Farouk I of Egypt (
Arabic: فاروق الأول
Fārūq al-Awwal) (11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965), was the tenth ruler from the
Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the penultimate
King of
Egypt and
Sudan, succeeding his father,
Fuad I, in 1936. He was considered the first native Egyptian monarch for millennia despite his mixed roots. His full title was "His Majesty Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of
Egypt and
Sudan, Sovereign of
Nubia, of
Kordofan, and of
Darfur." He was overthrown in the
Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and was forced to abdicate in favor of his infant son Ahmed Fuad, who succeeded him as
King Fuad II. He died in exile in Italy. His sister was
Fawzia Shirin, first wife and Queen Consort of the
Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Reign
The great-great-grandson of
Muhammad Ali Pasha, Farouk was of
Albanian descent as well as native Egyptian descent through his mother the Queen. Before his father's death, he was educated at the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, England. Upon his coronation, the hugely popular 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:
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 would often travel to Europe for grand shopping sprees, earning the ire of many of his subjects.
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 in refreshments offered in a large, magnificently ornamented tent they had erected in the train station."
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 politicians and elected governments, with whom Farouk quarreled a lot despite their loyalty in principle to his throne.
During the hardships of World War II, criticism was leveled at Farouk for his lavish lifestyle. His decision to keep all the lights burning at his palace in
Alexandria, during a time when the city was
blacked-out because of
German and Italian bombing, was deemed particularly offensive by some. Due 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, the royal Italian servants of Farouk 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 harboring certain Axis sympathies and even sending a note to
Hitler saying that an invasion would be welcome. Farouk only declared war on the Axis Powers under heavy British pressure in 1945, long after the
fighting in Egypt's Western Desert had ceased.
Official marriage photograph of King Farouk, taken in 1938
Overthrow
Widely condemned for his corrupt and ineffectual governance, the continued British occupation, and the Egyptian army's failure to prevent the loss of 78% of
Palestine to the newly formed
State of Israel in the
1948 Arab-Israeli War, public discontent against Farouk rose to new levels. Finally, on 23 July 1952, the
Free Officers Movement under
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. 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. 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 revolutionary government quickly moved to auction off the King's vast collection of trinkets and treasures. 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.
Exile and Death
On his exile from Egypt, Farouk settled first in
Monaco, and later in
Rome,
Italy. In 1959, he received Monégasque citizenship.
The blue-eyed Farouk was thin early in his reign, but later gained enormous weight. His taste for fine
cuisine made him dangerously obese, weighing nearly 300 pounds (136 kg) – an acquaintance described him as "a stomach with a head" He died in the Ile de France restaurant in
Rome,
Italy on 18 March 1965. He collapsed and died at his dinner table following a characteristically heavy meal. While some claim he was
poisoned by Egyptian Intelligence, no official
autopsy was conducted on his body. His will stated that his burial place should be in the
Al Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo, but the request was denied by the Egyptian government under Gamal Abdel Nasser, and he was going to be buried in
Italy. King
Faisal of Saudi Arabia stated he would be willing to have King Farouk buried in
Saudi Arabia, upon which President Nasser agreed for the former monarch to be buried in Egypt, not in the Mosque of Al Rifai' but in the Ibrahim Pasha Burial Site.
Marriages and Affairs
King Farouk I, Queen Farida and their first-born daughter Farial ca. 1940
In addition to an affair with the British writer and siren
Barbara Skelton, among numerous others, Farouk was married twice, with a claim of a third marriage (see below). His first wife was
Safinaz Zulficar (1921–1988), a
pasha's daughter who was renamed
Farida upon her marriage. They were married in 1938, and divorced in 1948, producing three daughters.
Farouk's second wife was a commoner,
Narriman Sadek (1934–2005). They were married in 1951, and divorced in 1954, having only one child, the future King
Fuad II.
Whilst 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.
Children
Trivia
- The 1950s game show Treasure Hunt, hosted by Jan Murray, had as a gag prize "a beach ball once used by King Farouk."
- In 2007, Arabic satellite channel MBC produced a television series on the life of Farouk entitled 'El Malek Farouk', with Syrian actor Taym Hassan playing the lead role.
- Farouk is the subject matter of the Robert Williams painting, "A Life of Delusion" 1999.
Quotes of and about King Farouk
- "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". Said King Farouk to Lord Boyd-Orr at a conference in Cairo, 1948 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations; Elizabeth Knowles
- "But this Farouk, the one I came to know, was not the overweight, dissipated monarch who became the subject of so many Western satirists and cartoonists. He was still a handsome man, lean and tall, patriotic and idealistic, with clear blue eyes that sparkled when he spoke." —Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, Faces in a Mirror: Memoirs from Exile, 1980 (p. 57).
- In the "Pal o' Mine" episode of The Honeymooners (1955), after Ralph Kramden puts on a ring that is too small and cannot get it off his finger, Ed Norton says to Alice Kramden, "He put that little ring on his finger? That's like King Farouk trying get into Gary Cooper's bathing suit."
In
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas "It made me feel like King Farouk"
"I ain't no King Farouk" Lyric, Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band.
Style
The ostentatious king's name is used to describe the bad imitation Louis XV-style furniture known as "Louis-Farouk". 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 covered in very elaborate cloth.
See also
Endnotes
- 1 -- The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II by Bierman and Smith (2002)
