The Last Cheetah of Egypt: A Narrative History of Egyptian Royalty from 1805 to 1953

By David B. Rosten

At the end of the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was in sharp decline. However, out of the ashes of this empire ascended an Egyptian royal family that would go on to dominate the Middle East in the early nineteenth century and rule Egypt for over 150 years. Beginning in the eighteenth century with the rise of Mohammad Ali and the French Invasion of Egypt and continuing until the abdication of King Farouk in 1953, a rich Egyptian history tells a story at the intersection of struggle and empowerment, politics and family, and religion and freedom.

In The Last Cheetah of Egypt, author David B. Rosten explores both the told and untold narrative history of the Egyptian royal family from 1805 to 1953. Himself living with the royal family and having personal connections and relationships with the late King Farouks family and with Queen Nazli herself, Rosten shares his extensive historical research as well as captivating stories and details of the royal familys lifestyle, love, struggles, and successes.

Taking place during a clash of civilizations, a poignant history unfolds of an Egyptian royal family caught between modern ideas and ancient rulesand what especially comes to life is the story of Queen Nazli, a woman who expressed her freedom and glided seamlessly between these two worlds with grace and dignity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491779392

David B. Rosten

David B. Rosten has degrees in political science and comparative law, and he studied history at UCLA and the University of Copenhagen. Former co-chair of the dean’s council at UC Irvine, he serves on the board of directors for both the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding and the Olive Tree Initiative.

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Copyright © 2015 David Rosten.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-7940-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-7939-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015919990

iUniverse rev. date: 12/3/2015

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 Muhammad Ali

CHAPTER 2 Ibrahim Pasha

CHAPTER 3 Abbas I

CHAPTER 4 Muhammad Sa’id I

CHAPTER 5 Ismail I Pasha

CHAPTER 6 Tewfik Pasha

CHAPTER 7 Abbas II

CHAPTER 8 Hussein Kamel

CHAPTER 9 Fuad I

CHAPTER 10 Queen Nazli Sabri

CHAPTER 11 Farouk I

CHAPTER 12 Fuad II

The Jews in Egypt

Is Peace Possible?

Appendix A

Appendix B

Bibliography

PREFACE

T his is the story of the Egyptian monarchy. I have a unique perspective to share since I not only met the Egyptian royal family but lived with them.

While I was a sophomore at UCLA, I lived with the former Egyptian monarchy for a year. At the time, I never imagined that my personal story should be shared. As I have grown older, however, and my health has grown marginal, I feel that the time to tell this story is now, or it will never be told.

When I was looking for information regarding King Farouk and Queen Nazli of Egypt, I was not able to locate very much information regarding the Egyptian royal family history. I realized the need for this book.

I look at the recent struggles of the Egyptian people and the struggle for religious freedom that has divided their society. This narrative history of the Egyptian royal family raises important issues regarding the current political situation in Egypt.

I’ve done my best to present the former monarchs clearly within the narrative of history. There is much more to say on the political and social issues, but those are beyond the scope of this book. I will leave it for future scholars and experts.

INTRODUCTION

T his is a narrative history of the rise of the Egyptian royal family that dominated the Middle East in the early nineteenth century and became more powerful than the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was in sharp decline. This perspective is how the Egyptian royalty took power from the Mamelukes and ruled Egypt for 150 years.

This modern history of the Egyptian royal family is a result of my extensive research of archival photos and documents. The book is focused on two hundred years of Egyptian history and the rise and fall of the Egyptian monarchy. No names have been changed, no events fabricated, and no characters invented.

While researching this story, I was looking for a focus. I believe that the true focus is Queen Nazli Sabri. As queen of Egypt, she had limited social rights. Women were not personally empowered in the Muslim world. So I have to ask myself if this is this a story of women’s empowerment? Or is this the story of a religious struggle between Copts and Muslims? Or maybe this is the overlooked story of Muhammad Ali, who conquered an area larger than that conquered by Napoleon. I am going to tell the story to the best of my knowledge without any political agenda. You as the reader will have to interpret any deeper meaning.

