.^[27]      

Reign

Upon his coronation, the 16-year-old King Farouk made a public radio address to the nation, the first time a sovereign of Egypt had ever spoken directly to his people in such a way:

As Farouk was extremely popular with the Egyptian people, it was decided by the Prime Minister, Ali Maher, that the Farouk should not return to Britain as that would be unpopular, through the one of the regents, Prince Mohammad Ali, had wanted Farouk to keep trying to get admitted on a full time basis to the Royal Military Academy as a way of getting him out of the country.^[28] Egypt was in the process of negotiating a treaty that would reduce some of the British privileges in Egypt and make the country more independent in exchange for keeping Egypt in the British sphere of influence.^[29] The ambitions of Benito Mussolini to dominate the Mediterranean led the Wafd-traditionally the anti-British party-to want to keep the British presence in Egypt, at least as long as Mussolini kept calling the Mediterranean Mare Nostum..^[30] For both the Wafd and the British, it was convenient to keep Farouk in Egypt so when he signed the new Anglo-Egyptian treaty, it would not be seen as under duress as it would be if Farouk was living in Britain.^[28] Sir Miles Lampson believed he together with assorted other British officials like the king's tutor, Edward Ford, could mold Farouk into an Anglophile.^[31] Lampson's plans were derailed when it emerged that Farouk was more interested in duck-hunting and girls than Ford's lectures and that the king had "bragged" he would "have the hell" with the British, saying they had humiliated himself, his family and Egypt for long enough.^[31] The fact that Farouk had dismissed all of the British servants employed by his father while keeping the Italian servants suggested he had inherited Fuad's Italophilia.^[32] Farouk especially resented Lampson's attempts to set himself up as a surrogate father, finding him impossibly patronising and rude, complaining that at one moment Lampson would address him as a king and the next moment would call him to his face a "naughty boy".^[25]

Farouk was enamored of the glamorous royal lifestyle. Although he already had thousands of acres of land, dozens of palaces and hundreds of cars, the youthful king often travelled to Europe for grand shopping sprees, earning the ire of many of his subjects. It is said that he ate 600 oysters a week.^[33] His personal vehicle was a red 1947 Bentley Mark VI, with coachwork by Figoni et Falaschi; he dictated that, other than the military jeeps which made up the rest of his entourage, no other cars were to be painted red.^[34] In 1951, he bought the pear-shaped 94-carat Star of the East Diamond and a fancy-coloured oval-cut diamond from jeweller Harry Winston.

A banquet organised on the occasion of the wedding of King Farouk I and Queen Farida of Egypt. The persons appearing in the photograph are (from left to right):
Princess Nimet Mouhtar (1876–1945), Farouk's paternal aunt;
King Farouk I (1920–1965), the groom;
Queen Farida (1921–1988), the bride;
Sultana Melek (1869–1956), widow of Hussein Kamel, Farouk's paternal uncle;
Prince Muhammad Ali Ibrahim (1900–1977), Farouk's 2nd cousin once removed.

He was most popular in his early years, and the nobility largely celebrated him. For example, during the accession of the young King Farouk, "the Abaza family had solicited palace authorities to permit the royal train to stop briefly in their village so that the king could partake of refreshments offered in a large, magnificently ornamented tent the family had erected in the train station."^[35] The Chief Accountant to Farouk was Yadidya Israel. However, secretly he worked with the Free Officers Movement to overthrow Farouk. The ironies of history also meant that the Abaza family's own Wagih Abaza was in the Free Officers movement that removed the King in 1952, later becoming governor of six governorates in post-Farouk Egypt.^[36][37][38]

Farouk's accession initially was encouraging for the populace and nobility, due to his youth and Egyptian roots through his mother Nazli Sabri. However, the situation was not the same with some Egyptian politicians and elected government officials, with whom Farouk quarrelled frequently, despite their loyalty in principle to his throne. Farouk's accession had changed the dynamic of Egyptian politics from being a struggle of an unpopular king vs. the popular Wafd party as it was under his father to that of a popular Wafd vs. an even more popular king.^[39] The Wafd party, had been the most popular party in Egypt since it had been founded in 1919, and the Wafd leaders felt threatened by Farouk's popularity with ordinary Egyptians.^[39] Despite the regency council, Farouk was determined to exercise his royal prerogatives. When Farouk asked for a new railroad station to be built outside of the Montazah palace, the council refused under the grounds that station was only used twice a year by the royal family when they arrived at the Montazah palace to escape the summer heart in Cairo and when they returned to Cairo in the fall.^[40] Unwilling to take no for an answer, Farouk called out his servants and led them to demolish the station, forcing the regency council to approve building a new station.^[41]   There was also the issue of the continuous British involvement in the Egyptian government, which Farouk struggled to resist.

