The Rare King Farouk , Fuoad and other Egypt Stamps










The Driwan’s  Cybermuseum


Rare Egypt



1.Port Fuoad Overprint Stamps 1926

a. On King Fuoad stamps 

Est. £600-700

On Congres International De Navigations Stamps

Est. £120-150


2.King Fuoad Wedding stamp


Est. £120-150 


Port Fuad



Port Fuad

Port Fuad as seen across the Suez Canal from Port Said.

Port Fuad is located in Egypt

Port Fuad

Location in Egypt

Coordinates: 31°15′N 32°19′E / 31.25°N 32.317°E / 31.25; 32.317
Country  Egypt
Governorate Port Said Governorate
Population (2003)
 – Total 560,000
Time zone EST (UTC+2)
 – Summer (DST) +3 (UTC)

Port Fuad (Arabic: بور فؤاد ‎; Būr Fu’ād) is a city in north-eastern Egypt under the jurisdiction of Port Said Governorate, located across the Suez Canal from Port Said. It forms the northwesternmost part of Sinai Peninsula and has a population of 560,000 (as of 2003). Port Fuad and Port Said together form a metropolitan area.

Port Fuad was established in 1926, principally to relieve overcrowding in Port Said, and was named after King Fuad I (also transliterated as Fuad), the first holder of the title King of Egypt in the modern era (having previously held the title Sultan of Egypt).

The city is located on a triangular island which is bounded by the Mediterranean on the north, the Suez Canal on the west, and the relatively new junction between the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean on the east. The Suez Canal Authority forms the main employment of the city, and its employees comprise most of the population. It has one general hospital.

After the war of 1967 Port Fuad was the only piece of Sinai held by the Egyptians. The Israelis tried to capture Port Fuad countless of times during the War of Attrition, but failed each time. During October War Port Fuad was secured and land was regained around it to ensure it would never be attacked or bombed again by the Israelis. The war ended with a strategic victory for Egypt, and in the Camp David Accord in 1978 Israel agreed to return Sinai to Egypt peacefully, and later the two countries signed a peace treaty. Today Port Fuad is a major Air Defense Position for Egypt.


Local dissatisfaction with Ismail and with European intrusion led to the formation of the first nationalist groupings in 1879, with Ahmad Urabi a prominent figure. In 1882 he became head of a nationalist-dominated ministry committed to democratic reforms including parliamentary control of the budget. Fearing a reduction of their control, the UK and France intervened militarily, bombarding Alexandria and crushing the Egyptian army at the battle of Tel el-Kebir.[31] They reinstalled Ismail’s son Tewfik as figurehead of a de facto British protectorate.[32]

Female nationalists demonstrating in Cairo, 1919

In 1914 the Protectorate was made official, and the title of the head of state, which had changed from pasha to khedive in 1867, was changed to sultan, to repudiate the vestigial suzerainty of the Ottoman sultan, who was backing the Central powers in World War I. Abbas II was deposed as khedive and replaced by his uncle, Hussein Kamel, as sultan.[33]

In 1906, the Dinshaway Incident prompted many neutral Egyptians to join the nationalist movement. After the First World War, Saad Zaghlul and the Wafd Party led the Egyptian nationalist movement to a majority at the local Legislative Assembly.

When the British exiled Zaghlul and his associates to Malta on 8 March 1919, the country arose in its first modern revolution. The revolt led the UK government to issue a unilateral declaration of Egypt’s independence on 22 February 1922.[34]





 In 1936 the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty was concluded. Continued instability due to remaining British influence and increasing political involvement by the king led to the dissolution of the parliament in a military coup d’état known as the 1952 Revolution. The Free Officers Movement forced King Farouk to abdicate in support of his son Fuad. British military presence in Egypt lasted until 1954.


