Fuad II of Egypt

Fuad II (Arabic: فؤاد الثاني, full name: Ahmed Fuad bin Farouk bin Ahmed Fuad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Muhammad Ali; born 16 January 1952), or alternatively Ahmed Fuad II, is a member of the Egyptian Muhammad Ali dynasty. He formally reigned as the last King of Egypt and the Sudan from July 1952 to June 1953, when he was deposed.

Fuad II
فؤاد الثاني
Fuad in 2015
King of Egypt and the Sudan
Reign26 July 1952 – 18 June 1953
PredecessorFarouk I
Successor
RegentMuhammad Abdel Moneim
Born (1952-01-16) 16 January 1952
Abdeen Palace, Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1976; div. 1996)​
Issue
Names
Ahmed Fuad II ibn Farouk ibn Ahmed Fuad I ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Ali
HouseAlawiyya
FatherFarouk I
MotherNarriman Sadek
ReligionSunni Islam
Signature
Styles of
Ahmed Fuad Farouk
Reference styleHis Majesty
Spoken styleYour Majesty

Birth and reign
King Farouk and Queen Narriman with Prince Fuad, January 1952

The son of King Farouk and his second wife Queen Narriman, Crown Prince Ahmed Fuad[lower-alpha 1] was born on 16 January 1952 in Abdeen Palace. He was delivered at 8:30 a.m. and named after his grandfather Fuad I.[2] Fuad had three half-sisters from Farouk's previous marriage with Queen Farida: princesses Farial, Fawzia and Fadia. As women could not inherit the Egyptian throne Farouk's first cousin, Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik, was heir presumptive until Fuad's birth.[2][3] Immediately following his birth, Fuad was granted the title of Prince of the Sa'id.[4][5] He was styled accordingly as Ahmed Fuad, Prince of the Sa'id.[6]

On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser orchestrated a military coup, thus beginning the Egyptian revolution.[7] On 26 July, Farouk was ordered to abdicate in favour of the crown prince and leave Egypt.[8][9] Farouk abdicated and went into exile in Italy. His family, including Fuad, joined him in exile.[10] By stepping down, Farouk had wished that the forces opposing the monarchy would be placated, and that Fuad could unify the country during his reign.[1]: 129 

Regency

On Farouk's abdication, the army proclaimed that Fuad was now King Fuad II of Egypt and the Sudan.[8][lower-alpha 2] The country was now ruled by Nasser, Naguib and the other Free Officers.[7] Naguib promised to maintain a constitutional monarchy with a regency council holding power until Fuad came of age.[14] Fuad's constitutional powers were assumed by the Cabinet until 2 August 1952, when a regency body, but not a council, was established.[15] Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim was appointed regent and led the body.[1]: 94  The regency body had no actual powers, however, these having been effectively assumed by the Revolutionary Command Council which was led by Naguib. The body was dissolved on 7 September 1952 and Moneim was appointed the sole prince regent, though he still had no actual powers when serving in this role.[15][1]: 94 

The monarchy was formally abolished on 18 June 1953: Egypt was declared a republic for the first time in its history, and Naguib became its first ever President. Fuad was officially deposed and stripped of his royal titles.

Life in exile
Narriman, Fuad and Farouk in exile in Capri, Italy, 1953

Following Fuad's deposition,[16][17] Fuad and his half-sisters were sent to live in Switzerland while Farouk remained in Italy, settling in Rome. Queen Narriman returned to Egypt in 1953 after wanting a divorce, and Farouk insisted that Fuad remain abroad.[18][10] In 1958, Fuad was stripped of his Egyptian citizenship.

Farouk would visit Fuad two or three times each year before the former's unexpected death, possibly from a heart attack, in 1965, when Fuad was 13 years-old. Fuad believes that Farouk was "poisoned by enemies".[18] When he died, there were rumours in the press that he had been poisoned by Egyptian intelligence, though there is no known evidence to confirm this.[19] After Farouk's death, Fuad was guaranteed protection by Prince Rainier III of Monaco and his wife Princess Grace. Fuad would later become friends with Rainier in his early adulthood, when he visited Monte Carlo every summer.[10] He has a Monégasque passport, on which he is named His Royal Highness Prince Ahmed Fouad Farouk.[18][10]

Growing up, Fuad and his half-sisters lived in Cully, a small village on Lake Geneva, under the care of a nanny, governess and bodyguard. Fuad attended the local public school where he was bullied and then went to middle school in Lausanne, before later attending the Institut Le Rosey, an elite and prestigious private boarding school.[20][10] He completed his secondary education, obtaining a French baccalaureate, before studying at the University of Geneva.[20] He graduated with a degree in politics and economics in 1975.

In 1973, President Anwar Sadat lifted Fuad's and his half-sisters' exile.[21] Fuad's Egyptian citizenship was restored in 1974. He has occasionally visited Egypt ever since,[20] with his first visit occurring in 1991.[18] During Hosni Mubarak's presidency, Fuad would notify the president of his arrival, who would then guarantee his personal safety during his visit.[20] On his Egyptian passport he has no titles and is simply identified as Ahmed Fuad with job description "previous king of Egypt".[18]

Marriage
Fuad and Fadila's wedding in 1977

Fuad immigrated to Paris after graduating from university.[20] In Paris, he set up a real estate business and married Dominique-France Loeb-Picard, a Jewish woman of Alsatian origin, in a civil ceremony in Paris on 16 April 1976.[22] She then converted to Sunni Islam, and the two had a religious wedding in Monaco on 5 October 1977.[22] Loeb-Picard changed her name to Fadila Farouk.[23] Egyptian monarchists addressed her as Queen Fadila of Egypt,[22] a nickname coined by the media.[20] She then formally assumed the title of Queen of Egypt.[1]: 129  In 1996, she and Fuad divorced, and he stripped her of her title.[1]: 129–130 

After years of divorce proceedings which began in 1999,[23] the marriage was formally dissolved in 2008.[1]: 129  Fuad found the divorce "deeply painful" and suffered from depression and poor health.[18] Since the divorce Fadila has been known as Princess Fadila of Egypt.