On 29 June 1937, Farouk turned 17, and since in the Islamic world, a baby is considered to be one year old at the time of birth, by Muslim standards, he was celebrating his 18th birthday.^[42] As he considered 18, he thus attained his majority and the Regency Council, which had so irked Farouk so much, was dissolved.^[42] Farouk's coronation, held in Cairo, on 20 July 1937, outdid the coronation of George VI, which just taken place in May, as Farouk held larger parades and fireworks displays than just taken place in London.^[43] For his coronation, Farouk reduced the fares on the Nile streamers and at least two million fellaheen (Egyptian peasants) took advantage of the price cut to attend his coronation in Cairo.^[42] Farouk's coronation speech implicitly criticized the land-owning Turco-Circassian elite of he himself was a part of, as Farouk declared: "The poor are not responsible for their poverty but rather the wealthy. Give to the poor what they merit without their asking. A king is a good king when the poor of the land have the right to live, when the sick have the right to be healed, when the timid have the right to be tranquil and when the ignorant have the right to learn".^[44] Further cementing Farouk's popularity was the announcement made on 24 August 1937 that he was engaged to Safinaz Zulficar, the daughter of an Alexandria judge.^[45] Farouk's decision to marry a commoner instead of a member of the Turco-Circassian elite increased his popularity with the Egyptian people.^[45] The marriage of the king and a commoner was presented to the world as matter of romantic love, but in fact the marriage had been arranged by Queen Nazli, who herself was a commoner and did not want her son to marry a princess from the Turco-Circassian elite who would outrank her.^[45] Queen Nazli had chosen Zulficar as her daughter-in-law because she was 15 years old and thus presumably could be molded; came from an upper middle class family like herself and was fluent in French, the language of Egypt's elite.^[45]

During the hardships of the Second World War, criticism was levelled at Farouk for his lavish lifestyle. His decision not to put out the lights at his palace in Alexandria when the city was blacked out because of German and Italian bombing was deemed particularly offensive by the Egyptian people. This was a large contrast to the British royal family back in England, who were well known to have an opposite reaction to the bombings near their home. Owing to the continuing British occupation of Egypt, many Egyptians, Farouk included, were positively disposed towards Germany and Italy, and despite the presence of British troops, Egypt remained officially neutral until the final year of the war. Consequently, Farouk's Italian servants were not interned, and there is an unconfirmed story that Farouk told British Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson (who had an Italian wife), "I'll get rid of my Italians when you get rid of yours". In addition, Farouk was known for harbouring certain Axis sympathies and even sending a note to Adolf Hitler saying that an invasion would be welcome.^[46]

Following a ministerial crisis in February 1942, the British government, through its ambassador in Egypt, Sir Miles Lampson, pressed Farouk to have a Wafd or Wafd-coalition government replace Hussein Sirri Pasha's government. On the night of 4 February 1942, British troops and tanks surrounded Abdeen Palace in Cairo and Lampson presented Farouk with an ultimatum. Farouk capitulated, and Nahhas formed a government shortly thereafter. However, the humiliation meted out to Farouk, and the actions of the Wafd in co-operating with the British and taking power, lost support for both the British and the Wafd among both civilians and, more importantly, the military. With this, Farouk's popularity seemed to decrease significantly, especially with the rise of Arab nationalism, many of the people in the country viewed him as a puppet to the powers of the West.

