Farouk I
King Farouk I (1920 – 1965) was Egypt’s king from 1936 until his overthrow in a military coup in 1952. His years in power were marked by endemic corruption, incompetent governance, and bizarre conduct on the part of the king, who among other things was a kleptomaniac who could not resist stealing things and picking people’s pockets.
He was popular early in his reign when he ascended the throne as a slim and handsome young man. He quickly squandered the goodwill with his incompetent governance, and ruined his good looks with gluttony that saw him balloon to 300 pounds, making him an object of derision, oft-described as a “stomach with a head”. His lavish lifestyle during the hardships of WWII further eroded his public standing.
Farouk took pickpocketing lessons, and among his victims was Winston Churchill, whom the Egyptian king invited to dinner during WWII. At the meal, Churchill discovered that his pocket watch – a prized family heirloom that had been a gift from Queen Anne to his ancestor John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough – had gone missing. After an outcry and search, Farouk, who had been seated next to Churchill, sheepishly turned it in, claiming to have “found” it.
Early in WWII, he had repeated nightmares in which he was chased by a ravenous lion. Frazzled from loss of sleep, he consulted the rector of Cario’s ancient Al Azhar University, who advised him “you will not rest until you have shot a lion“. So Farouk went to the zoo and shot two lions in their cages. By 1952, the corruption and maladministration had completely eroded his standing, and he was overthrown in a coup.
Hastily fleeing Egypt, he left most of his possessions behind. The new government auctioned his belongings, and it was discovered that he had accumulated the world’s then-largest collection of pornography. He settled first in Monaco, then in Rome, where he literally ate himself to death, collapsing at a restaurant dinner table after a heavy meal in 1965.