While these are all just words, the significance of Queen Nazli’s life goes much further. The boldness with which she left the harem against her son’s determined protocols went far in the emancipation of women’s lives in Egypt. Her flight to the United States cemented her expression of freedom from a medieval system of patriarchy. Finally, her conversion to Christianity allowed her to declare her freedom. This move was hugely controversial and remains so to this day.

Nazli turned her back on her son and her luxurious life in Egypt. Under her son King Farouk, the days of religious and racial tolerance that characterized Egypt were gone. I don’t think she did it to spite the past, since that isn’t who she was. I don’t believe she turned her back on the Muslim world or the Muslim religion. She followed her heart and in doing so opened a door that is even now under siege.

This story takes place during the clash of civilizations. To me, Queen Nazli represents a time between modern rule and ancient rulers. She glided along between these two worlds almost seamlessly.

How I Came to Know the Egyptian Royal Family

I graduated high school and then attended UCLA as a political science major, where I was a student member of the US–China relations committee. I then went to live in Denmark and attended the University of Copenhagen. I moved back to Westwood and my family was renting a small two-bedroom house in Westwood; The Ghali family had a nice guesthouse where they lived in Beverly Hills. I asked them if I could stay with them for the school year and they said yes. I didn’t realize it initially but within a few weeks, I realized that I living with the Egyptian royal family.

When I moved into their home, their life was also in turmoil. Mr. and Mrs. Riyad Ghali were in the middle of a divorce. I would get home from school at UCLA, and Mr. Ghali would be smoking cigarettes downstairs and drinking whiskey.

Queen Nazli was living at the house with her daughter and was often found cooking in the kitchen. The kitchen was an island of peace. This peace was found in Queen Nazli. There is nothing I could possibly say to express the feelings of contentment and love that she shared with everyone around her. She was everything that a queen was supposed to be. There was an aura of kindness that everyone around her felt.

While I was attending Beverly Hills High School, one of my friends in the school was Rayed Ghali. We weren’t best friends, but we were good friends.

Rayed was Egyptian, and he lived with his family at 1025 Tower Lane in Beverly Hills. It was a beautiful old Mediterranean house with a long driveway going up to the property. The driveway ended in a motor court by the front door. When going up the driveway, you had to pass a small guesthouse, and then you arrived at the main house. The main house was built on three levels. You entered the main house from the motor court at the middle level. Upstairs were the bedrooms, and downstairs was a den. I lived in the guesthouse. They had a beautiful old 300 SE Mercedes coupe from the early 1960s. Late one night, Rayed was driving the car, and the car was demolished. Rayed was fine, but the beautiful Mercedes was gone.

In the backyard, there were beautiful gardens going down to a pool house and a beautiful pool. The house was just above the Beverly Hills Hotel.

While I was living at the house, details of the Ghali pedigree began to emerge. Mr. Ghali, as I called him, was a former Coptic Egyptian diplomat. He had moved to California with his family, and they had three wonderful children. It was a very difficult time for him since Mr. Ghali had invested in Mexican oil. The Mexican oil investments were, according to Mr. Ghali, paying off beautifully. Then suddenly they were all nationalized, and he lost his entire investment.

From what Mr. Ghali had told me, the family was living well in Beverly Hills from his investments in oil in Mexico. Then suddenly in the late 1960s or early 1970, the Mexican government nationalized Pemex, and Mr. Ghali lost everything.

When I checked the history of Pemex, it is interesting to note that the nationalization took place in 1938. In reality, I have no idea how the family supported themselves if the entire Pemex story was fabricated.

His wife was Princess Fathia. She was King Farouk’s youngest sister and Queen Nazli Sabri’s youngest daughter. King Farouk was a Muslim, and Mr. Ghali was a Coptic. King Farouk forbade his sister to marry a Coptic. As Mr. Ghali told me, he and Princess Fathia left Egypt since King Farouk forbade the marriage. They both married for love.

