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Too Rich: The High Life and Tragic Death of King Farouk

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A few months before 23 July 1952 coup d'etat, king Farouk examined the possibility to form a military cabinet composed of the `loyal' elements in the Army and the `clean' Civilians. The Cabinet was to be headed by Mustapha el Maraghi.
The King initially was thinking to bring General Fouad Sadik to head the cabinet, but Sadik-who fought in Palestine, 1948- could not give him the necessary confidence because he had talkative habits, implying readiness to engage in talk -with the Divan- to enjoy conversation with those `no need to know'.
General Mohamed Najib was suggested but the King refused him on suspicions that the General was `believed' to have had contacts with the young Free Officers movement - in the palace parlance often referred to as `an insignificant movement of reckless and over enthusiastic boys'. In fact King Farouk twice refused General Najib, when 1) Ahmad Naguib Hilali Pasha and 2) Hussein Serri Pasha, proposed Najib's candidacy to come as minister of defence.
King Farouk confided his plans to the Brazilian Ambassador to Egypt and told him he wanted to make a `White Coup' in October 1952 the moment he came back from vacationing in Europe during the summer.
King Farouk's plan was one a) to form strong `Palace' cabinet composed of a group of trusted military and civilian individuals of high calibre and `clean' records b) Mustapha el Maraghi - a dynamic man of experience as Mayor and Internal Security administrator - was to head the new cabinet c) to suspend the constitution for two years d) to postpone any parliamentary elections for two years e) the King would be the virtual power behind the new cabinet to be able to institutionalize all essential and long standing reforms like Land Distribution - including large tracts owned by the King - to the Fellaheen, Taxation, Education and many other welfare - equal opportunities - projects to improve the decaying standard of living of a population that was rapidly increasing.
The King decided to do all the above in October 1952 after returning from vacation in Europe.
Time ran him out and he was forced to abdicate in July 1952...

This is a book you can't put down! A well written biography of a man most Eqyptians do not want to talk about, even today. I travel frequently to Egypt and have met some of the Free Officers and Islamic Brotherhood who helped bring down Farouk. Some have read the book and feel it is a very accurate picture presented without bias - just the facts! I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern Eqyptian history

This is one of 3 books in English that are devoted to the life of King Farouk of Egypt (1920--1965). The other two are McBride's "Farouk of Egypt: A biography", and McLeave's "The Last Pharaoh: Farouk of Egypt 1920--1965". There is also Adel Sabit's "A King Betrayed", which was translated from Arabic to English, but that is very hard to find. I understand that there are other biographies in Arabic and also in French that are not available in English.

The book was written in the late 80's (published in 1991), just in time to interview certain key people who knew King Farouk on a personal level and who died soon after (I have Irene Guinle particularly in mind).

Farouk became King of Egypt and Sudan upon the death of his father, King Fuad I, in 1936 at the age of 16. He was extremely good looking, truly loved by the Egyptian people and widely regarded as the hope of an entire generation for a new beginning. 16 years later, he was overweight, bald and (in his own words) almost blind. He lost his first wife, his throne, and most importantly the love and respect of the Egyptian people.

What went wrong?

The book makes an attempt to answer this question, but it is now clear (at least to me) that the answer is deeper and much more subtle than the writer initially imagined it would be.

What now seems clear is that King Farouk was one of the most maligned public figures in history and one of the very first victims of the tabloid press. I grew up reading that he was an alcoholic. Now it turns out that he was a strict Muslim who never touched alcohol. I was told that (like his father before him) he didn't speak Arabic. Now it turns out that his Arabic was perfect (you can hear at least one short sample of his speeches on youtube.com). One also constantly reads about his alleged womanizing. Now it seems established that he hardly had any interest in sex.

From the many interviews in this book, and others on this part of Egyptian history, a certain picture emerges. I now believe that King Farouk was an intelligent man who lacked a proper formal education. He was a patriot who found that not only the British (understandably)conspired against him, but also the major Egyptian nationalist parties.

He became King of Egypt at the age of 16 in 1936 (formally ascended teh throne in 1937), and right after that had to rule a country that was central to European interests in a World War that started in 1939. This was a very unfortunate development for a very young king of a very complex country with no formal training and no sincere friends.

He was treated very badly by the British, represented by the British High Commissioner Miles Lampson (who refered to him in public as "the boy"), by the major nationalist party at the time (The Wafd) and by his mother(you can find out about that in the book or in other sources).

I believe that at some point he lost hope and became depressed, which showed in the form of reckless but harmless behaviour (nothing at all compared to what Arab rulers after him are guilty of).

Everyone who knew King Farouk agree that at a personal level he was an extremely pleasant man, very kind, very well mannered and totally devoid of affectations (William Stadiem says that one of his major mistakes was to think that appearances don't matter--how wrong he was). In words of a cousin of his quoted in Hassan Hassan's book (In the House of Muhammad Ali), "He was greatly sinned against". His was a very sad story.

