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These Historic Figures Should Have Been Famous for their Weird Habits

Khalid Elhassan June 22, 2022 37 min

King Farouk, left, with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Imgur

12. The Kleptocrat King

Egyptian King Farouk I (1920 – 1965) reigned from 1936 until he was thrown off his throne by a coup in 1952. His years as Egypt’s last king were marked by widespread corruption, incompetent governance, and bizarre conduct. A kleptomaniac, Farouk could not resist stealing things, and was in the habit of picking people’s pockets. He also was an avid collector of adult entertainment. He was popular early in his reign when he ascended the throne as a slim and handsome young man.

The goodwill was quickly squandered by his incompetent governance, and his good looks were soon ruined by a gluttony that saw him balloon to 300 pounds. He soon became an object of derision, widely lampooned as a “stomach with a head”. His lavish lifestyle while his subjects endured the hardships of WWII further eroded his popularity. Farouk took pickpocketing lessons, and as seen below, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whom he hosted at a dinner during WWII, was one of his victims.

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.