Fuad I of Egypt

Early life

Fuad was born in Giza Palace in Cairo, the seventh son of Isma'il the Magnificent. He spent his childhood with his exiled father in Naples. He got his education from the military academy in Turin, Italy. His mother was Farial Kadin.

Prior to becoming sultan, Fuad had played a major role in the establishment of Cairo University. He became the university's first rector in 1908, and remained in the post until his resignation in 1913. He was succeeded as rector by then-minister of Justice Hussein Rushdi Pasha. In 1913, Fuad made unsuccessful attempts to secure the throne of Albania for himself, which had obtained its independence from the Ottoman Empire a year earlier. At the time, Egypt and Sudan was ruled by his nephew, Abbas II, and the likelihood of Fuad becoming the monarch in his own country seemed remote. This, and the fact that the Muhammad Ali dynasty was of Albanian descent, encouraged Fuad to seek the Albanian throne. Fuad also served as President of the Egyptian Geographic Society from 1915 until 1918.

Reign

Fuad came under consideration as a candidate for the Albanian throne, but he was ultimately bypassed in favour of a Christian ruler. He ascended the throne of the Sultanate of Egypt upon the death of his brother Hussein Kamel in 1917. In the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, the United Kingdom ended its protectorate over Egypt, and recognised it as a sovereign state on 28 February 1922. On 15 March 1922, Fuad issued a decree changing his title from Sultan of Egypt to King of Egypt. In 1930, he attempted to strengthen the power of the Crown by abrogating the 1923 Constitution and replacing it with a new constitution that limited the role of parliament to advisory status only. Large scale public dissatisfaction compelled him to restore the earlier constitution in 1935.

The 1923 Constitution granted Fuad vast powers. He made frequent use of his right to dissolve Parliament. During his reign, cabinets were dismissed at royal will, and parliaments never lasted for their full four-year term but were dissolved by decree.

Creation of the Royal Archives

Fuad was an instrumental force in modern Egyptian historiography. He employed numerous archivists to copy, translate, and arrange eighty-seven volumes of correspondence related to his paternal ancestors from European archives, and later to collect old documents from Egyptian archives into a what became the Royal Archives in the 1930s. Fuad's efforts to portray of his ancestors — especially his great-grandfather Muhammad Ali, his grandfather Ibrahim, and his father — as nationalists and benevolent monarchs would prove to be an enduring influence on Egyptian history.

Personal life

Fuad married his first wife in Cairo, 30 May 1895 at the Abbasiya Palace in Cairo, 14 February 1896, Princess Shivakiar Khanum Effendi (1876–1947). She was his cousin and the only daughter of Field Marshal Prince Ibrahim Fahmi Ahmad Pasha. They had two children, a son, Ismail Fuad, who died in infancy, and a daughter, Fawkia. Unhappily married, the couple divorced in 1898. During a dispute with the brother of his first wife, Fuad was shot in the throat. He survived, but carried that scar the rest of his life.

Fuad married his second wife at the Bustan Palace in Cairo on 24 May 1919. She was Nazli Sabri (1894–1978), daughter of Abdu'r-Rahim Pasha Sabri, sometime Minister of Agriculture and Governor of Cairo, by his wife, Tawfika Khanum Sharif. Queen Nazli also was a maternal granddaughter of Major-General Muhammad Sharif Pasha, sometime Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, and a great-granddaughter of Suleiman Pasha, a French officer in Napoleon's army who converted to Islam and reorganized the Egyptian army. The couple had five children, the future King Farouk, and four daughters, the Princesses Fawzia (who became Queen Consort of Iran), Faiza, Faika, and Fathiya.

As with his first wife, Fuad's relation with his second wife was also stormy. The couple continually fought, Fuad even forbidding Nazli from leaving the palace. When Fuad died, it was said that the triumphant Nazli sold all of his clothes to a local used-clothes market in revenge. Fuad died at the Qubba Palace in Cairo and was buried at the Khedival Mausoleum in the ar-Rifai Mosque in Cairo.

Nazli Sabri

King Fuad’s wife lived as a widow after his death. She did not have good relations with her son. After Fuad’s death, she left Egypt and went to the United States. She converted to Catholicism in 1950 and changed her name to Mary Elizabeth. She got deprived of her rights and titles in Egypt. Once named the world’s richest and most elegant woman, she possessed one of the largest jewellery collections in the world.

China

The Fuad (Fū’ād) (فؤاد الأول) Muslim Library in China was named after him by the Chinese Muslim Ma Songting.Muḥammad 'Ibrāhīm Fulayfil (محمد إبراهيم فليفل) and Muḥammad ad-Dālī (محمد الدالي) were ordered to Beijing by the King.

Marriages

1. Shivakiar Khanum Effendi (1876–1947)
2. Nazli Sabri (1894–1978)

Titles

Honours