Faruk I

Faruk I or Farouk I (1920-1965), king of Egypt (1936-1952), son of King Fuad I, born in Cairo, Egypt, and educated privately. He ascended the throne on the death of his father in 1936 and, continuing in his father's footsteps, maintained a hostile attitude towards the Wafd or Nationalist Party and to a democratic, representative government. In 1945, Faruk made an official visit to Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, and the rapprochement resulting from this visit is generally considered to have created the base for the subsequent establishment of the Arab League. In 1951 Faruk married a commoner, who bore him a son, Ahmed Fuad. Egypt’s defeat in the war with Israel in 1948 and the general corruption of Faruk’s reign gave rise, ultimately, to a military coup led by General Muhammad Naguib and Lieutenant Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1952. Faruk was forced to abdicate in favour of his six-month-old son. Less than a year later the infant King Ahmed Fuad II was deposed and Egypt became a republic. Faruk went into exile and became a citizen of Monaco in 1959.