Farouk (1920–1965)

King of Egypt. He succeeded the throne on the death of his father Fuad I. His early popularity was later overshadowed by his somewhat unsuccessful private life, and more importantly by the humiliating defeat of the Egyptian army in 1948. In 1952 a group called the ‘Free Officers’, led by Muhammad Neguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, forced him to abdicate, and he was temporarily replaced by his son Ahmad Fuad II. Exiled for the remainder of his life, he died in Rome in 1965.