After the humiliation of the Abdeen Palace incident, Farouk lost interest in politics for the moment, and abandoned himself to a lifestyle of hedonism as he become obsessed with "collecting" women by sleeping with them, having his closest friend, the Italian valet, Antonio Pulli, bring in fair-skinned women from the dance halls and brothels of Cairo and Alexandria to his palaces for sex.^[47] Despite his great wealth, Farouk was a kleptomaniac who always took something valuable such as a painting or a piano from whatever member of the Egyptian elite he stayed with, as no one could say no to the king and if he indicated he wanted something, his subjects had to give it to him.^[48] For this reason, members of Egypt's elite hated having the king as a guest, knowing he would be taking something from them when he stayed.^[49] Farouk had a proprietary attitude towards women, regarding it as one of his royal prerogatives that he had the right to sleep with any women he desired and utterly refused to take no for an answer.^[50] When one of the daughters of the Ades family, one of the richest Jewish families in Egypt, rebuffed Farouk's advances, he arrived unannounced at the Ades family's estate on an island in the Nile with Pulli telling the Adeses that the king had come to hunt the gazlles.^[50] Rather than have the kleptomaniac Farouk stay at their estate and wipe out the gazelle on their island, the Adeses agreed that their 16 year old daughter would go to the Abdeen palace to be courted by the king.^[51] Besides for women, Farouk had something of a mania for collecting things ranging from Coca-Cola bottles to European art to ancient Egyptian antiques.^[52] Farouk also become addicted to eating and drinking soft-drinks, ordering his French chefs at the Abdeen palace to cook enormous meals of the finest French food, which he devoured and which contributed to him rapidly putting on weight.^[53]  

One of Farouk's mistresses, Irene Guinle, who was his "official mistress" in the years 1941-43, described him as something of an immature "man-child" having no interest in politics and given to childish behavior liking making bread balls at restaurants "...to flip at the fancy people coming in and watch how they'd act when he hit the mark. How he roared with that laugh".^[54] Guinle in an interview stated: "Farouk never wrote a letter, never read a paper, never listened to music. His idea of culture was movies. He never even played cards until I made the mistake of buying him a 'shoe' and teaching him how to play chemin de fer. He got hooked on that. Farouk was an insomniac. He had three telephones by his bed, which he would use to ring up his so-called friends at three in the morning and invite them to come over to his palace to play cards. No one could refuse the king".^[55] Guinele added: "Farouk had no complex about anything, except that he was so sure of himself, it become a complex. He was very clean, with impeccable manners, except the loved to burp all the time to annoy people. He always slept naked...He was incredibly lazy. He never even went for walks. When we would go into the palace gardens, supposedly for a walk, he would sit on the bench and watch me walk. In his mind, not having to do a thing was what being a king was all about".^[56] Guinle mentioned that Farouk had a fetish for Jewish women, saying: "He was fascinated by the fact I was a Jewess. The only person Farouk ever listened to was his father, Fuad. Fuad was his oracle, and Fuad told him that the best women in the world were Jewish women, especially when they were cultured. The love of Fuad's life was Mrs. Suarez, a leader of the Jewish community in Cairo. Not only did they have a passionate affair for twenty years, but she pushed the English into making Fuad king, whom according to the laws of succession was not next in line for the throne"..^[57]  

Another of Farouk's mistresses, the British novelist Barbara Skelton who replaced Guinle as the "official mistress" in 1943, in an interview said about the king: "He was something of a hermaphrodite, really more woman than man. He wasn't a good lover at all, though he did kiss rather nicely. The sex was quick...It gave me no pleasure whatsoever".^[58] Skelton described Farouk as having a very small penis, a matter which he was extremely sensitive about as Skelton stated: "You know, he made jokes about absolutely everything, about starting to get fat and losing his hair, about the British treating him so shabbily, but he never, ever joked about the size of his penis. Never".^[58] Skelton called Farouk very immature and "a complete philistine", saying: "He was very adolescent. He didn't have the stuff to be a great king, he was too childish. But he never lost his temper, he was incredibly sweet, with a good sense of humor".^[59] Farouk's chief advisers in ruling Egypt were his "kitchen cabinet" consisting of his right-hand man, Antonio Pulli together with the king's Lebanese press secretary Karim Thabet; Elias Andraous, an ethnic Greek from Alexandria whom Farouk valued for his business skills; and Edmond Galhan, a Lebanese arms dealer whose official title was "general purveyor to the Royal Palaces", but whose real job was to engage in black market activities for the king.^[60]  

Farouk declared war on the Axis Powers only under heavy British pressure in 1945, long after the fighting in Egypt's Western Desert had ceased.^{[citation needed]}

