Nazli Sabri

Nazli Sabri

Sultana Nazli's coronation to be Queen Nazli
Sultana of Egypt[1]
Tenure 26 May 1919 – 15 March 1922
Queen consort of Egypt
Tenure 15 March 1922 – 28 April 1936
Spouse Khalil Sabri (m. 1918-div. 1918)
Fuad I (m. 1919-wid. 1936)
Issue Farouk I
Princess Fawzia
Princess Faiza
Princess Faika
Princess Fathia
Full name
Nazli Abdurrahim Sabri
House House of Muhammad Ali (by marriage)
Father Abdul Rahman Sabri Pasha
Mother Tawfika Sharif
Born 25 June 1894
Alexandria, Khedivate of Egypt
Died 29 May 1978 (aged 83)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Burial Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, United States
Religion Catholicism, (conversion from Sunni Islam)

Nazli Sabri (Arabic: نزلي صبري / نازلى صبرى; Turkish: Nazlı Sabri) (25 June 1894 – 29 May 1978) was Queen of Egypt from 1919 to 1936 as the second wife of King Fuad.

Early life

Nazli was born on 25 June 1894.[2] Her father was Abdur Rahim Sabri Pasha,[3] minister of agriculture and governor of Cairo, and her mother was Tawfika Khanum Sharif. Nazli had a brother, Sherif Sabri Pasha, and a sister.[3]

She was the maternal granddaughter of Major General Muhammad Sharif Pasha, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, who was of Turkish origin.[4] She was also a great-granddaughter of the French-born officer Suleiman Pasha.[5]

Nazli first went to the Lycée de la Mère-de-Dieu in Cairo, and later to the Collège Notre-Dame de Sion in Alexandria. Following the death of her mother, she and her sister went to Paris, France, for two years. After returning, she married an Egyptian aristocrat, but soon she divorced.[6] Then she had an affair with Saeed Zaghloul, nephew of nationlist leader Saad Zaghloul.[6] She was almost engaged to him.[6] However, both men left Egypt following the 1919 revolution.[6]

Marriage to Fuad

The Sultan of Egypt, Fuad I first saw Nazli at an opera show.[6] On 12 May 1919, Fuad proposed to her, although he was 25 years her senior. On 24 May 1919 Nazli married Sultan Fuad I at Bustan Palace, Cairo. It was the second marriage of both Nazli and Fuad.[6] She later moved to the haramlek in the Abbasiya Palace. She was under pressure from her husband, and was threatened that she would stay in the haramlek if she did not give the sultan a son. After the birth of their only son, Farouk, she was allowed to move into Koubbeh Palace with her husband. When Fuad's title was altered to King, she was given the title of Queen. She then had four daughters: Fawzia, Faiza, Faika, and Fathiya.

Restricted to the palace throughout most of Fuad's reign, Queen Nazli was nonetheless allowed to attend opera performances, flower shows, and other ladies-only cultural events. It was said that whenever the royal couple fought, she was slapped by the king and confined to her suite for weeks. It was also said that she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on aspirin. She accompanied the king during part of his four-month tour of Europe in 1927, and was much fêted in France in view of her French origins. With the introduction of Parliament in 1924, she was among the royal attendees at parliament's opening ceremony seated in a special section of the guest gallery.

Later years

Following the death of King Fuad in 1936, her son Farouk became the new King of Egypt, and she became the Queen Mother. Her brother Sherif Sabri Pasha served on the three-member Regency Council that was formed during Farouk's minority.in 1946, Nazli left Egypt and went to the United States because of health problems.

Her son deprived her of her rights and titles in Egypt on 1 August 1950 because of her daughter Princess Fathia's marriage to Riyad Ghali Effendi, which was a refused marriage by the King though Riyad Ghali converted to Islam. In 1965, Nazli attended the funeral of her son, Farouk, in Rome.[6]

In 1976, she sent a request to then President Anwar Sadat to give her and Princess Fathia Egyptian passports and right of return to Egypt. On the day they were leaving the United States, her daughter was killed by her ex-husband Riyad Ghali, which was an obstacle to her return to Egypt. Eventually she settled in the US, due to her painful sickness. She died on 29 May 1978 in Los Angeles, California.[7]

Legacy

Queen Nazli possessed one of the largest jewelry collections in the world.

In 2008, Rawia Rashed published a book about Queen Nazli, titled Nazli, Malika Fi El Manfa (Nazli, A Queen in Exile).[6] Based on this book, an Egyptian TV series provided an account for the life of Queen Nazli, Queen in Exile, starring Egyptian actress Nadia Al Jundi in 2010.[8]

Titles and styles

Royal styles of
Queen Nazli of Egypt
Reference style Her Majesty
Spoken style Your Majesty
Alternative style Hanem

Honours

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Rizk, Yunan Labib (13–19 April 2006). "A palace wedding". Al-Ahram Weekly (790). Retrieved 27 February 2010. ... Britain granted the rulers among the family the title of sultan, a naming that was also applied to their wives.
  2. Samir Raafat (March 2005). "Women whose husbands ruled the realm" (PDF). Egyptian Europe Organization. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Hassan Hassan (1 January 2000). In the House of Muhammad Ali: A Family Album, 1805-1952. American Univ in Cairo Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-977-424-554-1. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  4. Goldschmidt, Arthur (2000). Biographical dictionary of modern Egypt. Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 191. ISBN 1-55587-229-8.
  5. "Weekend Nostalgia". The Middle East Journal. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Ahmed Maged (6 February 2008). "Revealing book on Queen Nazli depicts her tragic life in exile". Daily News Egypt (Cairo). Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  7. "Nazli". A Bit of History. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  8. "Nadia Al Jundi fails". Albawaba. 4 September 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  9. الملك فؤاد الأول أول أمير مصري يتزوج من الشعب وعلى منواله نسج الملك فاروق الأول [King Fuad I, the First Egyptian Prince to Marry a Commoner, and King Farouk I Follows in His Footsteps] (REPRINT). Al Sabah (in Arabic): 29. 20 January 1938. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
  10. "King Farouk Strips Queen Nazli of Title". Daily Record (Ellensburg, WA) 41 (29): 4. 8 August 1950. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  11. The Muhammad 'Ali Dynasty Royal Ark

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nazli Sabri.

External links

Egyptian royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Melek Tourhan
Sultana of Egypt
1919–1922
Became Queen
New title
Kingdom of Egypt established
Queen consort of Egypt
1922–1936
Vacant
Title next held by
Farida