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Bizarre: Some of the Modern Era’s Oddest Rulers

Khalid Elhassan January 21, 2025 14 min

Bizarre - The coronation of Emperor Bokassa I — The coronation of Emperor Bokassa I. Wikimedia

13. Owner of The World’s Biggest Porn Stash

Farouk with his wife and son in exile, 1953. Wikimedia

By 1952, Farouk’s 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 in the process discovered his porn stash. This was in the days when all pornography was hardcopy. Farouk had entire rooms filled with the stuff, and it soon became clear that the Egyptian king had a serious porn habit. So serious that he had amassed the world’s biggest porn collection. Farouk settled first in Monaco, then in Rome. There, he literally ate himself to death, collapsing at a restaurant dinner table after a heavy meal in 1965.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.