In 1950, Farouk's fortune was estimated to be about £50 millions pound sterling or about $140 million US, making him into one of the world's richest men, and a billionaire many times over in today's money.^[61] Farouk's wealth and his lifestyle made the center of media attention all over the world.^[61] Farouk's biographer, William Stadiem, wrote about how the king in 1950 "...went on the most excessively lavish, self-indulgent bachelor party in the annals of sybaritism.^[61] In August 1950, Farouk visited France to stay at the casino at Deauville for his bachelor party, leaving Alexandria on his yacht Fakr el Bihar with an Egyptian destroyer as an escort and landed at Marseilles.^[10] Farouk together his entourage consisting of his "kitchen cabinet", 30 Albanian bodyguards, assorted Egyptian secretaries and doctors, Sudanese food tasters and various other followers traveled across the French countryside in a column of 7 Cadillacs surrounded by motorcycle riding bodyguards and an airplane flying overhead with orders to land in case Farouk wanted to fly instead.^[10] Upon the king arriving in Deauville, a media circus began as hundreds of journalists from Europe and North America descended on Deuville to report on Farouk's every doing as he stayed at the Hotel du Golf with his entourage occupying 25 rooms.^[62] At his first night at the casino in Deuville, Farouk won 20 million francs (about $57, 000 U.S dollars) gambling at baccarat, and on his second night won 15 million francs.^[63] As Farouk spent extravagant sums of money during his visit to Deuville, staying at the casino every night until 5 am, he earned himself a reputation for flamboyant high living that never went away.^[64]  

On 17 October 1951 the Egyptian government got Parliamentary approval to cancel the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. As a result, the British forces in the Suez Canal were considered occupation forces and King Farouk was declared "King of Egypt and Sudan". This title was not recognised by many countries, and Egypt entered diplomatic debates as well as internal political unrest.^{[citation needed]}

Farouk is also reported as having said "The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left – the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds."^[65]

Overthrow

King Farouk Seven-Piece Empire Bedroom Suite crafted by the Parisian ébéniste, Antoine Krieger

Farouk was widely condemned for his corrupt and ineffectual governance, the continued British occupation, and the Egyptian army's failure in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War to prevent the creation of the state of Israel. Public discontent against Farouk rose to new levels.^{[citation needed]} Finally, on 23 July 1952, the Free Officers, led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, staged a military coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Farouk was forced to abdicate, and went into exile in Monaco and Italy, where he lived for the rest of his life.^{[citation needed]} Immediately following his abdication, Farouk's baby son, Ahmed Fuad, was proclaimed King Fuad II, but for all intents and purposes Egypt was now governed by Naguib, Nasser and the Free Officers.^{[citation needed]} On 18 June 1953, the revolutionary government formally abolished the monarchy, ending 150 years of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's rule, and Egypt was declared a republic.

The Egyptian government quickly moved to auction off the King's vast collection of trinkets and treasures,^[66] including his seven-piece bedroom suite that was inspired by Napoleon and Josephine's suite at the Château de Malmaison.^[67] Among the more famous of his possessions was one of the rare 1933 Double Eagle coins, though the coin disappeared before it could be returned to the United States. (It later reappeared in New York in 1996 and was eventually sold at auction for more than seven million dollars.)^[68] Attracting much prurient interest both in Egypt and abroad was the revelation that Farouk owned one of the largest collections of pornography in the world as he possessed a vast collection numbering into the hundreds of thousands of pornographic photographs, postcards, calendars, playing cards, watches, glasses, cockscrews and so on.^[69] Farouk's obsession with collecting also ranged into diamonds, dogs, stamps, rubies, Faberge eggs, ancient Tibetan coins, medieval suits of armor, aspirin bottles, razor blades, paper clips and geiger counters.^[69] At the Koubbeh Palace, it was discovered that Farouk had collected 2, 000 silk shirts, 10, 000 silks ties, 50 diamond-studded golden walking sticks and one autographed portrait of Adolf Hitler.^[69]

The 94-carat Star of the East diamond and another diamond bought from Harry Winston had not been paid for by the time of the King's overthrow in 1952; three years later an Egyptian government legal board entrusted with the disposal of the former royal assets, ruled in Winston's favour. Nevertheless, several years of litigation were needed before Winston was able to reclaim the Star of the East from a safe-deposit box in Switzerland.

