Fuad I | |
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Sultan of Egypt and Sudan |
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Reign | 9 October 1917 – 15 March 1922 |
Predecessor | Hussein Kamel |
Successor | Himself as king |
Prime Ministers | |
Sovereign of Nubia, the Sudan, Kordofan and Darfur[1] |
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Reign | 15 March 1922 – 28 April 1936 |
Predecessor | Himself as sultan |
Successor | Farouk I |
Prime Ministers | |
Wives | Shwikar Kanum Effendi (m. 1895; div. 1898) Nazli Sabri (m. 1919; wid. 1936) |
Issue | |
Prince Isma'il Fuad Princess Fawkia Farouk I Princess Fawzia Princess Faiza Princess Faika Princess Fathia |
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Full name | |
Ahmad Fuad Arabic: أحمد فؤاد |
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House | House of Muhammad Ali (by birth) |
Father | Isma'il Pasha |
Mother | Ferial |
Born | 26 March 1868 Giza Palace, Cairo, Egypt |
Died | 28 April 1936 Koubbeh Palace, Cairo, Egypt |
(aged 68)
Burial | Al-Rifa'i Mosque, Cairo, Egypt |
Religion | Sunni Islam |
Fuad I (26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, Kordofan, and Darfur. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, he became Sultan of Egypt and Sudan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Sultan Hussein Kamel. He substituted the title of King for Sultan when the United Kingdom recognised Egyptian independence in 1922. His name is sometimes spelled Fouad.
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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 for himself the throne of Albania, 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.[2] Fuad also served as President of the Egyptian Geographic Society from 1915 until 1918.[3]
Fuad 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.[4]
Fuad was born in Giza Palace in Cairo, the seventh son of Isma'il the Magnificent. His mother was Farial Kadin. He married his first wife in Cairo, 30 May 1895 at the Abbasiya Palace in Cairo, 14 February 1896, Princess Shwikar 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, Cairo, 26 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.
The Fuad Muslim Library in China was named after him by the Chinese Muslim Ma Songting.[5]
1. Shwikar Khanum Effendi (1876–1947)
Children
2. Nazli Sabri (1894–1978)
Children
Fuad I of Egypt
Born: 26 March 1868 Died: 28 April 1936 |
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Regnal titles | ||
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Preceded by Hussein Kamel |
Sultan of Egypt 1917–1922 |
Sultanate becomes independent kingdom |
New title Kingdom of Egypt established
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King of Egypt 1922–1936 |
Succeeded by Farouk I |
Academic offices | ||
New institution | Rector of Cairo University 1908–1913 |
Succeeded by Hussein Rushdi Pasha |
Professional and academic associations | ||
Preceded by Onofrio Abbate Pasha |
President of the Egyptian Geographic Society 1915–1918 |
Succeeded by Isma'il Sidqi Pasha |
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