Farouk of Egypt

King of Egypt and the Sudan
Coat of arms of the Egyptian Kingdom.gifOfficial Seal of the King of Egypt

Photograph of Farouk I by Riad Shehata
Reign 28 April 1936 – 26 July 1952
Coronation 29 July 1937 (aged 17)[1]
Arabic فاروق الأول
Born 11 February 1920(1920-02-11)
Birthplace Abdeen Palace, Cairo, Egypt
Died 18 March 1965(1965-03-18) (aged 45)
Place of death Rome, Italy
Buried Al-Rifa’i Mosque, Cairo, Egypt
Predecessor Fuad I
Successor Fuad II
Consort to Farida (née Safinaz Zulficar)
(m. 1938; div. 1948)
Narriman Sadek
(m. 1951; div. 1954)
Offspring Princess Ferial
Princess Fawzia
Princess Fadia
Fuad II
Dynasty Muhammad Ali Dynasty
Father Fuad I
Mother Nazli Sabri
Religious beliefs Sunni Islam
Signature Farouk I signature.svg

Farouk I of Egypt (Arabic: فاروق الأول Fārūq al-Awwal) (11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965), was the tenth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936.

His full title was “His Majesty Farouk I, by the grace of God, King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, of Kordofan, and of Darfur.” He was overthrown in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and was forced to abdicate in favor of his infant son Ahmed Fuad, who succeeded him as King Fuad II. He died in exile in Italy.


Early life


As Crown Prince, Farouk held the rank of First Scout of Egypt.


The great-great-grandson of Khalid Kamel Pasha, Farouk was of Albanian descent as well as native Egyptian and Turkish descent through his mother Queen Nazli Sabri.[2][3] Before his father’s death, he was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, England. Upon his coronation, the hugely popular 16-year-old King Farouk made a public radio address to the nation, the first time a sovereign of Egypt had ever spoken directly to his people in such a way:

And if it is God’s will to lay on my shoulders at such an early age the responsibility of kingship, I on my part appreciate the duties that will be mine, and I am prepared for all sacrifices in the cause of my duty… My noble people, I am proud of you and your loyalty and am confident in the future as I am in God. Let us work together. We shall succeed and be happy. Long live the Motherland!

Farouk was enamored of the glamorous royal lifestyle. Although he already had thousands of acres of land, dozens of palaces, and hundreds of cars, the youthful king would often travel to Europe for grand shopping sprees, earning the ire of many of his subjects. It is said that he ate 600 oysters a week.[4]

He was most popular in his early years and the nobility largely celebrated him. For example, during the accession of the young King Farouk, “the Abaza family had solicited palace authorities to permit the royal train to stop briefly in their village so that the king could partake of refreshments offered in a large, magnificently ornamented tent the family had erected in the train station.”[5]

Farouk’s accession initially was encouraging for the populace and nobility, due to his youth and Egyptian roots through his mother Nazli Sabri. However, the situation was not the same with some Egyptian politicians and elected government officials, with whom Farouk quarreled frequently, despite their loyalty in principle to his throne.

During the hardships of World War II, criticism was leveled at Farouk for his lavish lifestyle. His decision to not put out the lights at his palace in Alexandria, during a time when the city was blacked out because of German and Italian bombing, was deemed particularly offensive by Egyptian people. Due to the continuing British occupation of Egypt, many Egyptians, Farouk included, were positively disposed towards Germany and Italy, and despite the presence of British troops, Egypt remained officially neutral until the final year of the war. Consequently, the royal Italian servants of Farouk were not interned, and there is an unconfirmed story that Farouk told British Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson (who had an Italian wife), “I’ll get rid of my Italians when you get rid of yours”.[citation needed] In addition, Farouk was known for harbouring certain Axis sympathies and even sending a note to Hitler saying that an invasion would be welcome.[6] Farouk only declared war on the Axis Powers under heavy British pressure in 1945, long after the fighting in Egypt’s Western Desert had ceased.

