Narriman Sadek
| Narriman Sadek | |
|---|---|
Queen Narriman of Egypt
|
|
| Queen consort of Egypt | |
| Tenure | 6 May 1951 – 26 July 1952 |
| Born |
31 October 1933 Cairo, Egypt |
| Died | 16 February 2005 (aged 71) Cairo, Egypt |
| Spouse |
Farouk of Egypt (m. 1951; div. 1954) Adham El-Nakeeb (m. 1954; div. 1961) Ismail Fahmy (m. 1967; d. 2005) |
| Issue |
Fuad II Akram El-Nakeeb |
| House |
House of Muhammad Ali (by marriage) |
| Father | Hussain Fahmi Sadiq Bey |
| Mother | Asila Kamil |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Narriman Sadek (Arabic: ناريمان صادق or Nariman Sadiq) (31 October 1933 – 16 February 2005) was the daughter of Hussain Fahmi Sadiq Bey, a high-ranking official in the Egyptian government, and his wife Asila Kamil; she was the second wife of King Farouk and the last Queen of Egypt.
Farouk divorced his first wife, Queen Farida, in 1948, after a ten-year marriage in which she had produced three daughters, but no male heir. In a bid to ensure his succession, and also to rekindle some public enthusiasm towards a decaying dynasty, he let it be known that he was in the market for a new bride, preferably an Egyptian, well-heeled but not of the aristocracy.
Known as the "Cinderella of the Nile" for her middle-class background, Nariman was selected in part as a populist gesture to prop up public opinion of the monarchy. She broke off her previous engagement to a Harvard doctoral student named Zaki Hashem and was sent to Egypt's embassy in Rome to learn how to perform her royal duties. While in Rome she assumed the identity of the ambassador's niece in order to hide the purpose of her presence. At the embassy she studied history, etiquette, and four European languages. Also, as a consequence of the king's order that she return to Egypt weighing at most 110 pounds, she was put on a strict weight-loss program. In May 1951, at the age of 17, she married Farouk, thus becoming Egypt's queen. The couple's wedding was lavish and extravagant. Nariman wore a bridal gown embroidered with 20,000 diamonds, and the two received many expensive presents. Those presents that were made of gold were subsequently secretly melted down into ingots.
On 16 January 1952, Narriman gave birth to their only son, Ahmed Fuad. Later that year, Farouk was forced to abdicate by the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. He was succeeded by his infant son, who assumed the throne as King Fuad II. Fuad's largely symbolic reign was cut short, however, with the establishment of a republic the following year.
Following Farouk's abdication, the royal family went into exile (aboard the royal yacht "El-Mahrousa"); in March 1953. Bored with the itinerant lifestyle and tired of Farouk's philandering, Narriman returned to Egypt with her mother, to her former position as a commoner. She divorced Farouk in February 1954.
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