His Majesty King Farouk I

(February 11, 1920 – March 18, 1965)
Was the last ruling King of Egypt, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936

Include King Fuad I and King Farouk Tomb in Cairo in your tour of Egypt
Royal Family Photo Album

His sister Fawzia was Queen of Iran for a brief period.

His full title was "H. M. Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and of Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan and of Darfur".

The Egyptian flag : 1922-1952

Include King Farouk's Tomb in Cairo in your tour of Egypt

Reign of H. M. Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and of Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan and of Darfur :

Upon his coronation, the 16 year-old king made a public radio address to the nation, the first time a King of Egypt had ever spoken directly to his people.

His father Fuad I did not speak any Arabic and relied on representatives to make his wishes known to his subjects in their native language.

The teenage monarch was enamored of the glamorous royal lifestyle. Although he already had thousands of acres of land, dozens of palaces and hundreds of cars, the king never seemed satisfied with his wealth. He would often travel to Europe for grand shopping sprees.

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 due to Italian bombing, was deemed particularly offensive by some. 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."

As he got older, the king began pilfering objects and artifacts while on state visits abroad, including a ceremonial sword from the Shah of Iran and a pocket watch from Winston Churchill. Common people were also often the victims of the kleptomaniacal monarch, and by mingling with commoners Farouk soon became a highly-skilled pickpocket. He got a nickname from his own citizens "The Thief of Cairo" to signify his well-known panache for thievery, as well as his lavish lifestyle and corrupt regime.

The King's alleged corruption in Egypt and defeat during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, led to a military coup on July 23, 1952, directed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, who forced Farouk to abdicate and exiled him to Italy and Monaco, where the former king lived the rest of his life. Immediately following Farouk's abdication the monarch's baby son, Fuad II, was proclaimed king, but for all intents and purposes the monarchy had been de facto abolished. In 1953 it was formally abolished and a republic was declared.

The new regime quickly moved to auction off the King's vast collection of trinkets and stolen 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.

Farouk continued to live a lavish life even in exile, and continued his obsessive accumulation of material goods. His gluttony for fine cuisine soon made the former king dangerously obese, weighing nearly 300 pounds (136 kg) – an acquaintance described him as "a stomach with a head". He died in Rome, Italy on March 3, 1965. He collapsed and died at the dinner table following a characteristically heavy meal.

In addition to an affair with the British writer and siren Barbara Skeleton, among numerous others, the king was married three times. His first wife was Safinaz Zulficar (1921–1988), a pasha's daughter who was renamed Farida upon her marriage; they married in 1938, divorced in 1948, and had three daughters. His second was a commoner, Nariman Sadeq (1934–2005); they married in 1951 and divorced in 1954; they had one son, Ahmed Fouad, also known as Fuad II. In 2005, Irma Capece Minutolo, Princess of Canosa (1941-), a Neapolitan-born opera singer, declared in an interview published in Al-Ahram that she married the exiled king in 1957, when she was 16, and that she was writing her memoirs of her life with him.

Marriages
1. Farida (Safinaz Zulficar) (1921-1988)

Children

Farial (1938-)
Fawzia (1940-2005)
Fadia (1943-2002)
2. Nariman Sadeq (1934-2005)

Children

Fuad II (1952-)
3. Irma Capece Minutolo di Canosa (1941-)

Fuad I , King of Egypt and Sudan

Queen Nefertiti Turns Egypt Upside Down!!

The first bloodless religious revolution against the established church in Ancient Egypt
And the seat of power that rested with the priests in Karnak

Nefertiti Turns Egypt Upside Down!! 1350 BC - Queen Nefertiti is reported to have led her Egyptian subjects on a wild spree of idol-smashing, temple-destruction, and forced migration, all part of a campaign of religious reformation.

"From now on, there will be only one Deity, and that Deity is Aten, the Sun Disc," she has commanded.

Reliable sources in the Nile Valley report that all temples to gods other than Aten have been closed, and that a hefty fine will be imposed on anyone caught with an outlawed statuette.

Idols are to be smashed immediately, and the shards turned over to the priests of Aten.

"The capital of Egypt will now be at Tel El Amarna," reads a decree widely circulated in cuneiform on clay tablets.

"All priests are to settle within one hour's journey of the new Temple to Aten. All bidders on public works contracts will likewise have their head offices within the same specified distance."

Egyptian leaders in exile have disputed the motives behind the upheaval. "It's just a ploy to concentrate power and wealth in her hands and those of her husband, Ikhnaton," stated one defrocked priest.

"Everybody knows that Nefertiti has risen to her position on qualities that have nothing to do with religion.

She isn't called Incarnation of Beauty for nothing," he added, referring to the literal meaning of her name. The source asked not to be identified, fearing reprisals. Tel El Amarna, Nile Valley, 2004 - from Paul Glassman, special correspondent "Wow," commented Joe Shiner, an agro-businesman from Des Moines, as he toured the main temple at Tel El Amarna. "It's one thing to hear that Nefertiti was a real beauty. But it's quite another to visit in person and learn the real story." "Until I came here, I didn't know that she was behind the idea of having only one god-even before the Hebrews and Christians and followers of Mohammed.

"And now that I see her picture, I can understand why people followed her. This is not what I expected . . . not at all!" Mr. Shiner gestured as he spoke to a temple painting of a well-endowed Nefertiti in a chariot, wearing only a see-through cloak and thong-style panties.

"If she was my queen, I'd follow her to the end of the . . . "
Mr. Shiner's comments were interrupted by the approach of his wife.

Disclaimer: The facts presented are as accurate as can be ascertained from the archeological record. Mr. Joe Shiner is a composite of the satisfied clients of Travel in Style.

Kurdufan (sometimes Kordofan)
is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kurdufan, South Kurdufan, and West Kurdufan.

Darfur
( meaning "home of the Fur") is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. It is divided into three federal states within Sudan: Gharb Darfur (West Darfur), Janub Darfur (South Darfur), and Shamal Darfur (North Darfur).