There was another member of the household that I will never forget—Queen Nazli. When I met her, it was in the later years of her life. She was devoted to her daughter and the children. There was an absolute peace when I was around her. She always asked how I was doing and how school was going. She loved to cook and spend time in the kitchen with her daughter. She seemed very devout in her Christian beliefs, and she found great strength and peace from that. She was lovely. Her mind was sharp, and her voice was soft. I addressed her as Nazli. The children always kissed her and called her Grandma. She went everywhere with her daughter.

Rayed was my friend. I asked him one time if he was a prince, and he said yes. It was a subject he and his brother and sister never really discussed. They were very pleased with their lives as commoners. He was always soft-spoken, as were his brother and sister. They never had any arguments that I was aware of.

Every night, I would come home and speak with Mr. Ghali. He was not doing great. He was smoking all the time and drinking straight scotch. He would stay up and discuss my political science studies with me. He was smart as a whip.

During this time, the Ghali family fortunes turned. He discussed the fact that when they came to California, the family lived on his earnings exclusively. However, after his oil investments in Mexico was nationalized, he essentially lost everything. The house was for sale, and his wife was divorcing him. He loved her. She was his one love.

The Ghali home sold. Mr. Ghali had no money, so he moved into a motel in Westwood. He then moved into a small apartment in Santa Monica. His credit cards were tapped out. I lent him a few dollars so he could get groceries. The rest of the families, including Queen Nazli, were friends with Princess Shams Pahlavi of Iran. I believe that Princess Shams was assisting Queen Nazli and Princess Fathia financially during this time. She was the shah’s sister, and they would see each other frequently at her house. I never went to their get-togethers. I wasn’t invited. Coincidently, in the small-world department, I was a good friend with H. H. Kamyar Pahlavi of Iran. He was the shah’s nephew. This is another long story.

Even after the Beverly Hills house sold, Mrs. Ghali (Princess Fathia) would still go over and check on Mr. Ghali to be sure he was all right. She would bring him groceries, make sure his clothes were clean, and generally stop by for a visit.

One day several months after the Ghalis moved out of the Beverly Hills home, Mr. Ghali called me. During the 1970s, there was no caller ID. Answering machines were few and far between. The phone rang, and you picked up the phone and said hello. Mr. Ghali insisted that I come over to the apartment. I told him I was busy, that I had just gotten home and had schoolwork to do. His words were slurred as he said, You have to come now.

I said okay and rushed over to his apartment in Santa Monica. I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again. One again there was no answer. I went into the apartment, and Mr. Ghali was lying on the couch with two self-inflicted bullet wounds to his head. The .25 mm pistol was lying next to him. I called the police and the children to say that Mr. Ghali had shot himself and was still alive. They all came over. In the bedroom of the one-bedroom apartment, Mrs. Ghali had been shot four or five times with the same gun. She was dead. I waited outside as the police, ambulances, and Mr. Ghali’s children raced over to the apartment.

There was very little publicity of the event. Mr. Ghali survived and was in a hospital-jail in downtown Los Angeles. He not only survived but also still had his memory intact. He had lost the eyesight in one eye. I was mortified when he called me to visit him, but I did go and see Mr. Ghali. I didn’t want anything to do with the whole episode, and for thirty-six years, I blocked it out of my mind. I didn’t discuss it with anyone.

However, several ago, a mutual friend of Rayad’s got in touch with me to say my friend Rayed had died. Sweet, kind Rayed apparently died of cancer. He was a beautiful, gentle soul just like his mother and his grandmother Queen Nazli.

I visited Mr. Ghali about three times in jail. I would give him a few dollars so he could buy cigarettes. He told me to call an attorney he knew. He told me about the royal jewels of Egypt in a bank safe. I called the attorney. He met me at the bank, opened up the bank safe, and there in front of my eyes were the Egyptian royal jewels. I don’t know anything about jewels. I had permission to take the jewels, but I didn’t. I didn’t feel that the jewels were mine to possess. Later on, I heard that the jewels were auctioned off. The stones that