Exile and death

Farouk I with his wife Narriman and their son Fuad II in exile in Capri, Italy (1953)

Farouk fled Egypt in great haste, and his abandoned possessions—including a huge collection of pornography—became objects of curiosity and ridicule.^[70]

On his exile from Egypt, Farouk settled first in Monaco, and later in Rome. On 29 April 1958, the United Arab Republic, a federation of Egypt and Syria, issued rulings revoking his citizenship.^[71] He was granted Monegasque citizenship in 1959 by his close friend Prince Rainier III.^[72]

Farouk was thin early in his reign but later gained weight. He died in the Ile de France restaurant in Rome on 18 March 1965, collapsing at his dinner table after being poisoned by Ibrahim al Baghdady, sent by Gamal Abdel Nasser.^[73] While some claim he was poisoned by Egyptian Intelligence,^[74] no official autopsy was conducted on his body. His will stipulated that he be buried in the Al Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo, but the request was denied by the Egyptian government under Gamal Abdel Nasser, and he was buried in Italy. The funeral service held in Rome was attended by his mother, Nazli Sabri.^[75] King Faisal of Saudi Arabia stated he would be willing to have King Farouk buried in Saudi Arabia, upon which President Nasser said that the former monarch could be buried in Egypt, but not in Rifai' mosque. The body of King Farouk returned to Egypt on 31 March 1965 at night and was secretly buried in the Ibrahim Pasha Burial Site in Imam El Shafi' area.^[76]

King Farouk I Tomb in Refaii mosque, Cairo, Egypt

During Anwar El-Sadat's presidency, the remains were moved to Al-Rifa'i Mosque.^{[citation needed]}

Marriages and affairs

Farouk I with his wife Queen Farida and their first-born daughter Farial (c. 1939)

Farouk was married twice, with a claim of a third marriage. His first wife was Safinaz Zulficar (1921–1988), the daughter of Youssef Zulficar Pasha. Safinaz was renamed Farida upon her marriage. They were married in January 1938.^[77] The marriage was under a large amount of stress due to Queen Farida's inability to produce a male heir, which Farouk found essential to maintain his throne. After producing three daughters, the couple divorced in 1948.

In 1950, Farouk was smitten by a commoner named Narriman Sadek (1933–2005) and after courting, the two married in 1951. Sadek was eighteen years old when she married the king and many believed the attraction was due to Farouk's belief that she would give him the male heir he desired. He got what he wanted when Sadek gave birth to the future King Fuad II in 16 January 1952. However, months after the prince's birth the king and his queen were expelled from Egypt, and divorced in 1954.

He also had many affairs, among them, in 1950, British writer Barbara Skelton. In 1955 his eye fell on the Boston socialite-become-singer Pat Rainey.^[78] While in exile in Italy, Farouk met Irma Capece Minutolo, an opera singer, who became his companion. In 2005, she claimed that she married the former King in 1957.^[79]

Children

Hobbies

Coin collection

King Farouk amassed one of the most famous coin collections in history which included an extremely rare American gold minted 1933 double eagle coin^[80] and (non-concurrently), two 1913 Liberty Head nickels.^[81]

Style

The ostentatious king's name is used to describe imitation Louis XV-style furniture known as "Louis-Farouk".^[82] The imperial French style furniture became fashionable among Egypt's upper classes during Farouk's reign so Egyptian artisans began to mass-produce it. The style uses ornate carving, is heavily gilded, and is covered in elaborate cloth.^[83] The style, or imitations thereof, remains widespread in Egypt.

Titles, styles and honours

Styles of Farouk I of Egypt
Reference style	His Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty
Alternative style	Sir

Titles

• 
  11 February 1920 – 15 March 1922: His Sultanic Highness The Hereditary Prince of Egypt and Sudan


• 
  15 March 1922 – 12 December 1933: His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Egypt and Sudan


• 
  12 December 1933 – 28 April 1936: His Royal Highness The Prince of the Sa'id
  


• 
  28 April 1936 – 16 October 1951: His Majesty The King of Egypt, Sovereign of Nubia, Sudan, Kordofan, and Darfur


• 
  16 October 1951 – 26 July 1952: His Majesty The King of Egypt and the Sudan


• 
  26 July 1952 – 18 March 1965: His Majesty King Farouk I of Egypt

Honours

National dynastic honours

• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 3rd Former Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of Muhammad Ali^[84][85][86]


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 1st Former Sovereign and 1st Knight with Collar of the Royal Order of Fuad I
  


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 3rd Former Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Ismail I^[86]


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 3rd Former Sovereign of the Royal Order of the Virtues
  


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 3rd Former Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Nile^[86]


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 2nd Former Sovereign of the Royal Order of Agriculture
  


