Farouk of Egypt

Biography

Farouk was born at Abdeen Palace in Cairo in 1920, the son of King Fuad I and Queen Nazli, and grew up closely confined in the royal palaces, where he became a gifted linguist but an indifferent student. After failing to enter Eton he attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, as an extramural student in 1935-1936, and he returned to Egypt as king, aged sixteen, on his father's death in April 1936.

Initially very popular, he spent his reign in a contest for power with the Wafd party and the British ambassador, Sir Miles Lampson. Egypt stayed neutral for most of the Second World War, but on 4 February 1942 British troops surrounded Abdeen Palace and forced him to appoint a Wafd government under Mostafa El-Nahas, a humiliation that weakened him. His lavish lifestyle and the corruption of his governments eroded his standing, and his decision, against his prime minister's advice, to go to war with Israel in 1948 ended in a defeat that badly damaged his prestige.

On 23 July 1952 the Free Officers seized power, and three days later he was made to abdicate in favour of his infant son, Fuad II, and leave the country. He lived the rest of his life in exile in Monaco and Italy and died in Rome in 1965.