Fuad II (Arabic: فؤاد الثاني, full name: Ahmed Fuad bin Farouk bin Ahmed Fuad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Muhammad Ali; born 16 January 1952), or alternatively Ahmed Fuad II, is a member of the Egyptian Muhammad Ali dynasty. As an infant, he formally reigned as the last King of Egypt and the Sudan from July 1952 to June 1953, when he was deposed.
On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser orchestrated a military coup, thus beginning the Egyptian revolution.[7] On 26 July, Farouk was ordered to abdicate in favour of the crown prince and leave Egypt.[8][9] Farouk abdicated and went into exile in Italy. His family, including Fuad, joined him in exile.[10] By stepping down, Farouk had wished that the forces opposing the monarchy would be placated, and that Fuad could unify the country during his reign.[1]: 129
Regency
On Farouk's abdication, the army proclaimed that Fuad was now King Fuad II of Egypt and the Sudan, at only 6 months of age.[8][b] The country was now ruled by Nasser, Naguib and the other Free Officers.[7] Naguib promised to maintain a constitutional monarchy with a regency council holding power until Fuad came of age.[14] Fuad's constitutional powers were assumed by the Cabinet until 2 August 1952, when a regency body, but not a council, was established.[15] Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim was appointed regent and led the body.[1]: 94 The regency body had no actual powers, however, these having been effectively assumed by the Revolutionary Command Council which was led by Naguib. The body was dissolved on 7 September 1952 and Moneim was appointed the sole prince regent, though he still had no actual powers when serving in this role.[15][1]: 94
The monarchy was formally abolished on 18 June 1953: Egypt was declared a republic for the first time in its history, and Naguib became its first ever President. Fuad was officially deposed and stripped of his royal titles.
Life in exile
Narriman, Fuad and Farouk in exile in Capri, Italy, 1953
Following Fuad's deposition,[16][17] Fuad and his half-sisters were sent to live in Switzerland while Farouk remained in Italy, settling in Rome. Queen Narriman returned to Egypt in 1953 after wanting a divorce, and Farouk insisted that Fuad remain abroad.[18][10] In 1958, Fuad was stripped of his Egyptian citizenship.[citation needed]
Farouk would visit Fuad two or three times each year before the former's unexpected death, possibly from a heart attack, in 1965, when Fuad was 13 years old. Fuad believes that Farouk was "poisoned by enemies".[18] When he died, there were rumours in the press that he had been poisoned by Egyptian intelligence, though there is no known evidence to confirm this.[19] After Farouk's death, Fuad was guaranteed protection by Prince Rainier III of Monaco and his wife Princess Grace.[citation needed] Fuad would later become friends with Rainier in his early adulthood, when he visited Monte Carlo every summer.[10] He has a Monégasque passport, on which he is named His Royal Highness Prince Ahmed Fouad Farouk.[18][10]
In 1973, President Anwar Sadat lifted Fuad's and his half-sisters' exile.[21] Fuad's Egyptian citizenship was restored in 1974. He has occasionally visited Egypt ever since,[20] with his first visit occurring in 1991.[18] During Hosni Mubarak's presidency, Fuad would notify the president of his arrival, who would then guarantee his personal safety during his visit.[20] On his Egyptian passport he has no titles and is simply identified as Ahmed Fuad with job description "previous king of Egypt".[18]
Marriage
Fuad and Fadila's wedding in 1977
Fuad immigrated to Paris after graduating from university.[20] In Paris, he set up a real estate business and married Dominique-France Loeb-Picard, a Jewish woman of Alsatian origin, in a civil ceremony in Paris on 16 April 1976.[22] She then converted to Sunni Islam,[citation needed] and the two had a religious wedding in Monaco on 5 October 1977.[22] Loeb-Picard changed her name to Fadila Farouk.[23] Egyptian monarchists addressed her as Queen Fadila of Egypt,[22] a nickname coined by the media.[20] She then formally assumed the title of Queen of Egypt.[1]: 129 In 1996, she and Fuad divorced, and he stripped her of her title.[1]: 129–130
After years of divorce proceedings which began in 1999,[23] the marriage was formally dissolved in 2008.[1]: 129 Fuad found the divorce "deeply painful" and suffered from depression and poor health.[18] Since the divorce Fadila has been known as Princess Fadila of Egypt.[citation needed]
After his divorce with Fadila, Fuad returned to Switzerland to stay close with his half-sisters.[17]
In May 2010, he recorded a television interview with ONTV and talked about his visits to Egypt, how he felt about the Egyptian people, and their view of his late father.
^"Simple life for a King". Life Magazine. Vol. 33, no. 6. 11 August 1952. p. 24. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
^ abRizk, Yunan Labib (27 January – 2 February 2005). "Royal help". Al-Ahram. Archived from the original on 24 October 2005. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
^"Egyptians are disgruntled with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi". The Economist. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023. Even the 71-year-old Ahmed Fouad, the son of the late King Farouk who resides in Switzerland and speaks broken Arabic, is occasionally mentioned.