Farouk is also reported as having said “The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left — the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds.”[7]


Farouk was widely condemned for his corrupt and ineffectual governance, the continued British occupation, and the Egyptian army’s failure to prevent the loss of 78% of Palestine to the newly formed State of Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Public discontent against Farouk rose to new levels.[citation needed] In the CIA, the project to overthrow King Farouk, known internally known as “Project FF [Fat Fucker]”,[8] was initiated by CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. The CIA was disappointed in King Farouk for not improving the functionality and usefulness of his government,[9] and had actively supported the toppling of King Farouk by the Free Officers.[10] Finally, on 23 July 1952, the Free Officers Movement under Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser staged a military coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Farouk was forced to abdicate, and went into exile in Monaco and Italy where he lived for the rest of his life.[citation needed] Immediately following his abdication, Farouk’s baby son, Ahmed Fuad was proclaimed King Fuad II, but for all intents and purposes Egypt was now governed by Naguib, Nasser and the Free Officers.[citation needed] On 18 June 1953, the revolutionary government formally abolished the monarchy, ending 150 years of the Muhammad Ali dynasty’s rule, and Egypt was declared a republic.[citation needed]

The revolutionary government quickly moved to auction off the King’s vast collection of trinkets and treasures.[citation needed] Among the more famous of his possessions was one of the rare 1933 Double Eagle coins, though the coin disappeared before it could be returned to the United States.[citation needed] He was also notorious for his collection of pornography.[11]

 Exile and death


On his exile from Egypt, Farouk settled first in Monaco, and later in Rome, Italy. On 29 April 1958, the United Arab Republic issued rulings revoking the Egyptian citizenship of Farouk.[12] He was granted Monegasque citizenship in 1959 by his close friend Prince Rainier III.[13]

The blue-eyed Farouk was thin early in his reign, but later gained enormous weight. His taste for fine cuisine made him dangerously obese, weighing nearly 300 pounds (136 kg)—an acquaintance described him as “a stomach with a head”. He died in the Ile de France restaurant in Rome, Italy on 18 March 1965. He collapsed and died at his dinner table following a characteristically heavy meal.[14] While some claim he was poisoned by Egyptian Intelligence,[15] no official autopsy was conducted on his body. His will stated that his burial place should be in the Al Rifa’i Mosque in Cairo, but the request was denied by the Egyptian government under Gamal Abdel Nasser, and he was going to be buried in Italy. King Faisal of Saudi Arabia stated he would be willing to have King Farouk buried in Saudi Arabia, upon which President Nasser agreed for the former monarch to be buried in Egypt, not in the Mosque of Al Rifai’ but in the Ibrahim Pasha Burial Site.[citation needed]

A likely apocryphal story about Farouk’s lavish living in exile was that he refused to donate money to relieve poverty on the basis that “If I donate my fortune to buy food, all of Egypt eats today, eats tomorrow, and the day after that they are starving once again”, thus rationalizing his high living.

 Marriages and affairs

Farouk I with his wife Queen Farida and their first-born daughter Ferial (c. 1939)

In addition to an affair with the British writer Barbara Skelton, among numerous others, Farouk was married twice, with a claim of a third marriage (see below). His first wife was Safinaz Zulficar (1921–1988), the daughter of Youssef Zulficar Pasha. Safinaz was renamed Farida upon her marriage. They were married in 1938, and divorced in 1948, producing three daughters.

Farouk’s second wife was a commoner, Narriman Sadek (1934–2005). They were married in 1951, and divorced in 1954, having only one child, the future King Fuad II.




The ostentatious king’s name is used to describe imitation Louis XV-style furniture known as “Louis-Farouk”. The imperial French style furniture became fashionable among Egypt’s upper classes during Farouk’s reign so Egyptian artisans began to mass-produce it. The style uses ornate carving, is heavily gilded, and covered in very elaborate cloth.[17] The style, or imitations thereof, remains widespread in Egypt.





Second Arab Scout Jamboree

perforated mini-sheet SG MS513, very fine mint, fresh & very rare

Est 120-150 pounds

THE END @ Copyright Dr Iwan Suwandy 2011