Princess Fadia (Arabic: الأميرة فادية; 15 December 1943 - 28 December 2002) was born at the Abdeen Palace in Cairo. She was the youngest daughter of the late Former King Farouk of Egypt and his first wife, the Queen Farida.
King Farouk and Queen Farida with Princess Ferial, c. 1940
Early Life and Family Background
Queen Farida was born Safinaz Zulficar on 5 September 1921 to an Egyptian noble family in Janaklis, Alexandria. Her father, Youssef Zulficar Pasha, was a judge of Circassian origin; he was also vice president of the Alexandria Mixed Court of Appeals. Her mother, Zeinab Zulficar, was a lady-in-waiting of Queen Nazli Sabri.
Queen Farida was born in a culture in which motherhood was the only priority of a woman. The birth of an heir to the throne was especially important. Also the rest of the women of the Royal family were freed from the seclusion of the harem of the Muhammad Ali dynasty after Farouk's succession to the throne.
Princess Ferial Farouk was the eldest daughter of the late King Farouk of Egypt. Her birth came at a time when her father was at the height of his popularity, married to the beautiful and equally popular Farida Zulfiqar. Farouk had wanted a son, but when he learned Farida had given birth to a daughter, he announced that ''it will be loved just the same'', and named the child Ferial after his paternal grandmother. Every child born in Egypt that day received a pound; food and clothing were given to the poor, and sweets were given to children. Ferial was born on November 17, 1938, when Farouk was 18 and Farida just 17. Her early years reflected the high life of Cairene society at the Abdin Palace.
Read also: The Life of Princess Fawzia Latifa
Marriage of Queen Farida to King Farouk
She married King Farouk on 20 January 1938 at Qubba Palace in Cairo, Egypt. She was renamed Farida as her regnal name in accordance with the royal naming convention initiated by King Fuad I that members of the royal family should bear the same initials.
Queen Farida of Egypt in Her Wedding Dress
Queen Farida accepted the chair of the Red Crescent Society and was also honorary president of the Egyptian Feminist Union and the New Woman Alliance. During the last years of queenship, Farida progressively retired from public life during a time when her marriage deteriorated.
Life After the Revolution and Exile
After her father was deposed during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the Princess lived in Italy for two years. She and her sisters were then sent to live in Switzerland, to attend boarding school. There, the Princess studied painting, became an accomplished equestrian and met her future husband.
Farouk was ousted in a revolution in 1952 in favour of the baby Fouad. He loaded his gold into 12 ammunition boxes and had servants sent to Montazah Palace to collect Queen Narriman's jewellery, then he, Narriman, Fouad and Ferial and her sisters, Fawzia and Fadia, left on the royal yacht Mahroussa for Naples, Capri and then Rome. Fouad was removed from his position when Egypt was declared a republic in 1953.
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Their mother remained in Egypt for a decade after the revolution, before moving to Lebanon and then Switzerland. She eventually returned to Egypt.
In exile in Rome, Farouk was astonishingly strict with his daughters. They had to seek his permission to cut their hair or varnish their nails. It took Fawzia months to pluck up the courage to ask his consent to study at an interpreters' school in Geneva, and he would allow Ferial to teach at a secretarial school in Lausanne only if she did not reveal who she was.
Farida stayed in Egypt until 1964, living in Zamalek, a suburb on an island in the Nile. Later she settled in Lebanon where she saw her children after nearly ten years. In March 1965, when King Farouk died in Rome, she and her three daughters visited his body at the morgue. Then, she lived in Paris from 1968 to 1974 until she returned to Egypt in 1974, during the presidency of Anwar Sadat. She remained unmarried after the divorce.
Marriage of Princess Fadia
On 17 February 1965, Fadia married Prince Pierre Alexeievich Orloff (born 13 December 1938), a geologist and descendant of Orlov family, at the Kensington Registry Office, in London. He converted to Islam, taking the name Sa'id Orloff. They had two sons, Michel-Shamil (born 2 September 1966) and Alexander-Ali (born 30 July 1969).
Artistic Pursuits and Later Life
During the late 1960s, she began painting. An artist, she had personal exhibitions in Europe and the United States.
Read also: Synopsis of Aida
After Farida's death in 1988, the sisters filed a lawsuit against the Egyptian government to repossess a royal palace and land in the Nile Delta that they said belonged to their mother. The court ruled against them.
Ferial spent much of her time looking after Fawzia, who suffered from multiple sclerosis. After Fawzia's death in 2005, Ferial cared for Fouad, who has suffered from serious depression since his divorce. She did much to hold the clan together.
The Untold Story of Queen Farida and King Farouk: Egypt’s Last Royal Saga
Death
Farida was hospitalized in September 1988 due to several health problems, including leukemia, pneumonia and hepatitis. On 2 October, she was put in intensive care, then lapsed into a coma. Queen Farida of Egypt Died at 68 on 16 October 1988.
Ferial died in Geneva and was buried alongside her father and sisters in the Khedival mausoleum of the Rifai Mosque in Cairo.
HRH Princess Fadia was a painter. Her favourite theme being unicorns symbolizing spiritual legends.
The Princess's closed coffin was accompanied by her family from Chemin des Ramiers in Pully Switzerland to Citadel Square Cairo Egypt, where the funeral service took place. It was a private occasion led by her brother His Majesty King Fuat II, who exhibited a steely resolve and rigid control of feelings thirty seven years after he buried his father in the Royal Mausoleum at Imam-i Safii in Cairo.
Members of the Royal Family spanning three generations paid their last respects. For all the heraldic colour, history and architectural glory of Egypt's greatest neomemluk Mosque, it was a simple service, little different from that for any other muslim.
Family Tree
| Name | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Youssef Zulficar Pasha | Father of Queen Farida |
| Zeinab Zulficar | Mother of Queen Farida |
| King Farouk | Husband of Queen Farida |
| Princess Ferial | Daughter of King Farouk and Queen Farida |
| Princess Fawzia | Daughter of King Farouk and Queen Farida |
| Princess Fadia | Daughter of King Farouk and Queen Farida |
| Prince Pierre Alexeievich Orloff (Sa'id Orloff) | Husband of Princess Fadia |
| Michel-Shamil Orloff | Son of Princess Fadia |
| Alexander-Ali Orloff | Son of Princess Fadia |
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