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 2nd Former Sovereign of the Royal Order of Culture
  


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 2nd Former Sovereign of the Royal Order of Industry and Commerce
  


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: 3rd Former Sovereign of the Royal Decoration of the Military Star
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Medal for Bravery
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Medal for Meritorious Acts
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Medal for Devotion of Duty
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Medal for Benevolence
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Medal of Casualty
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Palestine Medal
  


• 
  House of Muhammad Ali: Former Sovereign of the Muhammad Ali Medal
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein Medal
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the King Farouk Inauguration Medal
  


• 
   Kingdom of Egypt: Former Sovereign of the Royal Guard Commemorative Medal
  

Foreign honours

• 
  : Order of Fidelity of the Kingdom of Albania
  


• 
   France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour^[87][88][89]


• 
  Iran: Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of Pahlavi^[90]


• 
   Monaco: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles^[88][91]


• 
  Spanish Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic^[88][92]


• 
   Portugal: Grand-Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword^[93]


• 
   Portugal: Grand-Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders^[93]

In popular culture

In 1952, Farouk's former mistress, Barbara Skelton, published a roman à clef entitled A Young Girl's Touch about a proper and prim young Englishwomen named Melinda who has an affair with a grotesquely obese Middle Eastern despot named King Yoyo who enjoys spanking her.^[94] Skelton later admitted the A Young Girl's Touch was a roman à clef with Melinda being herself and King Yoyo was King Farouk.^[59]  Gore Vidal's 1953 pulp novel Thieves Fall Out is set against his overthrow.

Agatha Christie's short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding involves the theft of a jewel from a fictional Eastern prince who is somewhat irresponsible and fond of a luxurious lifestyle. His name and origin are not given in the original story, but in the 1991 television adaptation in the series Agatha Christie's Poirot (where the story appears under its American title, The Theft of the Royal Ruby), the story is altered and the prince identified as Farouk (played by Tariq Alibai). This adaptation presents the British government as concerned to help Farouk recover the jewel to maintain his standing in his home country, eventually succeed his father Fuad I of Egypt to the throne, and curb the influence of the nationalist Wafd Party.

In 2007, the MBC aired an Egyptian television series titled Al Malik Farouk about the life of King Farouk and he was portrayed by Syrian actor Taym Hassan.^[5][95]

Bestselling author Warren Adler's (The War of the Roses) historical thriller Mother Nile follows a fictionalised account of several characters devastated by life in Cairo, Egypt during King Farouk's reign.

A "Woman of Cairo", written by Noel Barber, offers an inside look of Farouk's palace intrigues and scandals.

"Who do you think you are, King Farouk?" was a common verbal admonishment used among parents in English speaking countries to their children during the mid 50's to late 60's. The putdown was often used when a request from a child was viewed as too expensive, unreasonable or outlandish.

Bruce Springsteen’s song “Aint’ Got You" from the 1987 album Tunnel of Love includes the line “I got more good luck honey than old King Farouk.”

Ancestry

See also

• List of monarchs of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty

Further reading

• Ashraf Pahlavi. Faces in a Mirror, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1980


• McLeave, Hugh. The Last Pharaoh: Farouk of Egypt, New York: McCall Pub. Co., 1970, 1969 .mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
  ISBN 0-8415-0020-7.


• 
  New King, Old Trouble Time Magazine, Monday, 11 May 1936.


• Morsy, Laila "Farouk in British Policy" pages 193-211 from Middle Eastern Studies Volume 20, No. 4, October 1984.


• Morewood, Steve. The British Defence of Egypt, 1935-40: Conflict and Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean (Routledge, 2008).


• O'Sullivan, Christopher D. FDR and the End of Empire: The Origins of American Power in the Middle East. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)


• Sadat, Jehan. A Woman of Egypt, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987
  ISBN 0-671-72996-9
  


• Stadiem, William. Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk, New York: Carroll & Graf Pub, 1991
  ISBN 0-88184-629-5
  


• Thornhill, Michael T. "Informal Empire, Independent Egypt and the Accession of King Farouk." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 38.2 (2010): 279-302.

References

External links

• 
  الملك فاروق الأول [King Farouk I] (in Arabic). Bibliotheca Alexandrina: Memory of Modern Egypt Digital Archive. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Farouk I of Egypt.

• 
  Newspaper clippings about Farouk of Egypt in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics (ZBW)