This is a phenomenal book that truly gives a modern reader a totally different angle to look at the Middle East history in the 20th century, and to make one question the habitual story of today's version of how political events developed in the region.

The most important astonishment, which is actually true, as confirmed by other sources, is that Abdel Nasser coup d'état against the lawful regime of King Farouk was actually fully supported by the CIA. American goals had been to provide safety to Israel and to establish uninterrupted supply of oil. On that account, not much has changed in fundamental goals of USA foreign policy ever since, however one is stunned to learn how miserably the ways to obtain these goals backfired. King Farouk was deposed in 1952; a few years later the wars with Israel ensued; then in the following years Nasser switched to the Soviet camp, Suez canal was lost, the price of oil skyrocketed and the inflation of the dollar soared. It is amazing to contemplate the similarities of this story and that of Saddam Hussein, who was also once a friend, becoming a bitter enemy, and to see the shortsightedness of USA and Britain approach to installing the initially friendly leaders who had to be toppled by devastating wars later on. In addition, as everyone knows, Western forces were behind the strengthening of Taliban, used in 80-90s as a counter-force against the Soviets - with devastating results of 2001, leading to continuing problems of today's year 2010, with no definite end in sight.

Speaking of anti-Semitism, the huge Jewish community left Egypt with Farouk's deposition and Nasser's ascent to power; remarkably Egyptian Jewish emigration went to Britain and America, but not to Israel. The book provides an eye-opening account on the position of Jews in pre-Nasser Egypt; many were close advisers to Farouk's father, King Faud, and Farouk as well surrounded himself with Jewish connections and mistresses. Certainly Jewish community was very prosperous in Farouk's Egypt, enjoying peaceful life. The question of supporting Germany during war is forever complicated - as India's Gandhi, being a country controlled by the British, colonial leaders supported the side that could help them get rid of the oppressor - Britain. Yet Farouk's government did not engage in anti-Semitic policies at home. I think mixing these two issues - quest for independence through support of a terrible regime with anti-Semitism is a big mistake, leading to misunderstanding of complex forces driving a specific colonized country's policy.

Looking back to the benevolent regime of King Farouk, whose dynasty prided itself on promoting enlightened European way of life, of making Cairo the "second Paris", of being heavily influenced by British, it is sad to see that the reality of today's Egypt is far from this pro-European culture. It is rather ironic to see how the efforts of USA and Britain with imposing tyrants as Nasser and Saddam under the guise of promoting democracy brought to life regimes that completely eliminated it, and today those countries seem much further away to ever have anything resembling a tolerant regime on their soils. The economic devastation of the installed tyrannical regimes, such as Nasser's wars, loss of value of Suez canal, ecological disaster of Aswan Dam, all contribute to long-term negative economic consequences and miseries of today's Egypt.

Apart from such discoveries, the book is a marvelous read about lavish lifestyles at Farouk's court; so opulent indeed, that Iranian Shah's court apparently looked to contemporaries as a dusty remote place image of Egyptian grandeur. The many photographs provided in the book speak better than words about the atmosphere at Farouk's court - if not knowing that the photos are taken in Egypt in 30s-40s, one would easily take them as pictures of some European courts, with ladies in open-shoulder Western gowns and dresses; the words like "veil" and "bourqa" seem unknown at Farouk's court.

Speaking of King Farouk's personality, he reminds of French Louis XV, on the account of ferocious promiscuity; both these historic figures were not overly cultured or educated, and both were not terribly intelligent; however Farouk's ill fate seem mostly to come from being a pawn in a huge Armageddon played in the world by Britain, Germany and USA in 1930s-40s-50s. Farouk's reputation seems to be vilified and his name sacrificed to the altar of subsequent tyrannical regimes in the same fashion as that of Louis XVI in France; both these monarchs fell victims of political currents they were too weak or too un-bloodthirsty to divert from themselves. Definitely King Farouk, like Louis XVI of France, was not a bloody tyrant, and similarly he was succeeded by the despotic regime full of terror. The book provides marvelous insights into the culture of those decades, and into Mohammed Ali dynasty's political course - the dynasty that ruled Egypt since 1905, making Egypt of that time the most European, civilized and enlightened country of the Middle East.

I personally think that knowledge of such truth as the book presents is not promoted by the mainstream propaganda because it exposes so blatantly the tremendous failures of American/British foreign policies in the Middle East that it is really hard to stomach for an average person, and so much contradicts to the version of history that the governments of USA, Britain and Egypt want everyone to believe.

A feeling of sadness over the end of a fairy-tale King who was crushed by the world's major Powers to the detriment of his country and people.