Birth and reign
The son of King Farouk and his second wife Queen Narriman, Crown Prince Ahmed Fuad was born on 16 January 1952 in Abdeen Palace.He was delivered at 8:30 a.m. and named after his grandfather Fuad I.Fuad had three half-sisters from Farouk's previous marriage with Queen Farida: princesses Farial, Fawzia and Fadia. As women could not inherit the Egyptian throne Farouk's first cousin, Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik, was heir presumptive until Fuad's birth.Immediately following his birth, Fuad was granted the title of Prince of the Sa'id.He was styled accordingly as Ahmed Fuad, Prince of the Sa'id.
On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser orchestrated a military coup, thus beginning the Egyptian revolution.On 26 July, Farouk was ordered to abdicate in favour of the crown prince and leave Egypt.Farouk abdicated and went into exile in Italy. His family, including Fuad, joined him in exile.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.
Life in exile
Following Fuad's deposition,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.In 1958, Fuad was stripped of his Egyptian citizenship.
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".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.After Farouk's death, Fuad was guaranteed protection by Prince Rainier III of Monaco and his wife Princess Grace.Fuad would later become friends with Rainier in his early adulthood, when he visited Monte Carlo every summer.He has a Monégasque passport, on which he is named His Royal Highness Prince Ahmed Fouad Farouk.
Growing up, Fuad and his half-sisters lived in Cully, a small village on Lake Geneva, under the care of a nanny, governess and bodyguard. Fuad attended the local public school where he was bullied and then went to middle school in Lausanne, before later attending the Institut Le Rosey, an elite and prestigious private boarding school.He completed his secondary education, obtaining a French baccalaureate, before studying at the University of Geneva.He graduated with a degree in politics and economics in 1975.
In 1973, President Anwar Sadat lifted Fuad's and his half-sisters' exile.[23] Fuad's Egyptian citizenship was restored in 1974. He has occasionally visited Egypt ever since,with his first visit occurring in 1991.During Hosni Mubarak's presidency, Fuad would notify the president of his arrival, who would then guarantee his personal safety during his visit.On his Egyptian passport he has no titles and is simply identified as Ahmed Fuad.