Issue

Fuad and Fadila had three children before their divorce: Prince Muhammad Ali, Prince of the Sa'id (born 5 February 1979), Princess Fawzia-Latifa (born 12 February 1982) and Prince Fakhruddin (born 25 August 1987).[1]: 130  The family lived together in Paris until the parents' divorce. After the divorce, Fuad was estranged with his children until c. 2011.[18] Fuad has four grandchildren.

Later life

After his divorce with Fadila, Fuad returned to Switzerland to stay close with his half-sisters.[17]

In May 2010, he recorded a television interview with ONTV and talked about his visits to Egypt, how he felt about the Egyptian people, and their view of his late father.

Fuad II supported the candidacy of Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as President of Egypt in October 2013.[24] However, in 2023 The Economist reported that some Egyptians were clamoring for his return as Egypt's ruler as frustration with Sisi's rule deepened.[25]

Ancestry and styles
Egyptian Royal Family
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Egypt
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Egypt

The King



Extended family

Prince Abbas Hilmi
Mediha Momtaz

  • Sabiha Fatma
  • Daoud Abdel Moneim
Patrilineal descent
  1. Ibrahim Agha
  2. Muhammad Ali of Egypt, 1769–1849
  3. Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, 1789–1848
  4. Isma'il Pasha, 1830–1895
  5. Fuad I of Egypt, 1868–1936
  6. Farouk of Egypt, 1920–1965
  7. Fuad II of Egypt, b. 1952

See also

Notes
  1. Fuad's full name is Ahmed Fuad bin Farouk bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Muhammad Ali.[1]: 129 
  2. It was also reported that Faud was proclaimed as King Ahmed Fuad II of Egypt and the Sudan.[11][12][13]

References
  1. Rosten, David B. (3 December 2015). The Last Cheetah of Egypt: A Narrative History of Egyptian Royalty from 1805 to 1953. ISBN 9781491779392.
  2. "King Farouk Has An Heir At Last". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. 35, no. 591. 17 January 1952. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  3. Bardakçı, Murat (2017). Neslishah: The Last Ottoman Princess. Oxford University Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-977-416-837-6.
  4. "Queen Narriman of Egypt Has Son; Joyful Nation Greets Farouk's Heir; 6 1/2-Pound Crown Prince Named Ahmed Fuad After Grandfather, the Late King -- 101-Gun Salute Sounds Over Cairo". The New York Times. 17 January 1952. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  5. "EGYPT: Blessed Day". TIME. 28 January 1952. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  6. "Farouk's heir". Newsweek. Vol. 39. 1952. p. 34. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  7. Morgan, Robert (21 September 2016). History of the Coptic Orthodox People and the Church of Egypt. FriesenPress. p. 460. ISBN 978-1-4602-8027-0. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  8. "Farouk abdicates". LIFE Magazine. Vol. 33, no. 5. 4 August 1952. p. 32. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  9. Crompton, Paul (25 January 2014). "The overthrow of Egypt's King Farouk: a dramatic departure from power". Al Arabiya English. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  10. Lagnado, Lucette (18 September 2010). "The Lonely King Without a Throne". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  11. "British warships sail for Egypt". Manchester Guardian. 28 July 1952. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  12. The Unicorn Book of 1952. Joseph Laffan Morse. Unicorn Books. 1952. p. 226. Retrieved 10 December 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. Britannica Book of the Year 1953 (PDF). London: Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1953. p. 10. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  14. "Simple life for a King". Life Magazine. Vol. 33, no. 6. 11 August 1952. p. 24. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  15. Rizk, Yunan Labib (27 January – 2 February 2005). "Royal help". Al-Ahram. Archived from the original on 24 October 2005. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  16. Ramadan, Nada (4 August 2015). "'Last King of Egypt' cancels Suez Canal visit". The New Arab. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  17. Victor, Dalia; Farouk, Sanaa (16 March 2022). "Egypt's last monarch visits Egypt". Watani. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  18. Whitworth, Damian (3 February 2011). "Egypt's last king on life in exile". The Times. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  19. Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates Jr., Henry Louis (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. Vol. 1–6. OUP USA. p. 351. ISBN 9780195382075.
  20. Maurisse, Marie (20 March 2011). "Fouad II d'Égypte, le roi oublié" [Fuad II of Egypt, the forgotten king]. Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  21. Arrott, Elizabeth (2 December 2009). "Exiled Egyptian Princess Mourned in Cairo". Voice of America. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  22. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1980). "The Royal House of Egypt". Burke's Royal Families of the World. Vol. II: Africa & the Middle East. London: Burke's Peerage. pp. 20–37. ISBN 978-0-85011-029-6. OCLC 18496936.
  23. Webster, Paul (16 September 2002). "Egypt's last queen ousted from palatial Parisian apartment". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  24. "Je suis le dernier roi d'Égypte". L'Illustré. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  25. "Egyptians are disgruntled with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi". The Economist. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023. Even the 71-year-old Ahmed Fouad, the son of the late King Farouk who resides in Switzerland and speaks broken Arabic, is occasionally mentioned.
  26. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1980). "The French Ancestry of King Farouk of Egypt". Burke's Royal Families of the World. Vol. II: Africa & the Middle East. London: Burke's Peerage. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-85011-029-6. OCLC 18496936.

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