King of Egypt Farouk

Egyptian royalty, the son and successor of Fuad I, ruler of Egypt 1937-1952. His reign began with a sense of promise and hope and ended in scandal, corruption, thievery and indolence. Educated in England, he returned to take over the throne with a life-style that became increasingly profligate along with political ineptitude. In the beginning, the reign of King Farouk was greeted with enthusiasm by both the Wafd party (the largest Egyptian party) and by the rapidly growing Muslim Brotherhood. Farouk was, amazingly, the first Egyptian ruler of the descendants of Mohammed Ali Pasha to speak fluent Arabic. Turkish had been the court language of all his predecessors. Moreover, Farouk seemed to have nationalist sympathies.

The young ruler was, unfortunately, too weak-willed to defy the British. Within a year he had signed the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty which gave British forces the right to remain in the Suez Canal Zone while ostensibly ending the British occupation of Egypt. His interests leaned away from politics and more toward fast cars and fast women. While racing one of his more than 100 cars on the road to Cairo, he caused pedestrians to leap for their lives. He had a lifelong habit of "collecting." Whenever he saw something of interest, he took it, even to heisting Winston Churchill’s pocket watch!

Farouk’s appetite was legendary. He began his day with a breakfast of 30 eggs with toast and sweet tea. He followed this with lobster, steak or lamb. At night – after a full dinner – he would snack on a tin of caviar or such sweets as ice cream. The slender handsome boy-king soon became a bloated gourmand (though he never drank alcohol) who could not wedge his bulging belly behind the wheel of his sports car.

With the outbreak of World War II the Wafd Party threw its support behind the allies on the understanding that Egypt would gain full independence once the war was over.